Game Review: Dragonball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3


Price Range: £19- £29


Age Rating: PEGI 12


Genre: Fighting


Design


So Dragonball Z graces our screens again this time with 'Ultimate Tenkaichi'. It is trying to branch away from the 'Raging Blast' series of games which is a shame because it probably would have made this game ten times better. Don't get me wrong the whole TV series was a huge part of my childhood and I have enjoyed all of the previous games (apart from 'Burst Limit, it was a bit suckish) but this game seems to be down there with 'Burst Limit' in quite a few ways which I will explain as we go along. We all know the story of these games by now, it never changes, fight as Goku and his friends to save the world from various bad guys who want to destroy it and find the Dragon Balls along the way. This game is split up into two main campaign modes which I found odd, there's Story Mode where you play as Goku and the others and play through the much loved Dragon Ball Z saga and then there's Hero Mode, a seemingly pointless mode (apart from creating your own character; a first for any Dragonball Z game) where you fly around the smallest free roam map I have ever seen in search of 'Masters' who train you in specific skills to make your created character better, it's lengthy and dull to be blunt. It also has a World Tournament Mode and Xbox Live Multiplayer, if you can stay awake for that long.


Gameplay


Okay so you were expecting amazing graphics, free roam battles and the ability to Kamehameha somebody in the face from close range just like the last games right? Well one out the three isn't bad because the graphics are pretty amazing but I will get to those in the next segment. As for the gameplay itself all I can say is... WHAT ON EARTH (or rather Namek) IS GOING ON! Instead of the old games where you used to be able to fly around punch when you wanted and do super moves when you wanted the game now has two new features known as Melee Range and Blast Range. These ranges only allow specific attacks to be launched in them, for example you can only punch or kick in Melee Range and similarly you can only do super moves in Blast Range. Melee isn't all its cracked up to be either, after a string of maybe four or five punches you launch you opponent into what is called a rush battle where you have to make the right button selection otherwise you get countered and end up on your backside.The good old fashioned Ki gauge is no longer used for launching super attacks it is now used for dodging and blocking super attacks, we have been given a spirit gauge that fills up depending on how many rush battles you do which then allows you to launch your Galik Gun or Wolf Fang Fist. To me it seems to over complicate the game


Presentation


As I said the graphics are amazing and really blast the previous titles out of the water and with some remastered scenes from the original TV series thrown in occasionally it makes for pleasant viewing until you get so bored by the fight sequences that you just give up. The background music is just the same as the other titles and the menu navigates well but this as far as the perks of the presentation go. When playing in story mode you have a fight with an enemy then it cuts to a cut-scene where the character's mouths aren't actually in time with what they are saying at some points and Krillin's face when he is finished shouting at Vegeta is just a joke. I understand that it is originally from Japan but come on a bit of effort would be nice. When performing super moves and other moves of that sort it's nice to see that they have paid some attention making the camera track their paths across the map (remember you are in blast range so its a hell of a way to travel) the super moves occasionally churn up the ground as they travel or make huge craters but that's really the extent of them to be honest. The voice acting is decent as it always is in the Dragonball Z games but it really has been let down this time round by everything else going on around it.


Summary


So to summarise if you were hoping for something similar to Raging Blast or Raging Blast 2 just like I was then avoid this game like the plague, the rush attacks get too repetitive and only being able to super move somebody from around thirty feet away really gets annoying after a while. Oh and did I mention that all the characters have the same move sets, that's right the only thing that is different between them is their super moves, all rush attacks are exactly the same along with most of the punches and kicks. All in all a very very disappointing game lets just hope that Dragonball: Kinect will be better this fall. Or at least pray for a Raging Blast 3 next year.


Ratings:


Design: 5.4


Gameplay: 5.3


Presentation: 7.0


Overall: 5.9