I’ll get one thing straight right now - I have never watched an episode of Dragonball Z (or any derivation thereof) and do not intend to. In fact, if there’s any of you out there who can’t even pronounce this mouthful of a game then you’ll be in the same boat as me. At least 30% of this game will confuse the hell out of you, but if you’re a fan of the cartoon (you know who you are) then you’ll love how faithful Tenkaichi is to the series. Every loading screen is crammed full of colourful characters and references to the cartoon but to the majority it’ll just look like they’ve made their artist trip out on acid and then start drawing - in one there’s man holding what looks like a chicken drumstick….
For a fighting game Tenkaichi is thinking outside the box and Ki (don’t worry, you’ll soon pick up the “l33tspeak” too!) blasts a few fundamental things out the window, the biggest one being you now fight in a third-person perspective. This, coupled with large 3-D arenas means you’re given a lot more scope for combat than in a normal fighting game. You can fight on the ground, floating in the air, underwater, bash people through mountains and teleport behind their arse, the possibilities are nearly endless. The combat control system is limited to a few buttons (there’s only one for physical attacks) and the knack is using the buttons either in timed combos or countering your opponent’s attacks at the right time. This puts the emphasis on quick reactions rather than remembering the move that flips the guy over and breaks his arm.
The problem is that by only having a few buttons but loads of functions that apply to that button (or combinations of buttons) at any given time it gets really confusing. Even after ploughing through the laborious tutorials, which throws information at you more violently than an Encyclopaedia Britannica to the face, you still don’t have a clue what’s going on. By using all Dragonball Z names for every move and fighting mode (and there’s a lot) it makes it harder for the non-fan to understand and get to grips with, but doesn’t really make it that much easier for the fans to understand either!
One thing you’ll need to get the hang of if you want to stand a chance of winning is your Ki. Now I don’t know what the hell it means on the cartoon but in the game your Ki is what lets you do all the cool moves in the game; need someone slammed through a wall or perhaps you fancy unleashing the biggest laser beam since the Death Star? No problem, just as long as you’ve got enough Ki. Your Ki level is measured by a bar that fills up quickly when you attack or when you stand still and charge it specially. Charging gets the bar right up to the top quickly but leaves you vulnerable so you’ve got to pick the right time to do it. Since physical attacks do little damage your Ki attacks are what wins you the game or sends you to a screen with a kid with big blue hair laughing down at you. Work it out and you’re on the way to becoming a Pokemon Master! Whoops, wrong dodgy cartoon…
Even If you’ve understood how to handle the Ki gauge, are starting to counter moves and maybe stringing a few combos together you’ll still not have an easy time playing the single-player mode. The AI is pretty unforgiving and through cheeky tactics will show up your lack of hand-eye co-ordination for what it really is. The most annoying thing the computer will do is use one move to knock your character down and then just as you get up he does the same move again and again! It did bring back memories of beating everyone at Mortal Kombat by having Raiden fly across the screen from left-right for the whole fight but now I know the heartache caused by such tactics. To those who I wronged many years ago using this downright low move I apologise. Now if only I could get an apology from the green guy with pointy ears called Piccolo… Anyway, like the hard-ass drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket the tough AI will push you to keep practising until you can beat that smug green alien at his own game. Or it might make you want to kill yourself…
Once the hard slog of getting to grips with the gameplay is sorted you will have fun playing Tenkaichi, DBZ fan or not. It’s great to watch your character fly into the air, unleash a barrage of punches and kicks, followed smashing your opponent through a mountain, which promptly collapses in a haze of cel-shaded beauty. Not only will you be able to pull off some flashy moves but you’ll be able to play the single player game with some degree of patience. Through the single player sections you can unlock mods for your characters (all 50 of them!), new maps and loads of stuff that’ll keep the DBZ fans happy.
There is a versus mode but because the game doesn’t have the pick-up-and-playability that, say Tekken or DoA has it’s hard to actually play properly. I played against a mate when the game first arrived and because you actually need to know the buttons it turned into 2 minutes of flying around in the air, slapping each other every so often and maybe pulling off a super move by luck. If you can find someone who’s played the more technical fighting games before then you would be okay, but it’s certainly not one for after the pub.
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is a good technical fighter for fans of the cartoon series or maybe even for anyone who’s played the Capcom vs. SNK series of games. You pay for the nice visuals and stylish moves with unforgiving AI, more stuff to learn than an astrophysics degree and annoyingly chirpy characters. For those of you who prefer a more arcadey combat system or want to see a schoolgirl fighting in a miniskirt then Tenkaichi won’t be for you, but don’t rule it out just because it looks like it’s for the kiddies.
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