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Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road First Look

By Ricardo Torres, GameSpotPosted Feb 7, 2007 11:49 am PT

Atari shows off its newest portable brawler for the PSP based on the anime classic.

With the success of last year's Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai for the PSP, Atari and developer Dimps are prepping a new installment in the portable branch of the fighting series. Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road offers refinements and new content to the framework of last year's game. We had the chance to try out a work-in-progress version of the game to see how the follow-up is coming along.

The follow up to last year's DBZ Shin Budokai, Another Road is heading to the PSP in March.

Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road stays true to the winning formula introduced in the Budokai series on consoles three years ago, which set the standard for the recent renaissance of DBZ games. For fans who suffered through the earlier less-than-stunning entries in the series, 2002's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai was akin to discovering fire. Given the positive response to the game and its successors, Atari and Dimps aren't straying too far from what's come before. You'll find your standard array of modes, such as another road (the story mode), arcade, network, and Z trial. The story mode features a new twist on the DBZ narrative by offering an alternative scenario that follows Trunks in a distinctly different future from the established lore. The network mode offers ad hoc combat for two players. Finally, the Z trial mode features three different match types to test your skills: survival, time attack, and challenge. The roster of 24 fighters will feature a mix of fan favorites from Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and the Dragon Ball movies.

Combat in the game is faithful to the previous installment and leans more toward the system seen in the third console game. You'll have the same core attacks as in previous games: rush attack on the square button, smash attack on the triangle, and ki attack on the circle. You'll block with the X button, charge your ki with the left shoulder button, and trigger your aura burst with the right trigger.

The visuals in the game are on par with last year's game, offering some minor improvements to the camera system. Characters are detailed and sport a pseudo cel-shaded look that approximates the look of the anime and manga. The environments share the same aesthetic, but they feature the expected layer of interactivity, as it just wouldn't be a Dragon Ball game if you couldn't knock someone through a mountain. The crazy fighting is enhanced, as always, by a host of special effects to highlight various attacks, transformations, and crazy ultimate attack madness.

Much like the gameplay, Another Road's audio isn't straying from the standards set by the last game. You'll hear ample amounts of voice from the anime's voice actors, who nail their business like pros. Combat yields the same solid array of collisions and effects for everyone's attacks, with the supers offering the craziest audio.

Twenty four fighters will be featured in the game, drawing from both the DBZ television shows and the movies.

Based on what we played, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road is shaping up to be a solid follow-up to Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai. The game appears to be covering its bases with its selection of characters and new modes. Although you won't find anything earth shattering, the new "what if" scenario adds an interesting wrinkle that should please fans. The multiplayer support is solid, but as with last year's game, we'd hoped for something more robust. If you're a fan of the DBZ fighters or dig last year's game, you'll want to keep an eye out for Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road when it ships this March for the PSP.

50 Comments

  • Oozaru_Kakkarot

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 8:19 am PT

    Naruto and Bleach are both shonen but neither of them will ever become as powerfull a legend as the original shonen Dragon ball Z...

    I like the fights more in Bleach then in Naruto but I like The story more in Naruto then in Bleach...

    Yu Yu Hakusho and One piece are also shonen...

    Most shonen animes are the way they are because of Dragon ball z....

    Dont you fans ever forget the original!!! Dragon Ball Z is beyond epic...and yes its still on TV and Games are still coming out...

    They are just milking the hell out of it...

    That new Naruto Game comin out for 360 looks pretty cool...hope they make a Bleach game soon too though...

  • coolasj19

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 7:26 pm PT

    NARUTO!!! NARUTO!!! NARUTO!!! NARUTO!!! NARUTO!!!

  • Vegeta-sama

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 6:57 pm PT

    DBZ has been over for years now... I don't know if they still show it... Naruto has kind of taken it's spot from what I understand

  • SSJ_GOTENKS

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:36 pm PT

    man it was suppose to come out today, but it isnt! darn eb games

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Mar 20, 2007 7:37 am PT

    wooooooo .... DBZ portable eh!

  • JBiker51

    Posted Mar 20, 2007 3:55 am PT

    Do they still have the shows going or has it all ended?

  • Duck_Zero

    Posted Mar 17, 2007 1:13 pm PT

    havn't played the previous DBZ game for the PSP but it looks cool. so does this one

  • KORE00

    Posted Mar 13, 2007 9:52 pm PT

    this games gonna be tight, better than the first one for sure if your a DBZ fan then youll like this game if your not then you wont its as simple as that. in rating id say itd be from 8.0 to 8.7 but whatever who knows.

  • ThePhilosopher

    Posted Mar 4, 2007 2:11 pm PT

    this game will be fine. to answer some questions: no burst mode cause if you button mash your psp, you'll probably break it.

    no beam struggles cause, the analog nub would not be adept in handling the many rotations and rotating with the d-pad is so pre-N64, what they could do, is have a "press the corresponding button" mode, like the in naruto series when someone hits you with a finishing move, whoever has the most correct button inputs, wins the struggle

    dragon rush and hyper mode sucked, no one wants to play a guessing game, it was cool for DBZ:B3 but no more. aura burst and the psp button lay out is great, theres still combos to be memorized, you just gotta be nice with it.

    in game cut scenes? nah, this is a psp, a portable experience , so the action has to be streamlined. they did a good job in the first game. vegeta's big bang attack was a huge finisher on ps2, but the way the incorporated it onto the psp was brilliant, as was solar flare, goku's spirit shot, trunks' slash, etc.

    the fact that you can charge everything is awesome

    i like how you can fly at anytime, side-step, and circle around opponets, many of which you couldn't do in DBZ:B3 and DBZ:B3 was a great game w/o it, as well as the back flip ground fall.

    a change i would like to see, that DBZ:B3 had was the ability to transform to all the transformations between the base character and final form of the character you pick.

    infrastructure mode would be nice

    destructible environments would be cool too

    the player profile card thing has to go, its pointless. some type of capsule collecting element would suit it better

    if it's broke, don't fix it. thats the main theme of this game, so a new story with new characters and tweaked stuff, is all the game needs

  • emanthechamp

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 8:16 pm PT

    the first one was bad because it took the stratgy away from memorizing combos and switched it with button mashing aka quick attack and smash attack. it also stunt because it took out the in-battle cutsenes. just because its on the psp is not an exscuse. I agree with everyone else, nothing has changed. this is all coming from a hardcore dbz fan and so these games are pretty bad.

  • dr_jashugan

    Posted Feb 20, 2007 1:12 pm PT

    Will there be power struggles between fighters in this game?

  • psp100thNOOB

    Posted Feb 19, 2007 1:59 pm PT

    This is one of the game I am looking forward to.... HAHAHAHA .... DBZ rules

  • Spazzdude

    Posted Feb 18, 2007 9:56 am PT

    Unless you're a hardcore DB/Z/GT fan rent this......or borrow from a gullible friend

  • Rakuho

    Posted Feb 16, 2007 12:28 pm PT

    If it doesn't have customiztion options i'd pass on this game. Customizing and searching for capsules was what made DBZ budokai 3 so great. If this game had that stupid sticker/ poster thing or whatever again, then there is no reason to get this game, 30-40 bucks are not worth the measly 6 characters and the same exact game as shin budokai. (I really hope Atari doesn't go Dynasy Warriors on us... if u kno wht i mean)

  • nastya0391

    Posted Feb 14, 2007 6:11 pm PT

    for this game i will do the same that i did with the frist one. rent it , play it and if i liked it . buy it.

  • bigsexyleon

    Posted Feb 13, 2007 3:25 pm PT

    budokai 3 on ps2 was good, shin budokai was terrible and this looks like shin budokai but with a diff story, tenkaichi was terrible super dbz was good, and no online...AGAIN? i smell a quick buck

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