It is demanding but RIVE also knows how to reward your effort. Brutal and intensive in its action, this is a remarkable shoot'em up with classical heart.

RIVE is a fun, albeit really challenging blend of space shooter and platformer. The intense challenge early on might turn off less experienced players, but those who want a great challenge should enjoy it. Just get used to having blue-colored drones explode in your face quite a bit.

What on the first sight may seem as a common shooter is actually a show of all the good things that not only the genre classics can offer. Humor is occasionally shot blindly, but the game deserves every penny of its fair price.

RIVE is a remarkable shooter/platform hybrid for anyone seeking a fun but very demanding challenge. Before playing, arm yourself with patience, remove fragile items near you, put talcum powder on your hands and... good luck.

It’s a real shame RIVE suffered technical issues, because if it didn’t, I would have loved this game and been willing to give it a high score. I just can’t score it high in its current state, it would be a disservice to you the reader, no matter how much I would love it if it hadn’t been for its issues.

It’s a side-scrolling shooter with stock parts that I don’t foresee leaving a mark on the genre, but is at least worth a spin if you’ve got the patience for it and a thirst for a major challenge.

I have nothing against tough games but if instead of satisfaction after overcoming a challenge I’m rewarded with a feeling of relief and humiliating gratitude for stopping the torture for a while – something went wrong. In my opinion Rive’s designers failed to distinguish what’s reasonably challenging from what’s unfair. [13/2016, p.59]