Dragonball Z! An incredibly long and drawn out anime series and a slew of games that just can't quite seem to hit the nail on the head. Lets not even talk about "Sagas", I think "Ultimate Battle 22" was worthier of mention than that piece of crap. While we're at it...don't even mention the movie. In fact, lets just pretend the movie never happened.
Got it? Good, moving on.
DBZ has been around for ages now, with games going as far back as Super Nintendo there hasn't been a game that captures the essence of DBZ. The more succesful attempts however as we all know have been the Budokai and Tenkaichi entries.
Budokai being a typical fighting game hasn't really done too much to differentiate itself from the other fighting games people usually buy (i.e. Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Tekken etc.)
Budokai Tenkaichi however took the concept of the Budokai games and transformed it into what is probably the closest thing we've gotten to a true DBZ fighting game.
Tenkaichi introduces an open range battle experience. You and your opponent are slightly "rubberbanded", as in most fighting games. The only difference is you can move as far away from your opponent as you want, but as long as you're locked on, you'll always fly right at your attacker. The lock on function makes it so that you'll be able to hit your opponent in fighting style fasion, cause if you couldn't you'd likely miss with most of your attacks. Disengaging the lock isn't exactly a great idea, because your enemy remains locked on regardless and will automatically fly in your direction.
The battle stages in Tenkaichi are large, which is perfect for DBZ. This kind of game NEEDS huge arenas. It also takes advantage of destructible objects; buildings, mountains, rocks, etc.
Your variety of moves offer you the best in beatdown solutions, and nothing but. You'll throw some punches and kicks to soften em up, and then you'll start throwing some slammers and eventually you'll just blow 'em up. And with something like 120 different characters and forms, you won't be bored with the roster. Pretty much every Hero and Villain makes it into these games.
The funny thing about this game is that it's weak points are because of it's simplicity. Let me clarify by saying that simplicity is by no means a bad thing; some of the best games have a simple concept and control to them. Your moves are farily limited, and your major attacks are not just easily executed, but they're the same across the board. Ultimately, you can cheap your way through this game by just running away, powering up to max, use your super attack and repeat. You can win within 2-3 attacks depending on your opponent. The controls can sometimes feel a bit awkward, especially if you're not used to playing it.
The game boasts lightspeed battles as well, where if you're characters clash, the background grows dark and you button mash your ass off trying to beat your opponent. I don't really have this down, so I lose the lightspeed battle everytime, but it's an interesting break from the normal battle mechanics.
The story mode as you can probably expect, is pretty damn long and will keep you entertained, the later battles can actually be very challenging, and with Tenkaichi 3 being something like 20 bucks now, this really is a worthwhile buy if you're looking for a new and interesting fighting game. It is definitely unique, and you don't have to be a DBZ fan to enjoy it.
So where can Tenkaichi go from here? Well plenty of places. I would like to see something much more complex. The Dragonball series boasts a lot of "moves" and whatnot. I'd like to see more intricasy on those fronts. The lightspeed battles were kind of cool, but I wanted something deeper from them. Ideally, the Wii remote with the addition of the MotionPlus (hopefully coming out soon) could take the best advantage of the Dragonball experience. With nunchuk being one fist, remote being the other, it would be cool to enter a first person mode and then use each fist to try and break through your opponents guard and win the lightspeed battle. Now that would be a workout.
The "rubberband" concept of the fighters keeps the game in check, but I find it to be ineffective. The control scheme adds to the awkwardness of it as well, that entire front can be revamped into something smoother and easier to manipulate.
I think what i'm trying to underline here is that when you watch DBZ, you see all these characters with these powers you honestly wish you had. You see their smirks, thinking they're the most powerful dude ever. Then they start to show off their moves with ease. Thats what the gamer should feel when playing Tenkaichi. They should feel confident in knowing their wide array of moves while still making the controls interesting and fun, they should feel like the battleground is really their playground. The controls should be set up in a way that build off each other, so that the player can recall instantly the difference between doing the Kamehameha and Instant Transmission.
Will we see such a game? Only time (and probably the Wii) will tell.
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