Dragon Ball: Ultimate Tenkaichi

[Fulgore2005]

This is my first (and not the last) game review for this site. I'm gonna start with DBZ's recent release, Ultimate Tenkaichi. Let's begin.

Story
Story for this game is pretty good. It follows the fights of the Saiyan, Namek, Cell and Buu sagas. It even has the Bardock fight as well as a few other fights from the movies and GT. I hoped that more characters would be in the game, but the story is still decent.

Graphics
The graphics are very amazing. Definitely a step-up from Raging Blast 2. Don't really have much to say apart from that.

Gameplay
Okay, this is where the game starts to fall flat. UT's system falls on the Rock-Paper-Scissors format. At times, you are given a choice between buttons to press. Hit the right one, and you can stay on the Offense. Get it wrong, your opponent can take control. This format gets very repetitive though, which does make the gameplay boring.

Sound
To me, this is the weakest part of the game. The music is okay, but kind of repetitive. However, the voice acting is definitely the worst aspect of UT. There are occasions where old and new voices/dialogue have been used. And with the newer cast, some of the acting is either too over-the-top or doesn't feel convincing. I'll give some examples of the acting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqwikrde0WI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFZkJq_3R8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-M5j32VoOE (1:45-1:56)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYb-ixjRiiQ (1:09-1:48)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUG_hZH_Ta4

Replay Value
The story mode has loads of battles from the anime and films, but not to the extent of Budokai Tenkaichi 3. A shame UT doesn't have as many characters either.

Overall
While UT does well with the story and graphics, the sound and gameplay aren't as great. UT isn't exactly a game you may want to play. But if you are a DBZ fan, then do try it out.

Rating: 4/10

[pokemastanumba1]

Very good on your first review!

I have to agree that the acting was indeed the worst part, though it's really not the voices themselves that are bad, but the lip-syncing was WAY off at times, and the lines were poorly written, to say the least. It's really obvious that they weren't anywhere near as invested in this game as they were with the anime, given how impressive DBZ Kai was (in fact, this game uses the Kai voice cast).

But IMO the roster was very lacking, and while the story and graphics are nice as always, there's nothing really innovative that they've done here. So much for "Ultimate" Tenkaichi...

[Fulgore2005]

Originally Posted by pokemastanumba1

Very good on your first review!

I have to agree that the acting was indeed the worst part, though it's really not the voices themselves that are bad, but the lip-syncing was WAY off at times, and the lines were poorly written, to say the least. It's really obvious that they weren't anywhere near as invested in this game as they were with the anime, given how impressive DBZ Kai was (in fact, this game uses the Kai voice cast).

But IMO the roster was very lacking, and while the story and graphics are nice as always, there's nothing really innovative that they've done here. So much for "Ultimate" Tenkaichi...

Aw, thank you Pokemasta. I agree with your point on the voices. They weren't bad but the acting really kills the performances because most were just too over-the-top.

Ultimate Tenkaichi just didn't live up to its name. And that's a shame because the graphics and story were handled very well.

[pokemastanumba1]

That is indeed true, this game was really disappointing, especially with how misleading the title was. I mean, there's nothing "ultimate" about this game (other than how ultimately it sucks )...

I'm a bit curious though, what made Ultimate Tenkaichi your choice for your first review?

[Fulgore2005]

Originally Posted by pokemastanumba1

That is indeed true, this game was really disappointing, especially with how misleading the title was. I mean, there's nothing "ultimate" about this game (other than how ultimately it sucks )...

I'm a bit curious though, what made Ultimate Tenkaichi your choice for your first review?

I was basically going through my game collection. I own and play a lot of games though. UT was picked out of random choice.

[Trami0501]

DBZ Kai English dub version is very f**kin's I never seen!

[TaZZerath]

When I had a PS2, I played both DBZ: Budokai and Budokai 2. Budokai had the best storyline but for some reason I had a subbed version of the game and it stopped at the Cell Saga. Budokai 2 went right through Buu but had a very weird 'board game' mode.

The cell shading was top notch; Budokai 2 also had good (all?) voice actors from the dubbed English version.

I'm surprised they kept making these!

[Trami0501]

Very nice!

[OptimusSolo]

Originally Posted by Trami0501

Very nice!

i love all of your posts Trami0501 they are so insightful and add so much to the conversation lmao

[Fulgore2005]

Originally Posted by OptimusSolo

i love all of your posts Trami0501 they are so insightful and add so much to the conversation lmao

Welcome, OptimusSolo! What do you think of my review?