Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi First Look

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is the fourth entry in the series of fighting games based on the extremely popular anime series. Although Budokai 3 was warmly received by the press and fans alike, Spike hasn't rested on its laurels while developing Tenkaichi (roughly translated as "best in the universe") and seems committed to delivering a game that's significantly bigger and better than any of the previous games in the series. We were shown a couple of fights from the game and came away with these impressions.

Fans of the television series will be pleased to note that Tenkaichi has a greatly expanded cast of characters when compared to previous games. We're told that the roster will include 60 characters, including relatively recent additions to the DBZ universe, such as Janemba, and old favorites that haven't seen the Budokai treatment yet, like the diminutive Chaiotzu.

We managed to check out a bout between Goku and Kid Buu, which took place in a rocky canyon stage. Graphically, the game is similar to Budokai 3 but with a bit more of a realistic look to it. The characters themselves are faithful to their television counterparts, but Spike has backed off the full cel-shading in Budokai 3, with the result that the character models are sharper around the edges and are more defined in appearance. In addition, character models will now be modified during fights as each character takes damage. For instance, Goku started the fight with a relatively clean uniform, but at the end of the fight (in which he barely managed to defeat Buu), he was noticeably bruised up, and his outfit had numerous tears and scrapes in it.

Another big change is in the appearance of the stages themselves. They're actually bigger than in Budokai 3 and incorporate new breakable objects. In the canyon stage we saw, there were a number of rock pillars scattered around the center of the area; these are fully breakable and result in extra damage--and some impressive explosions--when you happen to throw your opponent through them. In another interesting twist, some of these breakable objects will reportedly have power-ups hidden inside them, allowing you to grab extra health or energy during the course of a match.

Fans of Budokai 3's dragon universe mode will also be pleased to hear that Spike has apparently expanded the story portion of the game. Although we didn't get to witness this aspect of the game for ourselves, we're told that Tenkaichi will incorporate more saga storylines, which should add up to an adventure that's roughly 50 percent longer than that of the previous game.

Overall, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is shaping up to be another impressive game in a series of games that has really been the saving grace for fans of Dragon Ball Z video games. We'll see more of the game at E3, and we hope to get a glimpse of its split-screen two-player combat then.