Back in the day, anime was something few people had any knowledge of. In fact, many of the old cartoons from the 80's were actually anime, but it wasn't until the advent of Dragon Ball that anime started to reach the mainstream in the U.S. As big as Dragon Ball is, it's no wonder Atari snatched up the license and has sold a hefty number of titles for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Game Boy. Atari's most popular series has been Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, and I just happened to take the latest title in the series for a spin.
Being the huge anime fan that I am, I'm no stranger to DBZ. So you'd think I would've enjoyed the past three DBZ: Budokai titles like all of the other DBZ fans out there. However, I'm also a huge fighting game fan, and I like depth in my fighters, an area that the Budokai series has always lacked when compared to fighters like Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Dead or Alive. All of the Budokai titles have greatly appealed to fans of the animated series, but the fighting engine has been sub-par at best. From what I've played so far, Tenkaichi won't be changing anything, which is a positive note for most anime fans.
Unlike the previous Budokai titles, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi was not developed by Dimps. Instead, Spike, the development house behind the Fire Pro series is handling Tenkaichi. Fans of past Budokai titles need not worry though, Spike's latest plays almost identical to Budokai 3. In fact, if you took Budokai 3, changed around the buttons a bit, moved the camera to a third-person perspective, and gave players the ability to fly whenever and wherever they wanted, you'd have a pretty good idea of what to expect in Tenkaichi.
So while the fighting mechanics are very similar to Budokai 3, that's not all DBZ fans have to look forward to. There are over 60 characters to choose from in Tenkaichi, including all of the Saiyans and all of the bad guys (the Androids and the complete Ginyu Force crew to name a few). Character models have been improved to give the title a close resemblance to the anime, even moreso than the previous Budokai titles which looked pretty good themselves.
The build that I tested out only had eight playable characters: Goku, Vegeta and Gohan (all in Super Saiyan form), Piccolo, Frieza, Perfect Cell, Kid Buu, and Janemba (from the DBZ movies). They all played almost exactly like their Budokai 3 counterparts. Fans of Budokai 3 should be pleased, but it would've been nice to see a bit more variety in the characters this time around. Here's hoping Spike makes playing as Goku different from playing as Freiza in more ways than simply having different special attacks.
While the version I tested out was said to be 50-60% complete, several modes of play were not available. According to Atari reps, the final build will cover the entire span of the DBZ series, from Raditz's arrival on Earth, to Goku's battle with Buu. Fans of the series will also be able to recreate several of the key battles throughout the series and find out what would've happened if the bad guy had won the fight. This should help to keep players interested in the single player aspects of the game when they don't have any friends around to beat down.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is set to hit the PlayStation 2 this November, just in time for the holiday season. Fans of the past Budokai titles should head out and pre-order now because this one looks to be the best game in the series yet. I'm also hopeful that the fighting engine is given a bit more depth so that non-DBZ fans have a reason to pick this one up as well. We'll have more on Tenkaichi as the holiday season quickly approaches.
Fuente:
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=593111