Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi

Love it or hate it, DBZ will absolutely not go away...no matter what.

Like any insanely popular license, Dragon Ball Z has had its share of unfortunate titles. However, this latest installment in the much-maligned franchise indicates that fans' pleas for a decent fighter haven't fallen on deaf ears. Tenkaichi succeeds in all the areas that DBZ fans love: brilliant, innovative graphics, a gajillion (more than 60, actually) playable characters from the beloved anime series, and (everyone together) Saiyans!

To the Moon, Alice!
The principle addition to this series is simply the number one superpower requested by fans everywhere: flight. Tenkaichi allows all your favorite DBZ duke-throwers to blast around enormous 3D arenas (even those you wouldn't expect can fly--like Majin Buu). This delivers a new wrinkle to the somewhat tired rut fighting games have begun to deteriorate flail in, but, while the effort is admirable, there are a few flaws in the design that hamper one's enjoyment of rebuffing gravity. Characters are difficult to control in the air, something compounded by the wildly swinging camera that all-too-frequently pins itself between your character and the nearest rock/hard place--often times leaving only your armpit visible. Flight in DBZ is a great idea, but the execution needs polishing.

Kameha-meh
What DBZ game would be complete without the stunning finishing moves we've seen in countless anime episodes? It's a well-known fact that hearing a DBZ character shout, "Kamehameha!" releases endorphins into the brains of any fan within earshot, and Tenkaichi incorporates a huge number of finishing and super-finishing moves. The problem is the variety of moves players will actually end up executing, and, while there are a massive variety of combos supposedly available, the temptation to simply "go with what works" results in the same basic chain cropping up again and again...unless, y'know, you want to lose really bad.

Saiyabba dabba doo
DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi is certainly not a bad game (heck, it may even be the best DBZ game), but it will probably fail to thrill mainstream fighting game fans while just barely satisfying the DBZ camp. Still, satisfaction ain't bad and if you're a hardcore DBZ otaku-monster you're pretty much guaranteed to like this one.

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