Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi Cutscenes

[Marguerite Litscher]

Thefirst trailer for this video game, still under the name Game Project: Age 2011, was released on May 10th, 2011. The European trailer was released on June 30th, 2011, at Japan Expo 2011. The name Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi was officially revealed primarily and the trailer showcased certain characters of the Saiyan Saga and their attacks, as well as confirmed a release date of October 28th. The demo at the Japan Expo convention included Goku (Base and Super Saiyan), Android 18, Future Trunks, Frieza, Vegeta (Base), Cell (Perfect Form), Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan), and Saibaman. A second trailer was released on June 30th, confirming a release date of October 25th for North America, and displayed several Namek Saga scenes, along with Super Saiyan 3 Goku, and Janemba (First Form). The development team of Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi confimed in an interview that most of the Dragon Ball GT characters will be appearing in this new game, with Super Saiyan 4 returning as well.

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi dives into the Dragon Ball universe with brand new content and gameplay, and a comprehensive character line up. It has faithful manga-style graphics, totally destructible battle fields, and refined controls designed to bring the experience closer to the highly acclaimed Budokai Tenkaichi series.

The character and environment graphics are upgraded since the previous series; characters are drawn straight from the original series and to match the anime and makes it a true Dragon Ball experience. The game features the original Japanese voices and music.

The controls are designed to bring the experience closer to the previous Budokai Tenkaichi series, making the play accessible to all, but retaining all the tactical depth in battle. Improved mechanics allow for faster long-to-short range fights. The gameplay also includes elements from the Budokai series, such as Quick Time Events during certain combos. There is also an added health recovery system and a vast collection of more cinematic camera angles.

The enhanced Story Mode inmerses players in the Dragon Ball universe, and included bonus levels from the Dragon Ball Z movies and from the Dragon Ball GT series. It includes Free-Roam style gameplay similar to the Story Mode of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2. Fifteen animated scenes with bosses are included. Great Apes and other giant characters, such as Janemba (First Form) and Hirudegarn, up to 15x the size of playable characters are featured in boss fights and/or cinematics. The story mode also features digitally remastered scenes from the anime, making it more true to the Dragon Ball series.

The Story Mode begins with a battle between Bardock and Frieza, then the battle against Raditz and ends with the final fight between Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and Omega Shenron. During Free Roam (if playing as Goku), you can ride the Nimbus Cloud or have another character such as Piccolo follow you. There are also Chase Sequences found in such instances as a battle between Vegeta and Zarbon. This includes a chase where you must escape Zarbon without getting to close or risk being defeated, as most villians will not hesitate to fire Ki Blasts if you lag behind.

After finishing the battle between Bardock and Frieza, and getting hit by Frieza's Supernova technique, a cutscene ensues showing the destruction of Planet Vegeta and Goku's arrival on Earth. After the cutscene, it shows flashbacks of Goku and Gohan at the Kame House, Goku taking the powerful blow to the stomach by Raditz, as well as Goku atop the Nimbus Cloud flying alongside Piccolo. The Free Roam screen includes a Dragon Radar used for finding such places as the Story Objectives or the World Tournament, however, if visiting the World Tournament during Story Mode, you will be forced to use the character you are currently playing as in Story Mode. The screen also includes use of capsules, a recharge button and a full screen Dragon Radar. Also, certains characters equipped with scouters may use them as well. This interface is almost no different aside from giving the screen a red tint and including arrows that appear to guide you towards your next Story Objective. You also have the option to locate the Story Objectives or rather, you can hide it and attept to find it on your own. Although this sounds difficult, Story Objectives have a large beam of light that shoot sup from the ground, making them easy to spot at close range. When you reach the Story Objectives and begin a battle, you will find that the Fight Sequences are far more accurate than those found the previous installments. For example, rather than you having to do a Team Super Attack to kill Raditz with a Special Beam Cannon, Goku automatically holds Raditz while Piccolo launches it and destroys them both. This same effect can be seen when defeating Vegeta (Scouter) and executing the Spirit Bomb (or Fusion Spirit Bomb, as it was called in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2) when used as a Team Super Attack.

After a battle, a cutscene will ensue, followed by a narration telling the events that have taken place since that battle has taken place. After this, you will return to the Free Roam screen and be free to travel to the next Story Objective. Also, several Story Objectives contain Boss Battles, which often take place after defeating certain enemies to a point, such as Vegeta (Scouter). After his apparent defeat, he transforms into a Great Ape. Most bosses can be defeated easily by either punching them or firing Ki Blasts at them. After this they can be taken down easily, often with only a few button combinations.

Ultimate Tenkaichi includes a special mode, called "Hero Mode", which allows the player to experience the brand new age of Dragon Ball Z. A "Complete Character Creation & Customization" feature was confirmed on July 2011 by Namco Bandai Games. Appearance and attributes can be customized such as model body, face, hair, attire, type of voice your character will have, and fighting style. Additionally fighting style and special moves can be selected. The created characters can roam the world, battle various enemies from the series and share their characters online. Only male characters can be made.

The Hero Mode includes its own story with missions similar to that of the story mode, but without anime cutscenes. While training around the world, the hero meets and fights Captain Ginyu, who gives him a Dragon Ball. Later, the hero hears of Android 17 and Android 18, he fights them in a city and learns that they possess two Dragon Balls and the Dragon Radar. He spares them after the battle and obtains the Dragon Radar and their two Dragon Balls. During his journey, the signals on the radar disappear. The hero hears of Piccolo, the reincartion of King Piccolo, and tries to find out if he is behind the recent disasters on Earth. He fights Piccolo on the glacier, and transforms into a Super Saiyan during the battle. He then learns that Piccolo was looking who was responsible for the chaos too. Piccolo tells him that someone gathered the seven Dragon Balls a years ago and wished Ultimate Shenron to make Earth a living Hell. When he was about to confront this person, Piccolo was attacked and injured by a Great Ape. Then, Piccolo offers to train the young hero. After this, the hero finds the Great Ape who injured Piccolo, Golden Great Ape Baby, in a city. He defeats him and learns that the person he is looking for is Omega Shenron. He goes where the Dragon Radar displays the location of three Dragon Balls, and finds Omega Shenron. After being defeated by Omega Shenron, and having his Dragon Balls stolen and scattered, the hero must gather six Dragon Balls by battling various characters, and then he must defeat Omega Shenron for the seventh Dragon Ball. On Kami's Lookout, the hero finds Ultimate Shenron controlled by Omega Shenron's negative energy. The eternal dragon attacks the hero while he was trying to make a wish. Once defeated, Ultimate Shenron grants the hero's wish to bring back all those who were killed by the chaos Omega Shenron created.

Like many games before it, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi features a World Martial Arts Tournament mode where up to 16 characters can be registered in a tournament. The difficulty can be changed.

It is almost identical previous installments aside from the fact that you can use custom characters to compete. This mode also includes the Stage Destruction, however it is not as in-depth and realistic as the Story, Hero, or Battle Modes.

I posed this question because the game felt very lax to me. Every character plays exactly the same way. Every character, inckuding the created characters, have the same cutscenes and there are only about 10 of them. I think they took a step back in the character individuality department. This is the first DBZ game, other than Sagas (if you haven't played it... don't waste your time or your money), that I've really complained about. Every other game had something to bring to the table. Dragonball Z Budokai was the first DBZ 3D fighter. Budokai 2 allowed specials to be pulled off without hitting a combo first. Budokai 3 had the first open-world exploration element. Tenkaichi introduced the "3re person fly-behind" camera angle. Tenkaichi 2 Improved on the fighting mechanics and added more moves. Tenkaichi 3 had a huge roster spanning all three series (DB, DBZ, GT). Burst Limit was the first on the next gen games. Raging Blast Series went back to the Tenkaichi style and greatly improved upon the camera and fight mechanics. When I played Ultimate Tenkaichi, I had the choice of throwing two (2) types of ki blasts from only a certain distance, hitting either the X or (square) button (Depending on your system) 4 times and choosing to hit the X/square button or the A/X button. I'm sorry, not exciting. I mentioned it earlier but every character shares the exact same cut scenes (except for Special Moves i.e. Kamehameha). I got extremely tired of the stop in action to watch the same crap over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and... well you get the point. Hero mode is ok. I like the concept. In fact it's the biggest reason I was so looking forward to the game... period. For their first try, it wasn't bad. But again, you can only do the same thing 5.000.000 times before you get sick of it. If they'd combined the roster of Tenkaichi 3 with the fight mechanics of Raging Blast and added character customization, the game could have been amazing. This just feels like I'm playing a Final Fantasy game but the decisions don't have any consequences. I don't know... They could have done better. I feel that they have taken a huge step back and, trust me, no one is pulling for them to get a game right than I am. It's the greatest anime ever. Only makes sense that they would have the greatest representation of the anime in video game form.

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