Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Hands-On and Video Demo

When Dragon Ball made its PlayStation 3 debut last year with Burst Limit, players got to suit up as 21 different characters from the Dragon Ball universe and go toe-to-toe in fierce one-on-one combat. Raging Blast looks to blow the fighting field wide open by including over 70 playable fighters and extending the battlefield to encompass a massive 3D arena. We recently took to the skies with Goku & Co. and fought a fierce battle among towering canyon walls in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast.

The most striking thing about Raging Blast is the size of the battle arena. We began the fight hovering in the sky above a rocky area crisscrossed with canyons. As the fight progressed, the conflict plunged down in the valleys below and then soared back up to a high rocky plateau. This liberal use of space resonates strongly with the fights from the anime series, making the action more true to the Dragon Ball franchise than before. And because it couldn't really be true to the series without dudes getting punched through mountains, Raging Blast incorporates destructible environments to a degree not yet seen in a Dragon Ball video game. And we have the crumbled rock and massive bruises to prove it.

The fight we played was between Frieza and Goku, two of the 70+ characters included in Raging Blast. As we traded projectiles and punches with Goku, we began to get the hang of dodging not just left and right, but also up and down. Plunging down into a valley can be a good way to collect yourself, but your opponent can plunge after you just as quickly. The dodge button allowed for some quick maneuvers, but we were never very far from our opponent's fists.

As the fight wore on, we took some opportunities to charge up our ki meter. Once juiced, a flick of the right analog stick unleashed a powerful barrage of projectiles that stunned Goku midair. Just because you're hovering doesn't mean you can't get knocked on your butt, and we used the opportunity to pile on a little more damage before retreating behind our block.

Health and ki meters ebbed and flowed, and the fight began to take on the sort of epic length often seen in the anime. Fidelity to the source material seems to be the primary focus of Raging Blast. The development team behind the successful Budokai series brings its franchise familiarity to bear on this game, and the roster evokes the comprehensiveness of the Budokai games. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is shaping up to be not only a solid fighter, but also a thoroughly faithful way to re-create some of the classic battles from the Dragon Ball series.