POSTED 11/11/11


DRAGON BALL Z: ULTIMATE TENKAICHI

Namco Bandai
PS3 (also on Xbox 360)

They knew the day was going to come. Somewhere at the back of their minds, amidst all the fighting and taunting and whatnot, it niggled. Eventually, the dragons would want their magic knackers back...

Wow! What a twist for this latest outbreak in the Dragon Ball series of videogames, based, of course, on the enduring anime series of the same name. Nah, not really, we’re just crapping on as per usual. Apologies to any diehard fans.

Speaking of diehard Dragon Ball fans, these are who this game is for... nobody else, at all. It’s so dripping with intricate lore from the series that anybody approaching it as a DB virgin is going to be left scratching their heads muttering words along the lines of, “What the fuck was that all about?”

Unless, of course, they ignore all the story bits and just go for the combat, which comes in assorted flavours. The story mode, which we’re surprised PETA haven’t protested, initially involves Planet Meat, and unfolds with wonderful animated portions (yay!) and massive slabs of slow-scrolling text (boo!). The whole story is interspersed with fights against other characters plus the odd super-humongo-giant boss battle here and there, which you can also get sans story with one-on-one tussles with adversaries of your own choosing, in online or local flavours. You can also create your own DB character and use them to do your kicking and screaming and dodging and shooting and whatnot.

As for the fighting mechanics, it’s fairly typical stuff, despite apparent attempts to make it look complex (hello endless training). A reliance on quick time actions at various points is a bit on the blah side though.

This isn’t the best fighting game out there by any means, but Dragon Ball fans will almost certainly have a testicle.

CLICK THIS!



CLICK THIS!