I began writing back in October 2013 about the new "
Archie: Riverdale Rescue" iOS gaming app. It's an oddly addictive game where you are tasked with the improvement and beautification of Riverdale USA using a variety of recognizable characters, such as Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica. A big part of the game also involves building emotional bonds between the various characters, leading to romantic couples, BFFs, and overall friends. I thought it would be fun to discuss aspects of the game that I find exciting, disappointing, and/or note-worthy.
Last week, the "Riverdale Rescue" game was upgraded, in part to fix some bugs and to make some other improvements. But the biggest part of the upgrade was to introduce a bunch of new Winter and Christmas content to the game (similar to the
Halloween upgrades that they made back in October). So now this...:
... Looks like this:
Not only are we now treated to a snow-covered landscape, but each character's base outfit has been redesigned as winter outfits. Plus several of the characters -- including Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, and Mr. Weatherbee -- have Christmas-themed outfits that can purchased through iTunes. Check these out:
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| Winter Archie // Christmas Archie |
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| Winter Jughead // Christmas Jughead |
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| Winter Betty // Christmas Betty |
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| Winter Veronica // Christmas Veronica |
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| Winter Reggie // Christmas Reggie |
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| Winter Pop Tate // Christmas Pop Tate |
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| Winter Moose // Christmas Moose |
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| Winter Midge // Christmas Midge |
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| Winter Chuck // Christmas Chuck |
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| Winter Nancy // Christmas Nancy |
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| Winter Kevin // Christmas Kevin |
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| Winter Ginger // Christmas Ginger |
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| Winter Cheryl // Christmas Cheryl |
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| Winter Jason // Christmas Jason |
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| Winter Kumi // Christmas Kumi |
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| Winter Dilton // Christmas Dilton |
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| Winter Mr. Weatherbee // Christmas Mr. Weaterbee |
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| Winter Miss Grundy // Christmas Miss Grundy |
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| Winter Sheila // Maria // Toni // Marcy |
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| Winter Frankie // Raj // Trev |
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| Winter Coach Kleats // Coach Clayton // Mr. Flutesnoot // Miss Beazley // Mr. Lodge |
Visually, the upgraded "Riverdale Rescue" looks slightly different. They got rid of the kisses and replaced them with sodas. Apparently, new players can charge themselves up to clean up messes (ice patches, fallen patches, trash piles) quicker -- but if you have Hot Dog (like I do), you are perpetually charged up and can clean up those messes instantly. Plus, if you click on the blue ribbon at the bottom left corner, you can work towards awards for accomplishing certain beautification milestones:
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But there are a few things about the winter upgrade that I don't like. It used to be that you could complete certain tasks in half the time if you paired romantic couples or BFFs. Also, certain individuals might be speedier with certain tasks depending on their personal stats. (Example, Moose has strong athletic abilities and could complete sports or car-repair tasks much quicker than somebody like Dilton). Now, that doesn't matter. An 8-hour task is an 8-hour task, regardless of whom is assigned to it.
Also, you can no longer mail items to Facebook friends who also play "Riverdale Rescue." I had a couple friends who I routinely sent packages to everyday. Right before the winter upgrade, I was 9 packages short of meeting that game goal. Now, it doesn't appear that you can send packages to other players anymore. So I'll never know what I earn if I jump over that milestone!
I would imagine that the winter upgrade will shift back to a more traditional "Riverdale Rescue" layout in a couple months. It's unclear to me if the other elements will disappear when winter melts away. In other words, I'm pretty sure that the sodas and post office changes -- along with a few other recent changes -- will remain and we players will slowly get used to those changes.
