Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 powering up nicely for PS2 & Wii
The newest upcoming Dragon Ball Z game in the series for PS2 & Wii, titled Budokai Tenkaichi 2, has a greater emphasis on story this time around. So much so developers calculate average play time to exceed 50 hours, a huge increase compared to past games. And keep in mind the story will take 50 hours, not just playing random fights repeatedly.
Fans will love the fact Tenkaichi 2 includes narrative content from almost every DBZ-related movie, manga and TV show ever created. You can’t just play them all from the get-go, you need to earn the right, but when you do there will be 120 characters in total to choose from!
It’s not just the amount of story-related stuff, either, but the way the game lets you explore it all. You can now blast through the heavens in search of fights and narrative tidbits. You actually steer your character (or group of characters) through the clouds until you notice special markers on the world map. Different colors represent different things to do, so a yellow blip will indicate a fight, etc. Each story line allows for character customization, too. You score money by winning fights and then take your reward to an item shop where you can upgrade you character. You can now even undergo “super Saiyan” changes right in the midst of battle by charging a special meter.
There are 15 vast and vibrant 3D destructible environments, and nine different game modes, including single and multiplayer battles. You can level mountains or outcroppings using an array of attacks, so there’s always a degree of interactivity. One of the new stages takes place above a field of glaciers. The fight can start above the ocean, in the clouds, but can drop down to the glaciers themselves and even underwater. They all look good, too, from a visual standpoint; much more so than older titles in the franchise.
Players can jump into the Dragon Library to catch up on everything DBZ. You can rummage through character profiles, story lines, factoids and more. It’s a good extra for those who may need a brief DBZ tutorial to understand the main story, but it’s also cool to have around for old-time fans. Also, you can play the entire game in the original Japanese. This is true of both text and audio.
The Wii version, in development along side the PlayStation 2 edition, will take advantage of both the enhanced visual capabilities as well as the unique control functions* of the upcoming system.
Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi 2 developer received tester feedback that using the Wii’s controller may tire players (not surprising with over 50 hours of gameplay!). For this reason the Wii version will also have the ability for players to plug in GameCube controllers to control the game the more “traditional” way.
This is unlike the upcoming Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the GameCube controller will be able to play the GameCube version on the Wii console. But will not be able to play the Wii version, that only works with the Wii’s controller. On the other hand, many different games also allow it like Super Smash Bros Brawl and Metal Slug Anthology. So those 4 GameCube controller ports on your Wii will come in handy.
* Players will command their on-screen fighters with the nunchuk and Wii-mode combination Movement of their character will be handled by the analog stick on the nunchuck, and punches and kicks pulled off by the buttons on the pointer device. The game will recognize movement of both handheld units and respond accordingly; thrusting the nunchuck downwards like a drumstick will perform the character’s dash move, for example. Most importantly, players will pull off character-specific special attacks by holding the two units in certain positions to charge and fire them off. Some maneuvers require players to hold the controllers up high, some down low, and some tucked into their chest as if pulling off a Kamehameha!
The release date is set for October 27-31 on PS2, and Wii will get it in November 2006. Read more hands-on impressions at IGN.
8 December 2006 21:07jojo
When will dragon ballz budokai tenkaichi 2 come to asia(cities like Pakistan)
i want too this game
