Climax Heroes, Almost Reviewed! Sorta.

Ah yes, Kamen Rider Climax Heroes. It's the PS2 game that just came out yesterday, in case you're as behind as I've been lately. Most likely, you already know more about than I do, but in case not, go here so I can skip out on the long explanation.

Back? Okay, so as mentioned, it just came out. And I've just been playing it. I don't think I could fully review the game at this point as I've just only scratched the surface, but at least I can give you my initial impressions. But first...

I have to say first that I did not pay much attention to the pre-release hype and discussion, apart from looking at a couple screen shots on 4gamer and a video of the opening. So my expectations for this game were pretty non-existent. It looked cool, and it had Kamen Rider in it! That's about it.

Kamen Rider games have always had a pretty mixed reputation, and this even is amongst *Kamen Rider fans*. But I've always felt that they're mostly alright with a few great ones. Like, I don't expect any of them to be really spectacular ground-breaking games that have a lifespan beyond the year of their release, but they're usually a fun time-killer and worth playing through at least once. Only a couple really hold up for any amount of time after they come out, and only one really rises above "fighting game based on a TV franchise" to become something more. Something like, one of my favorite games of all time, period.

I'm talking of course, about Kamen Rider: Genealogy of Justice, which is in a class unto itself and should probably be talked about on its own, because it's not another Rider fighting game. But let me just say here that while the game play is pretty simplistic and the graphics were just okay even when it came out, it's still pretty fun and interesting enough that I enjoy playing it again every now and then.

Plus, the really important things of the game are the excellent voice acting, the involving story, the great little in-jokes, and of course, the awesome soundtrack. If count everything— the comics, books, games, stage shows, magazine stories, all of it in addition to the TV series and movies— I call it one of the best Rider stories ever told.

The other ones that I think still play fairly well are the original series and Kamen Rider V3 games, the latter being particularly good even today. Yes, they're on PS1, but out of all the Rider fighting games they've got the advantage of being based on shows that were long over and had close to 30 years of nostalgia to their name, so the games are packed with all sorts of stuff. The V3 one's probably the better of the two, boasting more characters, modes and still the most intuitive control system of the Rider games. Plus you can play as Junko, Tachibana, and a Kung Fu Priest (okay, it's Hasami-Jaguar.) And I think the graphics for both are arguably the best the Rider games had until the jump to PS2.

When we move onto the Heisei era, things get a bit more mixed. PS1 Kuuga's probably my least favorite of the games, which is too bad because in some areas it was very good (it was the last one to have music right out of the show, and had a good selection of characters. Also, it's Kuuga.) Unfortunately the odds are so tilted in Kuuga's favor that you'll actually find yourself feeling sorry for the mass-murdering Grongi. It's almost heartbreaking hearing them cry out in pain as Titan Form whups their butts over and over again, and they don't have a snowball's chance of being able to win if the difficulty is cranked up to the max.

Agito & Ryuki are both good, though this is where the so-called rot starts to set in, and the controls get increasingly simpler to the point where it's almost down to just pressing one button. Due to the nature of rushing the games out while the show's still on, we end up with increasingly poor graphics and fewer episode's worth of coverage.

What I mean by that is, the Agito game basically ends around the point the Queen Jaguar Lord showed up, though it does feature pretty much everybody except for Another Agito (G4's in there, as a super secret character.) Ryuki did pack in all 13 Riders, but as its development predates Imperer, he's more like his savage TV Special version than the one we got in the series. They also had to fudge it with Odin's Final Vent, which actually ends up looking pretty cool.

With the change to PS2, the graphics improve, but I think the game play becomes even more hit-or-miss. The Faiz game's alright, but I can't remember seeing any reason to play as anyone who wasn't a Rider, and the whole "dodge the special moves" thing will blister your thumb pretty quickly. It looks nicer than any game before it, but looks ain't everything. Blade improved a little by making some of the Undead characters actual contenders, but again, not much to say otherwise. The super secret hidden character's good for a laugh though.

The Hibiki game was, like the series, interesting and tried some new things, but I never really got a chance to play it much, and I could never seem to get anyone to play it with me because the musical thing just confused everyone not familiar with the show (among my non-fan friends, the original series and V3 games actually went over the best.)

And then there's the Kabuto game, which is *possibly* the best PS2 Rider fighter, because it feels like they actually spent some real time on it, and it packs in everybody (and I mean everybody, even Hyper Gatack!) Plus its got a great sense of humor with the "survival"-type mode, and even a loading screen mini-game. I'll let other people debate that though, as I confess I didn't have a chance to play it as much as the other others, so maybe its shelf life is shorter than I make it out to be. Of what I played though, I liked.

Den-O infamously lacked a true PS2 game, as did Kiva, though the latter had Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride coming out as it ended, but let's not even get into that. I'm also overlooking a ton of other games, including the classic Super Famicom beat-'em-up with the Double Riders, but I really need to be getting on to the new one. I'll do a Top 5 Rider Games Countdown some day, or something.

Okay so (finally) we get to Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes. The game is sort-of a tie-in for Kamen Rider Decade, but in an interestingly abstract way. And as the might title suggest, Den-O rules this game. I mean that quite literally.

By now it seems the rest of the world has somehow played this game, which means that either the postal system is hella fast or everybody just downloaded a rip. In any case, you've probably already read a fair share of comments on this game. You may have even read Adrienzo's review over on his blog, which goes into a lot better detail than I probably will as I've still only scratched the surface of this. But in any case, here we go. This'll be pretty stream-of-consciousness without real rhyme or reason.

Like I said, I had pretty much no expectations for this game, so it's turned out to be a pleasant surprise so far. It's pretty straightforward, easy to get into quickly, and big enough that it feels like it'll keep me entertained for a while. Make no mistake, it's about as shallow as it gets in regards to the story (more on that in a second) and I wouldn't try to call it a game that will revolutionize... well, anything. But it's fun. Sometimes, that's all you need.

As for the story (or "Decade Mode") it's told through still pictures, scrolling text and narration. Ooh, sophisticated. Not much more advanced than most of the other fighting games, though at least a couple of them had kinda-sorta cut scenes (the V3 game's are pretty enjoyable.) It's nothing too special on first glance.

What is interesting though, is that the story isn't that of the Decade TV series. Not quite. If your Japanese is good enough, you might notice they're talking about the original versions of the Riders. So it's Godai Yuusuke, not Onodera Yuusuke. Characters like Mari and Kanzaki Shirô get namedropped. What the heck?

It even extends to the voices for the characters. They're the original versions, or at least people trying to sound like the originals. Decade, Diend, and all the Den-O Forms are the actual voices, and I've heard Kivat & Tatsulot in there too. And Deneb's voice for Vega Form. The others are all soundalikes of varying quality. I think the Agito one's actually pretty good, and the Blade guy's a little off but he gets the "Uwe!" battle cry right. Most of 'em are okay, though Kabuto's sounds reeeeeeeally deep. Also, I'm pretty sure Liner Form's Ryôtarô voice is actually a woman. Insert Joke Here.

And yet, the Decade tropes (travelin' the worlds, kickin' Rider butts, Final Form Rides, etc.) are all here as well. It's a strange mix of continuities. Is it the unofficial prequel, explaining how Decade screwed up the Riderverse in the first place? The Sequel? Both at the same time? Is it the version of Decade we all thought we'd be getting last winter, with Handa Kento guest-starring and Garren as the mentor (Hahahaha!) Who knows, and it's probably not worth thinking about that much.

The game play's good. It's simple, it's fun. It's sort of a halfway point between "one-button-mashing" and something requiring a little more intuition. One thing I really like is how each character has their own feel when they play. I don't just mean in the moves and attributes, but in the mechanics of how they work.

Like with Ryuki, you summon the DragSaber and Dragwhateverthefireshootingthingwascalled (DragClaw, more commonly just known as his Strike Vent) and can also summon DragRedder AND perform the Dragon Rider Kick all separately. So you can use the sword, switch and shoot your opponent with fire, summon the bigass dragon to do the same, and then be charging up for a Rider Kick while that's happening. It's pretty nifty, as other characters have their own way of functioning.

It's possible to get some interesting combos going. It probably doesn't come anywhere close to what you can do in a proper fighting game like (Insert Fighting Game Title Here), but it's a bit more fluid than the usual Rider fighter. There are some pretty cool moves. If you liked unstoppable Titan Form in the Kuuga game, he's back. Hibiki can pull off a cool drumming combo and breath fire. Agito changes forms just for a special move. Kabuto teleports (okay, Clock Ups, but that's what it looks like.) He's also got some weird counter-kick move which I have yet to figure out.

The X button does an attack which I'm tempted to call the "summon", though this isn't the case for all the characters. But it's usually a pretty useful move for getting out of jams and livening things up. I mentioned Den-O rules this game, and here's one aspect of that. Playing with Gun Form against Kuuga Pegasus, the poor guy didn't have a chance, between the ridiculous break-dancing combo of doom and the ability to call in the Den-Liner to literally bring down the hammer. Kiva's got Castle Dran, though for whatever reason when I summon it, it's always sort of off in the back. When the computer summons it, it lands right on top of me.

The graphics are just okay, but nothing to write home about. I'm glad this came out on PS2 simply because it means I didn't have to buy a whole new system just to play it, but I agree that they probably could have made a better game on PS3. The music's about the same, with a goofy new theme song and pretty standard tunes. You notice that they stopped doing the soundtrack remix CDs after Ryuki? Probably because of how lackluster the music's gotten (the downside being that there's also no CD release for Genealogy of Justice. Agh!) I think they could have saved themselves some trouble and just used pre-existing themes from all the shows.

One of the big issues I've been seeing with the game so far is a lack of characters. I do have to agree with this, there could have been more. At least one sub-Rider from each series, and a couple super secret surprises? We get IXA, Zeronos, Diend (I guess, since he's hidden at the start) and, as you've probably heard by now, a Dark Decade recolor. I dunno who else, though I've heard there's a few non-playable characters in there. Huh? While it's great having the 10 main Riders, past games have had more characters than they knew what to do with, so it feels like a step backwards. This could have been the game with *everybody*. As it is, it's just got the big guns, some second-stringers, and a few cameos.

Not all the forms are present as well, though I don't mind this as much. I do think the selection's funny. Blade gets King Form, but Hibiki just gets Kurenai? Wouldn't it make more sense to go all the way and give him Armed? I dunno. Den-O fares pretty well, and it feels like they really spent time on his forms. Though I haven't seen Climac Form anywhere. Oops, that makes sense.

Also, the story mode does a lot of talking about the villains, even mentioning Daguba himself... but no monsters. Bwuh? I mean, okay, I know. It wouldn't really work. All the same, there really needs to be a Kaijin Card Battle Game Thing ala the "Ultra Monsters" one that Ganbaride is a riff on so those guys can get more exposure.

Oh, and what's up with that Password Screen? The manual mentions to check the home page. Hmmm...

Of course there's a card-collecting thing. Two of 'em, in fact. One is a gallery of stills from the show, which is cool. The other has the first two waves of Ganbaride cards recreated in digital glory. That's okay, but as we're now up to Ganbaride Wave 5, it seems a bit strange. I would have just gone with a gallery of the cards seen in the TV show, but I guess that's an extra for the DVDs or something.

All in all, it's pretty fun so far. How will it hold up in a few years/months/weeks/days/hours from now? That remains to be seen. But overall, it's kinda nice to have a new console Rider game again. I've missed 'em.

I'll probably play it more than I will Kamen Rider: The Bike Race. Ooh, gotta talk about that one some day.

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