Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

The story is DBZ nothing special, which is fine considering the series is over. The graphics are the best part the game looks amazing, and they even added in cut scenes from the HD version of the anime. The one downside to the cut scenes though is when they use the 3D models and if you are using the English dubbing your can see the mouths move even after they finish talking. This just reminded me of the old terrible dubbing of anime and I just let it go.

Now to the main problem I have with this game, and that is the combat. It relies too much on luck and less on skill. When you land a 3 punch combo you have to press either normal (square) or hard (triangle) punch. This would be fine if that was the end of it, but if your opponent choose the same button you get countered. Even if you press the opposite of your oppoent they can still counter you during the combo that follows, which really only requires you to mash whatever button your chose. If they counter you, you can counter back which leads to an QTE that requires you to press a button right as a circle lands on the button, which if they re-counter the circle, in my opinion, moves so fast it is almost impossible to hit. If your opponent wants to land a super move on you all you need to do is make sure your Ki gauge is at its second or third level and you can counter it. Level 2 requires you to press square as 1-3 lines move across the screen onto a line that is at the left hand side, and you dodge it. Level 3 lets you counter by mashing triangle more times than you opponent.

Basically if your Ki gauge is at level 2 and you are good at guessing and QTEs you will be hard to beat.

I am a die hard DBZ fan, and have played practically all of the DBZ games that have come out. Let me tell you, I got bored of this game after only 30 minutes of playing it.

Let's do the good part first...

1) Graphics 9/10. They are superior, no question about it. This is the most beautiful DBZ game ever created. The fighting cut scenes, the powered up attacks (Kamehameha, spirit bomb, etc.) are simply glorious. Enviromental damage has returned... however it is a very flawed notion. Yeah massive craters show up during a super attack, but once the cutscene is over the damage is displayed outside the fighting arena, so you can't even fly over the massive crater you just created.

2) Boss fights 10/10 - This is a new feature that really shines. It brings an entirely new element into the game. However the boss fights where you can experience these new combat features (think God of War) are very few and far between.

The bad...

3) Dialogue 3/10 - It sucks. The voice actors are clearly tired of saying the same lines over and over again. To it's credit however, the dialogue is in fact better than most of the past DBZ games.

4) Gameplay 2/10 - That is no exaggeration, the gameplay is simpy that awful and is the main reason I returned the video game the very next day. One word, repetitive. I mean REALLY repetitive. No matter what character you are, the cutscene fight sequences are literally identical. It's cool the first couple of times watching it, then very quickly becomes boring. Fighting in this game is based on luck as opposed to skill. That is an enormous flaw that no good graphics can overcome. You have to try it for yourself to really understand how poor the battle system is. It would have been perfect if SPIKE was able to fuse the fighting engine of Raging Blast 2, with the graphics/cutscenes of Ultimate Tenkaichi.

For 2012, Spike needs to release Raging Blast 3, or a VASTLY improved version of UT2.

Do not buy this game, it's truly terrible