DragonBall Z Budokai Tenkaichi has great potential and ideas, yet doesn't manage to pull them off. Good fun for DBZ fans
By changing developers to Spike, the fourth DBZ fighting game for the the PlayStation 2, has been heavily changed. The first difference you notice is obvious, the anime opening cutscenes with a vocal choir has been replaced by a CGI long battle sequence with a synthesiser track (The Japanese version, DragonBall Z Sparking! has used one of the series vocal themes). The battle system has been heavily revamped, for the worst in my opinion. Battles are now played over large 3D battlefields, which aren't as large or fully destructable as ATARI has led you to believe. Combat has been reduced, a lot more of the buttons are used to move your character around the battlefield. Punch and kick combos are pulled off with one button, meaning you can't pull off long and difficult combos as in Budokai 2 or 3. The camera angle is also different, with a new behind the shoulder view. I have to admit, this was pulled off better in Budokai 3 when you backed an opponent against a wall. The camera is dodgy and when trees get in your way, they get in your way! Special Abilities are a big thing of DragonBall Z, and its always cool to see one pulled off in the anime or first couple games. With Budokai Tenkaichi, cinematic moves are all but gone. With a press of three buttons, you execute two Special Move or a Super Move. These are little more than an up-close view of the character saying a phrase, then a 2 second viewing of the attack. Combat flows good with these short moves, and although the cinematic attacks of previous games were distracting, they allowed opportunity for power bossting gauges or stick twirling. Tenkaichi does away with this. The most sad thing is, most character are giving on or even three generic Power Volley or Hyper Rush moves. This doesn't add a lot of diversity, and a lot of characters seem just like clones of another. There are also badly implemented block and teleport mechanics, but these are annoying to pull off and the enemy can abuse them on harder mode.
The story mode has quite an overwhelming amount of levels, and saga or movie Gates, as they're called, will sometimes have to be revisited to unlock new things and there are hidden DragonBalls in a few levels. The pre and post battle cutscenes are poor, usually dialouge, but when there is action, it is badly executed and the story is not well told. The music in the English version is recycled from DragonBall Z Budokai 2 and 3. Its too bad only the bad or annoying tracks have been re-used, as they are played far too often and are an annoyance to listen to. The voice acting isn't bad, but the FUNimation Voice actors haven't put as much effort into it as previous games or the anime. There is also an option for the Original Japanese voices, while this pleases fans, the languages often swap over for no reason and sometimes you'll hear a Japanese attack name instead of the English.
The graphics on this game aren't the best, and are a definate step-down from Budokai 3. The arenas are dull looking, and character models range from pretty good to about average. The aura that appears around characters as they power up looks like something out of a PlayStation game. Not good, being a DBZ game where the auras should be spectacular.
Overall, this isn't a bad game, if you can get over the graphics, glitches, stange new battle system and camera, you'll have fun. There is a ranking mode, world tournament and practice mode to go with the story. There are dozens of character and forms to unlock, and each is described in the character-bio section. Some sentences are repeated or out of context but this isn't too much of a problem. This game is best enjoyed by DBZ fans, but if you want a fun few matches with friends, this is recommedable. But not recommendable over the first 3.