Best DBZ game to date
One of the major complaints I had with the Budokai 1-3 was the use of the old side view mixed with "3D" fighting areas. I always felt trapped in the environments and, as all DBZ fans know, fights in DBZ are all about flying free. But with the new free-roaming mechanic, players are free to fly around destructible arenas and battle to their heart's content.
With that out of the way, lets get down to the gameplay. Tenkaichi features a deceptively simple control scheme. X dashes, Square does hand to hand combat, Triangle for ki (energy, for the uninitiated) attacks, Circle blocks, R1 and R2 for flying up and down, respectively, and L1 to lock on to your target (which you now must do to attack your opponent) and L2 for ki charge up. However, there is so much depth to what you can actually do that it would be difficult to list them all. For example if you hit ki charge and triangle you unleash a powerful ki attack (along the lines of a Kamahamaha) or, if your on the wrong end of said attack, you can hit over and circle right before the beam hits you and be teleported a few feet to safety, allowing then for a counter attack. To survive in Tenkaichi you must learn to master the controls, or face hours of frustration and failure. Tenkaichi IS NOT a button masher. I would compare it to the likes of DMC 3 in controls. At some points you need the speed of button mashing with precision of rhythm games.
However, even when you do master the controls, the difficulty in some of the game's single player modes can be a bit unfair. In the Dragon Battle Gate, you are occasionally told to survive for so long to win. However, you will find that your opponents are ludicrously overpowered to the point that 10 seconds of melee combos will render you dead. However as you progress in the game you begin to develop strategies and things become a bit easier.
Tenkaichi is not without its downfalls however. The Dragon Battle Gate, which acts as the story mode, is supremely disappointing. Unless you know the DBZ plot already, you will be largely lost and the dialogue presented is laughably lame. Difficultly is enormously unbalanced, as you will breeze through 3 or 4 fights and then get your ass handed to you over and over again. This is similar in the Ultimate Battle mode, though there is more of an upward curve, it is still quite noticeable when the difficultly gets kicked up a notch.
Also the camera can be unruly at times. If your backed into a corner it will get stuck and you will only have luck and a furious finger on the block button to save you.
Multiplayer is great when you have someone who knows how to play. Battles are fast paced and furious. I wish there were more to say on this, but there’s really not. Multiplayer is just really, really fun.
Visually the game looks fantastic. If Budokai 3 made you feel like you were playing the cartoon, Tenkaichi make you feel you’re IN the cartoon. The characters look awesome and the energy blasts and fighting looks right out of the show. Audio is superb with full voice acting and sound effects directly from the show.
Overall the game delivers fast paced, intense DBZ actions. While there is still room for improvement, the game is still a must have for DBZ fans, and at the very least a long rent for those interested in a unique fighting game.