Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi

"Hey, I was impressed with it, though it could have been better."

This game was fun; don't get me wrong. I loved playing it. It's just that it could have been better than what it was. More explained in the review.

Graphics

As with all reviews I make, I'll begin with the graphics. They were... strange, in quite a few ways. No doubt that the energy attacks and whatnot were improved, however much so. The characters themselves, though... they could have been a lot better graphic-wise than they were. Here's not saying that they were bad, hell no; they were certainly better from some of the other Budokai games. It merely seems as though there was not a lot of work done on them from the previous game. Enough on that subject.

Sound/Music

Can anyone say overused? Excluding a small handful of sound clips, the sound was completely taken from the other games. It would be high-time to make new sound for the games, wouldn't you agree? One particular issue was with Cell's voice. It STILL has problems with it. They still haven't fixed it completely. I'm not complaining, since Cell isn't a character I use often, but they could improve it a little. Same for overall music, as explained above. Other than that, I didn't have any other problems with the sound.

Gameplay

Impressive. They made free control at last. It no longer looks as though it was from an arcade game. I, for one, was quite happy with this. More control = better gameplay, in this reviewer's opinion. Your abilities to jump, move around, fly freely, and everything else that is similar, was excellent to me. The only set-back to this for me was the lock-on. You had to be locked on to be able to use Ki attacks. Not the small energy shots that you fire from time to time, but the energy beams/balls themselves. Other than that, I loved the gameplay.

Difficulty

I must say, it took me quite a long time to adapt to the game. It was just so difficult. Not all of it was, but for just beginning with the game, it was extremely hard. After you adapt to the controls and the gameplay, though, it becomes quite easy to play and beat the game. The time it takes to adapt to the controls, though... You may be playing this game for a long time...

Replayability

It takes a long time to beat the story mode when you are just beginning the game. After that, though, there isn't much left to do, besides multiplayer, and that isn't as much fun as it was in the other games, especially Budokai 3. That's all I'll say about this particular subject.

Story

Speaking of the story, I still have to review that. It has vastly improved since the other games. In Budokai, which was easily the best story mode because it seems so much like the anime, you see almost everything that is going on between the battles. The only drawback there was that it stopped so early. In Budokai 2, they seem to remake the story so that Goku is in everything. In Budokai 3, the story is pretty good, but still has some flaws in it. In this game, however, you have all the sagas, all the movies, and everything, in the story itself, which was what made it such an awesome story mode.

What I absolutely hated was the three parts to the battles in story mode. You always had one of three objectives:
-Defeat the opponent.
-Defeat the opponent within the time limit.
-Survive until time runs out.

Obviously, the first option is fine, as it is what you needed to do in the first place in most cases. The second option can be a bit of a pain if you're a beginner, but is otherwise fine and can be beaten with relative ease. The third option, however, is an absolute nightmare, at least to me. Against some of the bosses, you had to survive for a certain amount of time, ranging from one to two minutes. One to two minutes of avoiding an opponent who is, in most cases, faster, stronger, and much harder to damage. Even if you are an excellent player at this game, you will most likely have a hard time surviving them. It's possible, but extremely difficult.

Game Length

It's a long game. There are 18 sagas in story mode, and while a fair few of them contain but one battle each, some contain between twenty-five and thirty. You will be playing story mode for a few days at the very least.

So, to recap it all:

Pros:
- Better story mode
- Nice and difficult
- Much better gameplay
- Graphics in some cases
- Quite a long game

Cons:
- Re-used sound
- Not enough replayability
- Graphics in some cases

Evaluation:
Graphics - 6/10
Sound/Music - 4/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Difficulty - 9/10
Replayability - 5/10
Story - 8/10
Game Length - 10/10

Final Score (NOT AVERAGE): 7/10

Rent or Buy?

Rent it first. If you enjoy it, then buy it. You'll want to try the other Budokai's first, though, and see if you like those games. If you do, than this game is a must.

That is all. See you in my next review.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/06