KRDK Wii and DS Reviews

[PrimoPiccolo]

Anime News Network just did a full review on the new Kamen Rider Dragon Knight games for Nintendo Wii and DS in their regular X Button (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-button/2009-12-09) article this week.

It's probably the most fair review of a franchise tie-in title you'll read.

[GalaxyRiderZERO]

I read the entire review for the Dragon Knight game and it doesn't sound like a game I would want to buy especially the DS version. It sounds pretty repetive and fighting games aren't really what I'm into nowadays. I much prefer roleplaying games :P

[KamenRiderDA]

I don't think quite a lot of people will buy the game sure it was a good series and everything but not many viewers watched the show so it won't be as that interesting to people.

[TokuNoob]

Well, having spent the last few months juggling this game with Jurassic: the Hunted, I am now ready to give my review.

First of all, walking into the game I was expecting it to be pretty bare bones, but I still felt a little disappointed the first time I got past the game’s opening credits and into the actual game play. The first rider I played as was Camo, but truly it doesn’t matter whom you choose, because each rider can unleash a dazzling combo simply by hitting the same button repeatedly. At first, I thought this was going to be a game which required no skill whatsoever to play, but I grew to appreciate this feature, as the longer (15-hit) combos will take some practice to master. In the meantime, the aforementioned single-button combos will help a noob hold his (/her?) own against an experienced player, or the already fully equipped computer which has two varying degrees of skill, mind-numbingly easy or irritatingly difficult.

By “fully equipped” I of course mean the computer already has a full deck of advent cards, whereas the human player has only final vent. I had expecting to have to unlock advent cards from the Wii Trailer but this was taken to a ridiculous extreme. It is impossible to unlock all the cards without playing the game with each character so many times, that you soon realize, what’s the point? You will have already beaten the game 30 times over by the time you unlock the cards, and they won’t drastically change how the game is played at all.

And speaking of how the game is played, there are multiple settings including, Arcade Mode, in which the player battles through each rider one-by-one until at last taking on Xaviax (unless you’re Wrath, but I’ll get to that later), Training Mode, in which the already poor AI, stands still and simple permits you to give it a beating, Vs. Mode and Mirror World. Yes, Mirror World. This would be the story mode of the game, and it is pretty lack-luster. Each of the characters’ back stories are presented in a scrolling text as you start the game with each of them, and it’s generally pretty short and doesn’t care to much for plot detail. In fact, Ventaran twins are never mentioned, nor what exactly Xaviax’s plan is. Of course, this is understandable being that the only people who are going to buy the game are fans of the show, who already know this. Anyway, Mirror World is the story mode, of which the trailer promised us “over 100 single player missions). By this, they meant you had to defeat your opponents under certain circumstances (beat your opponent with an “advent attack”, beat your opponent with a final vent… etc,.) or defeat a horde of Xaviax’s minions in a closed-off back alley. There is absolutely no stage exploring to be had in story mode, which served as a bit of a disappointment for me, but I had come to expect from a budget title. If you beat Mirror Mode before the annoying time limit runs out, you’ll have unlocked a few advent cards and some rider points to buy them in the store. If you beat Arcade Mode, you’re rewarded with nothing at all.

As advertised, you can play as all thirteen Kamen Riders, but that’s it. Xaviax only a appears as the last boss in either Arcade, or Story mode while Eubulon is absent entirely. One of the pluses of a tie-in game is so that you can pit together riders who had never fought on the show in fantasy matches, or change the outcome of an in-universe confrontation (like Camo KO’ing Torque for a change). Sadly, even the fantasy match-up is limited. The game insists that Kamen Rider Wrath is Xaviax to the extent in which it is impossible for a fight between Wrath and Xaviax to occur (Dragon Knight replaces Xaviax as the last boss).

Speaking of Xaviax, he’s really not that interesting of a boss. While his final vent is interesting to watch, he really doesn’t have much in the way of his own style and burrows a random advent beast of one of the other riders. Xaviax has become the Shang-Tsung of the game.

The characters are also pretty-hit and miss. While some riders, like Wing Knight, with his Dark Visor, have their visors worked into their fighting style, others have their weapon appear only briefly, and just to activate the effect of a card. I just feel as though the fighting could’ve been made more interesting if their weapons had been worked into their fighting styles. Is it too much to ask that Kamen Rider Strike fight with his cool cobra scepter, or that Kamen Rider Axe actually fight with his axe? Still, the game play isn’t bad, and the fighting can be quite addictive for the first half hour. The finisher move each rider has are quite dynamic and interesting to watch the first few times around. Plus, it is only in Dragon Knight and Wing Knight’s survive mode finishers that a motorcycle actually appear in a game called Kamen Rider.

And finally to complement the characters is the voice acting, which is also pretty hit and miss. While they assembled a decent cast including Johnny Yong Bosch and Peter Doyle , they aren’t given anything interesting to say besides repeated lines during combat (sadly Matt Mullins doesn’t give his signature “URRRRRR-AHHH!” when Wing Knight uses his final vent :() . And while I just love listening to Johnny Yong’s voice declaring “too weak!” whilst a serpentine red dragon circles him, I don’t need to be reminded “this is bad” from Wing Knight every time I get hit with a 15-hit combo.

Ultimately it is a fun little game, but don’t expect much. Good, but not great. I give it a 3/5. Average score for an average fighting game.

[Ignis]

I definitely want the DS version. There's this guy in my 1st period class who I've shown Kamen Rider to and every day I bring my pokemon diamond and he watches me play it but now I want to play Kamen Rider with him.

[nighthitcher]

sounds good to me :):)




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