[HIDE]I know I rarely post here anymore, but I'll go ahead and post my impressions from Rangerboard here too:
The full roster is: Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Decade, Diend, Zeronos, IXA, and Dark Decade.
Gatack, Autovaijin, and G3-X are also in.
Kinda.
They're only playable in one or two stages in Decade mode. And even then they only have one special move each, no super moves, and no form changes.
It's pretty evident now that Climax Heroes was rushed to come out around the same time as All Riders vs DaiShocker. We know from that one scan that Gatack was originally meant to be on the main roster. He was probably left unfinished due to time. I just wish they'd have cut the unfinished characters out of the game completely instead of teasing us with half finished versions only playable in one or two stages in one mode.
Ryuga, Nega Den-O, and Dark Kabuto are in the game as well, but they're completely unplayable.
My biggest complaint, as far as gameplay goes, is the combo system. You've got your weak attacks done with [], your strong attacks done with /\, your combo-breaking attacks done with X, and your special moves done with O.
Now, you can do combos like [] [] [] [] or /\ /\ /\ /\, or say -> + [] [] [] [] or Down + /\ /\ /\ /\. But the big problem I have is that you can't mix say, weak and strong moves, or special moves with normal moves. You're restricted to the basic canned combos. So you'll be doing a lot of mashing one button. You CAN form change in the middle of a combo, though, so that's a plus.
In general, I'd probably say that this game falls just under the Kabuto game, as far as quality of gameplay goes. It's fun for what it is, but the limited combo system and the fact that some characters are VERY over or underpowered (Blade is extremely strong compared to someone like Hibiki, Den-O Gun Form borders on cheap, etc), combined with the fact that the game is obviously unfinished, drops this game just below Kabuto.
It's still excellent for Rider fans though, make no mistake. But only as a fanservice game. If you're looking for a fighter with even a small amount of depth, you won't find it here.
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