The actual combat fits in well with the over the top style of the game although with everything happening at one hundred miles per hour it feels pretty confusing at first with the button presses never seeming too responsive to what is happening on screen. Despite this certain aspects are done well particularly the use of the right analogue stick to unleash devastating attacks such as colossal fireballs amongst others.

 

Whilst things may look to be impressive it does not take very long to realise that the combat is pretty shallow with a not very tactical approach needed in order to win battles. This seems a real missed opportunity and I soon became pretty bored of repeatedly pressing the same buttons to defeat the enemies whilst everything whizzed around me.

 

 

The one saving grace with the gameplay are the different modes available with the story mode in particular standing out as this re-creates some classic battles from the Dragon Ball franchise and in this mode there is certainly a fair amount of content. The only downside to this mode however is that some battles require you to defeat numerous opponents which leads to some very lengthy contests and as previously mentioned the game does not lend itself too well to lengthy games.

 

 

It is inevitable that the game may appeal to fans of the franchise therefore there were always a few games available online. What you need to be aware of is that the target audience of the Dragon Ball series is either people in the Far East or younger children.

 

When taking this into consideration online matches may either prove to be not much of a challenge or a 50/50 chance that you find a lag free game.

 

 

I will admit that I did play I a few decent battles online however such is the hit and miss nature of the game that you may often find that players quit after one battle and I cannot blame them for this as the gameplay just does not offer enough re-playability to warrant numerous games.

 

 

It seems that the Dragon Ball franchise is the perfect one to release annual games and with the latest offering one feels that this is a cash in on the name.

 

Admittedly "Dragon Ball: Raging Blast" does offer several unique moments particularly with the presentation which feels like you are playing an actual cartoon and the 3d combat style which is a nice try but safe to say just does not succeed.

 

2009 saw some excellent beat em up games particularly Street Fighter 4 and Tekken 6 and when you take into consideration these quality releases, Dragonball: Raging Blast is best left on the shelves and even fans of the franchise may find that they are seriously disappointed with their purchase.

 

 

 

 

+ Pretty good presentation
+ A good try at something unique
+ Story mode offers pretty good depth