IGN
Tear through another round of anime-inspired brawling.
by Juan Castro
August 14, 2006 - The Dragon Ball series has always stood between mainstream and niche. While it may be one of the most popular anime and manga properties, fans of the fighting genre tend to look elsewhere for their combative cravings. This puts the latest DBZ endeavor, Budokai Tenkaichi 2, in a somewhat different position. It clearly wants a little more attention than its predecessors ever did.
IGN staffers first saw the game during a Pre-E3 event, and even then, it looked to outclass earlier titles in the series. Then the game showed up at Atari's booth during the actual event and did a good job of impressing onlookers. To remind everyone Tenkaichi 2 is alive and well, Atari showed it off last week during its Las Vegas event, which it calls Atari Spotlight. And, just like before, Tenkaichi 2 looks to offer more than the average DBZ title.
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Previous demos highlighted a few of the basics, but this one elaborated on the newer elements. To start, there's a greater emphasis on story this time. So much so developers calculate average play time to exceed 50 hours. Fans know that's a huge increase. And keep in mind the story will take 50 hours, not just playing random fights repeatedly. Fans will also love the fact Tenkaichi 2 includes narrative content from almost every DBZ-related movie, manga and TV show ever created. You can't just play them all from the get-go; you need to earn that right. But it's a fair bet fans won't mind in the least.
It's not just the amount of story-related stuff, either, but the way the game lets you explore it all. You can now blast through the heavens in search of fights and narrative tidbits. You actually steer your character (or group of characters) through the clouds until you notice special markers on the world map. Different colors represent different things to do, so a yellow blip will indicate a fight, etc. Each story line allows for character customization, too. You score money by winning fights and then take your reward to an item shop where you can upgrade you character.
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The character customize option, titled Evolution Z, lets you modify combos and techniques, as well as power. All of this helps you in battle, which is where the real meat in Tenkaichi lies. The basic setup remains unchanged from previous games, only it's tighter and refined. The camera does a great job of following battles and it's constantly panning to offer the best view. And since every stage is now twice as big, it's even more impressive. You read that right, twice as big. When combatants reach opposite ends of a stage, for instance, they look tiny. You can blast through the stage in seconds using a dash maneuver, so don't think there's arduous travel involved.
One of the cooler aspects of the fighting system, apart from the general refinements, has to do with stage-altering special attacks. You can now execute special moves that literally cook half the planet you're fighting on, turning a green pasture arena into a volcanic mess. All this comes with a snazzy transitional cutscene where you actually watch the surface of the planet bake.
The game includes five new stages, all of which you can transform to some degree. You can level mountains or outcroppings using an array of attacks, so there's always a degree of interactivity. One of the new stages takes place above a field of glaciers. The fight can start above the ocean, in the clouds, but can drop down to the glaciers themselves and even underwater. They all look good, too, from a visual standpoint; much more so than older titles in the franchise.
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Another huge change deals with in-game character transformations. You can now undergo "super Saiyan" changes right in the midst of battle by charging a special meter. This drastically changes your offensive and defensive capabilities, but also grants you an increased roster of attacks, too. Oh, it also happens to look pretty rad, so fans will definitely get a kick out of it. In addition, pairs of characters can fuse to form entirely new characters. These also boast radically altered powers and special techniques.
Previous coverage mentioned Tenkaichi 2's impressive roster of 120 characters, but never really mentioned how you go through them. Well, it's pretty cut and dry. All you do is cycle through sets of eight or so characters until you find the one you want. Selection may take longer than in your average fighting game, but it's a price that any serious DBZ won't mind paying. And in case you're wondering, 120 characters is precisely 20 more than last time. That's a huge number for any game, especially since you can fuse and transform them.
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As a final note, players can jump into the Dragon Library to catch up on everything DBZ. You can rummage through character profiles, story lines, factoids and more. It's a good extra for those who may need a brief DBZ tutorial to understand the main story, but it's also cool to have around for old-time fans. Also, you can play the entire game in the original Japanese. This is true of both text and audio.
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