Awesome dbz game!!
It is aimed not only towards people who enjoy the dragonball z series, but also players who are not even familiar to the show.
This game is the successor of the previous budokai 3. It is made by atari, although it has a totally new developer: 'Spike'.
Spike has chosen to change the whole budokai environment: Tenkachi offers 3-D camera angles which allow freedom of flight like never before; this allows a very personal view on the game and also differentiates dbz fighting from any other type of fighting. Furthermore: this feature brings a sense of adventure to the game, instead of just plain fighting-thats pure dragonball z. Also, the environments are now totally destructible, which makes it faithful to the dbz universe.
It also features 50 playable charecters in 90 powerful forms; each character has its own unique strengths and techniques. All the special moves are ones from the series and the combos are all orientated from the dbz series too. Another feature which is an evolution from budokai 3 is the 142 cut-scenes, they are nice 3-D remakes of the dbz original scenes.
Although, the 3-D camera angles might provide a lot of freedom in the game, it dosen't capture the fighting element that budokai 3 had. The camera might also make you lose track of where your opponent is, but this has pros and cons: in terms of faith to the dragonball z universe it is very good and faithfull, although more importantly in terms of gameplay it gets frustrating. Spike has also spent too much time and effort on the new feature, rather than concentrating on the core of the gameplay- the moves are very limited, forcing you to do the same techniques repeatedly.
The game also doesn't allow in-game transformation, this is a very big let- down for people who have played budokai 3, but the 147 cut-scenes partially aid this. Budokai 3 players also will find the game dissapointing wihtout storymode, instead Tenkaichi has Z Battle gate, which allows you to play all the battles fought from the earth saga to end, and some dbgt/dbz movies. But instead of just battling, most of the battle have to be completed in a certain manner, e.g. 'Freiza v.s Krillin'- you have to surive the battle until time runs out. In other battle like 'Vegeta vs Goku'- you have to finish Vegeta with Kamehameha.
Evolution Z is another excellent mode where you can edit the Z items(items you have recieved) that you have recieved during your battles;this allows you to build your characters abilities and moves. You can also fuse particular Z items in Z item fusion, this is one of the best options and requires you to select two Z items and and combine them. The problem is, you have to pick out the correct two items- if you succeed, the two items fuse to form a special playable character. What i really love about this process, is that it requires your logic and dbz knowledge. For example: If you choose SSJ4 Goku and SSJ4 Vegeta- it forms SSJ4 GOGETA. There are about 20 Z items that you can fuse, but there are much more to edit.
Another feature which i like is the: Character illustrations. I like it because, I think there has been a lot of time spent to complete this. It features the illustration and FULL profile of every single character in the game.
So overall i think this game is a very good game, but needs improvment in the gameplay.