Written by: Alex

 

 

 

Through out my life I have had an interest in Japanese games, mostly due to the era I was born when Nintendo and Sega reigned supreme. This fascination developed and grew to encompass anime, cinema and culture.

 

Despite my fascination with Akira, Ghost in the Shell and a host of other series Dragon Ball Z passed me by. I had heard of it of course, but I never realised how big it was. Moving to Japan I was stunned at its enduring popularity. People of my age and older decorated their bars with foot high models, quoted the show there was an awareness of the series that extended far beyond just fan that was incomparable to anything in the West (bar maybe Disney).

 

I promise that this brief summation of my life is relevant, because "Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi" (the latest Namco Bandai game based on the licence) feels like fan service, a game designed for people who already know the story and fiction. This is not to detract from it as a game, but it does make me feel outside the intended audience.

 

 

… Right, what I know about Dragon Ball Z could probably fit on the back of a postage stamp. There are 9 Dragon Balls that must be gathered, a boy named Goku (who is an alien adopted by humans), aliens and lots of fighting with fireballs. That was pretty much all I knew going in, and as I said you can write all of that on a stamp (providing it's a big stamp and you write small).

 

As far as I can tell DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi goes right back to the start of the Dragon Ball Z story line, beginning just before Goku arrives on Earth. Playing the story mode takes you through dozens of the show’s battles. What I found odd is that my initial understanding of the shows premise (refer back to that stamp) was actually pretty accurate. There are of course intricacies but fans, the people this game is aimed at, will know all of the story on offer and will probably be happy to see the iconic clips from the show that tie it together.

 

To offer a little more freedom to the tale there is also a create-your-own-character story. Set in an alternate dimension I created my own Goku-a-like (with the limited starting customisation options) and went about fighting my way through the new dimensions cast of similar characters building his powers as I went. It's a nice twist, that allows the writers to take a few more liberties with the plot, but I wonder how appealing it will be to fans interested in reliving the show.

 

 

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi takes the show’s over dramatic fights and attempts to make a game from them. The end result is a combat mechanic that has incorporated a range of different systems for ranged and melee areal combat. It's a diverse system that actually does a good job giving the game some of the drama and impact of the animated show. Throwing fireballs from a distance then engaging in melee combat, before finally juggling a character a mile in to the air and slamming them back into the ground is all shown in wonderful cinematic detail that evokes perfectly the clips I have seen of the show.

 

 

This blend of combat also makes the experience quite novel. Flying around in over the shoulder third person, float-o-vision is a fun experience and with all attacks homing in on a target, battles become quite frenetic. The system is simple enough with attacks varying between hard and light, with the aim being to wear down an opponent and stun them with weaker strikes before unleashing more powerful moves.

 

Close combat is very similar, with hard and light attacks being the main options. Successfully striking the opponent three times with light attacks or with a single hard strike unleashes a juggle combo that bounces the opponent around the arena helplessly (unless they can hammer the face buttons fast enough to recover and counter – something I managed once) amassing thousands of damage points.

 

With the exception of the special charged ‘Kai’ moves (which instantly devastate) the whole experience is actually more akin to a wrestling game than a standard fighting game. Wearing down opponents to enable more powerful moves is the main focus trying to get the upper hand with positioning also harkens to the WWE games, albeit with out the grappling.

 

 

The upshot of this timing system is that attack is usually the best form of defence, as I rarely used the block. Thrown against an opponent landing the first blow feels like a necessity, but during their combos there are generally a variety of points at which there is a chance to counter.

 

 

These counters usually manifest as binary choices made by each player deciding on the next direction/type of attack. Predicting an opponent’s choice of move will allow it to be blocked and countered balancing the playing field. Again this has the strange up shot of making the game feel more like a wrestling or sports game with turnovers occurring frequently and allowing the momentum of play to shift.

 

This stop-start play style could prove quite a nice pacer for the game, breaking flow and allowing tactical choices to be made, but for me it proved more of a game of chance, with the odds of me coming out on top in any given battle based not on skill but luck. It is possible there is a level of mastery I am yet to understand, but it did little to incentivise deeper investigation.