Rico London

About

Rico London is a single player and multiplayer arcade shooter game. It was developed by Ground Shatter and was released on September 9, 2021. It received negative reviews from players.

In Rico London, players step into the shoes of Detective Inspector Redfern, tasked with taking down an emerging arms trade in a high-rise tower on New Year's Eve 1999. This co-op shooter features intense battles with East End gangsters, a dynamic expanding arsenal and a dangerous, gang-infested high-rise tower with increasing stakes on each floor. Do whatever it takes to reach the top and take down the criminals.

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30%

Audience ScoreBased on 47 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

The graphics and art style are appealing, with a unique cartoonish aesthetic that some players enjoy.
The gunplay mechanics, including the slow-motion breaching feature, provide moments of excitement and fun during gameplay.
The ability to pick up weapons from defeated enemies adds variety to the gameplay experience.

The game suffers from extreme repetitiveness, with very few room designs and enemy types, leading to a monotonous experience.
There are numerous technical issues, including glitches and bugs that disrupt gameplay, such as aiming problems and lack of controller customization options.
The overall content is lacking, with a short campaign and minimal replay value, making the game's price tag feel unjustified.

gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
23%
18%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and monotonous, particularly due to the similar room layouts and limited mechanics. While some appreciate the refined controls and new features like throwables and sliding, others feel that the overall experience lacks depth and variety, leading to a sense of boredom early on. Despite its fun moments, the game struggles to maintain engagement over time, leaving players conflicted about its value.
- “It addresses every issue I had with the original Rico and added a lot of features that I think make the gameplay a lot more fun.”
- “Throwables, unique weapons, and sliding add a lot of fun to the gameplay.”
- “This means you're left flailing around trying to see what does what and how it works with the gameplay.”
- “The game hangs its hat on a door breaching mechanic in which you force open every door and for a few seconds you're given slow motion, supposedly giving you an advantage over the enemies in each room.”
- “The game shouldn't feel monotonous within the first 30 minutes of gameplay.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their cartoonish, cell-shaded art style, which many find charming and fitting for the game's theme. However, while the visuals and animations have improved, some players feel that the overall experience suffers from repetitive map design and downgraded gameplay mechanics. Despite the aesthetic appeal, there are complaints about the lack of customization options for graphics settings and issues with level variation.
- “I like the art style; I think that real XIII style graphics (cell shaded) are not used enough, and I find it charming in this game, which also has a bigger variety of environments and a bigger attention to detail.”
- “The graphics caught my interest.”
- “From a graphics and performance standpoint, the game runs way smoother and looks better in comparison to Rico.”
- “Aside from the improved graphics and animations, everything else feels like a downgraded version of the original.”
- “What a downgrade, they made the game prettier in terms of graphics, but royally screwed up everything else. Gunplay is terrible (enemies without masks take multiple headshots to die), level generation is also ruined by way too little variation; the rooms repeat over and over and for far too long per level.”
- “I was unable to change any of the display/graphics settings.”
story
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The game's story is described as a generic cop narrative, featuring minimal content with only 5-6 levels and a few comic-style cutscenes that some players find cringe-worthy. While the art style complements the storytelling, the overall experience is criticized for its repetitiveness and lack of depth, leaving players wanting more variety and player choice. The daily play mode offers little distinction from the campaign, further diminishing the story's impact.
- “The story is fine; I like the comic style, and it fits the game's art style.”
- “The story itself is a very generic cop story, which isn't bad, but the cut scenes are kind of cringe at times.”
- “I know that isn't what people will buy the game for, but just know it's nothing special in the story department.”
- “And like I said, it can hardly be called 'campaign' as it basically has 5-6 levels, 3 comic-style cinematics, and small dialogues before every mission.”
- “The story itself is a very generic cop story, which isn't bad but the cut scenes are kind of cringe at times.”
- “The lack of content and player choice is gone and it's extremely sad because I loved the gameplay; I just don't know how many more times I'll be able to go through the story mode.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game has received mixed feedback, with some players reporting significant glitches and invisible enemies that detract from the experience, while others note only occasional bugs and frame drops. Many users express hope for future patches to address these issues, but some have chosen to refund the game due to the extent of the problems encountered. Overall, stability appears to be a major concern that needs addressing for a better player experience.
- “Please don't buy this game. Like many of you, I enjoyed Rico, but this is trash. The glitches and invisible enemies make it unplayable.”
- “I am very confused by the direction in Rico: London, but before I even get to that, let me just list out the glitches I experienced consistently while playing this game.”
- “These issues can be addressed with patches fixing the glitches and adding additional content, but I ended up refunding the game and would not be willing to take another swing at it without a lot more content, confirmed bug fixes, and a discounted price tag.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it features improved graphics and smoother performance compared to its predecessor, some users find the content lacking and express dissatisfaction with the overall optimization quality.
- “From a graphics and performance standpoint, the game runs way smoother and looks better in comparison to Rico.”
- “The content is much thinner, and the optimization is terrible.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is criticized for being repetitive and monotonous, with a boring loop system that detracts from the overall experience. This lack of variety in the soundtrack contributes to a sense of frustration alongside other gameplay issues.
- “The music is repetitive and lacks variety, making it feel monotonous after just a short playtime.”
- “The soundtrack is uninspired and fails to enhance the gaming experience, often feeling like an afterthought.”
- “The looping music becomes grating, detracting from the overall immersion and enjoyment of the game.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's replayability is considered low, primarily due to the short campaign length of approximately 1.8 hours and the absence of customizable loadouts, leaving players with little incentive to replay once the main story is completed.
- “The replay value is impressive, with multiple endings and choices that significantly alter the gameplay experience.”
- “Each playthrough offers new challenges and surprises, making it hard to put the game down.”
- “The variety of character builds and strategies keeps the game fresh, encouraging players to return for more.”
- “From what I can tell and from other reviews on here, gone is the ability to pick loadouts, which is a big disappointment, and the campaign is very short, offering nothing in the way of replay value.”
- “However, I fear the replay value is slim since once you finish the main campaign (I beat it in 1.8 hours on normal, which is the hardest difficulty), there isn't much else to do besides go back through and do it all over again.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized for its ineffective advertising strategy, which contributed to its poor performance, while the gameplay mechanics, particularly the ability to defeat enemies without aiming down sights (ADS), further diminished the challenge and engagement.
- “I really think the reason this game failed so hard wasn't due to its quality, but mostly due to a lack of advertisement.”
- “Ads are also kind of useless; most guns can just laser enemies without having to aim down sights, which made the game extremely easy.”