Dragon Ball Z:Budokai Tenkaichi Review

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi



Technical info-

Developer: Spike
Publisher: Atari
Genre: 3d Fighting
Release Date: US: October 18, 2005 Japan: October 6,2005
ESRB Content Descriptors: Cartoon Violence
Number of Players: 1-2
Only on

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Atari is the company that began the series and was with the series every step on the way.The fact in this game is that it isn't by Atari but it is now by Spike,which leads to a whole lot of ups and downs in the features of this game.Now on with the review- :shh:



Graphics



Now some of us here are already familiar with the T.V series,the only thing here is that its the same thing......but in 3d. Believe me , they are breathtaking.



All over the years we have seen Atari do its best with each installment and graphics vise,it did more than that. Budokai 3 had awesome graphics and what Spike did in Tenkaichi was that it made it look more realistic in certain ways like when you do a ki blast and it misses your opponent,it explodes against the ground and there is a lot of dust flying around. It basically made some enhancements with the environment. It being more destructable in many ways like trees breaking, big boulders of rock crumbling down and splashes of water etc.
The faces have more detail like when you are hit,your player closes his eyes and makes a painful expression, when you shoot a ki blast there is a hint of seriousness and anger in your player's face.



Now as you all know that this game is based on a 3rd person perspective, it has some flaws with the camera. There will be times in the game in tight places when the camera is just facing somewhere else and not in the direction your opponent is in , this could be quite bad because it freely allows your opponent to attack you, you are like a sitting duck. Sure you can block him but its only a guess because you won't be able to see your opponent.


Sound

Sound in this game is incredible. The sound of the blasts and punches,kicks,blocks are totally like it was in the anime. You will for the first time have the option to change the voice acting to the original japanese voices of the characters. The BGM is of Budokai 2 and does not have the track of Budokai 3 which was far better as it made you really get in the fight but even these tracks shouldn't dissapoint you.



Gameplay

Gameplay in Tenkaichi is awesome. It is one of a kind and the battlefield is huge. There are plenty of arenas where you can choose to fight and its really big adding the area above the surface where you can fight and fly.Thats right , you can really fly in this one and you dont have to be punched,kicked or blasted to get into the air like in previous games. There are many actions and moves you can combine to make a combo and drain a large amount of your opponent's health. You can punch,kick,ascend,descend,dash,super dash and many more functions you can do around your area.You can also hide in the game in areas underwater, behind boulders, behind buildings and wait for the time when your opponent looks away and quickly attack him. This is one of the best features that makes this game feel more realistic. Though it has many actions ,it still can't compare with the speed of Budokai 3. The speed is fine and fast when you are flying around but when it comes to laying down punches and kicks ,it feels a bit incomplete. Another new feature is the ability to fight underwater. This feature adds more DBZ type atmosphere to the fights and makes you really feel that you are playing the ultimate DBZ game because many fights in the series are fought underwater. This game also features a whole new roster of characters. There are alomost a 100 characters! counting all the transformations ie in this game you dont have the option of transforming between battles. You choose a transformed state at the character selection menu.Each character and transformation has his own moves.

There are plenty of different modes in the main menu as well like the Z battle gate where you go through Shenron's memories, it is basically a story mode where there are different sagas and there are a lot of sagas in this game like Frieza saga, Majin Buu saga, android saga ,Broly saga and many more. It also has the Dragon Ball's World Tournament saga.
The next mode is Ultimate Battle where you choose your character and you get him to rank 1 by fighting all the battles from rank....100!
The next is a World Tournament where there is a tournament and you fight opponents and if you win you get a special prize.
Then there is the usual Dueling and practice modes where you fight for fun against another player or against the CPU.
The A.I in the game sometimes acts a bit dumb but its quite good as well because the CPU comes at you with everything and its pretty hard. The CPU also uses many tactics like not coming close to you and when you are charging or just searching for a dragonball on the level, it attacks you head on.
The dragonballs are only found in the Z battle gate and if you collect all seven of them, you get to make a wish to the Eternal Dragon!
I would rate this game a 9.5/10




Well thats my review, hope you liked it and i would really reccomend this game to anyone who is a fan of DBZ games.

by solid_snake

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah this game was awesome, I just wished more of my friends got into it or a online mode would be good. If seems each dbz game gets better and better so hopefully the next one can even step it up a bit.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The thing with DBZ is..you cant really grow from it storywise. Its not a continuing story...so they have to use the same characters over and over.

I agree...an online mode would be pretty awesome.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

This is the best dbz game i played since Hyper Dimension. I didn't bother getting the US version so i downloaded the jap version and the bgm plus voices were awesome. the battle system was different but i liked it. This gets a 8/10 for effort.

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I never saw anyone here write a complete full review here but what you forgot to mention was your score O_O But what really surprises me is the fact that the name "Solid_Snake" was not taken o_0
I played Budokai 3 which was before tenkaichi so I'm guessing its around the same premise and gameplay switches a bit for each sequel. I know it has more characters but I would have tried it for an online mode. It's already been a whle since the series has been out, is an online mode really much to ask?

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The game would have had infinite more replay value if only it had an online mode. I bought it day one, and it kept me entertained for a good month while I tried to get everything, but since then, I haven't really picked it up. I played it with a couple of friends, but the split screen just doesn't work for me.

Still, it's the best DBZ game I think I've ever played. The combat system is somewhat simple once you get the hang of it, but it's quick and works very well in representing the series. I'm hopeful we get a sequel that features that online mode I know we all want so much.

How ya doing, buddy?

online or not, i love this game.
i really would expect to have an online feature in the next game cuz it would be more challenging to fight other players.
i dont think spike or atari will make the same mistake again.:dotdotdot:

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I agree with you on some parts. The downfall of the game was that its music, grunts, and some of the talking before/after a fight got repetitive. Other than that, the game is overall good.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Music definitly sucked.

It was a nice dose of nastalgia though. The info on the characters in the profile section were interesting and I thought it to be really wierd that Vegeta was the first saiyan to maintain his rationale(the requirement to turn SSJ4) while in Oozru(?) mode, but could not turn SSJ3 or 4(without help from Bulma).

As for the game, all I did was use SSJ2 Gohan, beefed him up with Z-items and had some mad fun in the Ultimate Z challenge thing where you fight 100+ people to get the number 1 rank.

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I really don't care of the music but for some reason, I find it that some of the music is ripped from Budokai 3. I did like how the battle system work in the game but for people who is into street fighter, get the 3rd one. Only regret in this game has to be the specials because in the 3rd one, SSJ2 Teen Gohan has the special: Father-Son Kamehameha while in Tenkaichi, he has just a super kamehameha.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The game was pretty cool. I played it before and believe me the hardest moment in the game in my case was

Spoiler:

when you had to fight that gaint monkey thing as Piccolo only being able to hurt it with specials.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by LostSol

Only regret in this game has to be the specials because in the 3rd one, SSJ2 Teen Gohan has the special: Father-Son Kamehameha while in Tenkaichi, he has just a super kamehameha.

Custom attacks would have rocked, though, or..more attacks, at least.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?