Dragon Ball Raging Blast

[nitnit]

The latest fighting game in the Dragon Ball franchise, I had the great luck of having it shipped out from gamefly the day it came out. I've been playing it, a lot, so here's a mini-review/rundown

Raging Blast is the latest in the "Tenkaichi" style of DBZ games. Not to be confused with the "Budokai" games, the latest of which was Burst Limit. Like its predecessors, RB features full 3D battles, and lots of flashy effects in an attempt to stay true to the series' style.

While the Budokai games are better for competitive battling, I have a hard time denying that the Tenkaichi style is overall funner.

RB features:

- A wide selection of characters ranging from the saiyan to maijin sagas. Broly and Bardock are included. Unfortunately there is no Dabura, Hercule, or movie villains. Unlike TK3 however, each character has its unique "signature move", and play slightly differently; giving this series much needed depth.

- Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Broly. They have been added in via the "what if" stories, and, in my opinion are great. Of course, if you're a purist you'll hate them.

- Most extensive story mode. They cover nearly every battle in the main series, at least almost every battle that they have characters for. There is also a lot of "what if" stories that are pretty fun too.

- The skill required to play is medium low. It's about as easy to pick up as Super Smash Brawl, and features about the same amount of depth in game mechanics. That said, RB's mechanics are fairly... unbalanced. Combos are achieved by mashing X and then the occasional Y, and counters/dodges are only a few buttons away. On the plus side, two highly skilled human players can find a lot of depth to the system, much more than in the old tenkaichi games

- Best character customization system yet (imo). You have a big grid that you can fill up with tetris ish blocks, which range from powering up your melee/ki/defense/special to giving you special auras, halos, and whatnot.

- Online play works. It isn't perfect, you dont get credit against rage DCers, but it isn't as laggy as Soul Calibur 4, Tenkaichi 3, or Burst Limit.

- Fantastic graphics. The lightly cel shaded art style is very fitting for the anime, the best DBZ graphics yet.

- For those who care, getting 1000/1000 achievement points is a long, painful process. (Like most fighting games on the 360)


So, in short, if you're fine with fewer, but better developed characters than Tenkaichi 3, then you'll love Raging Blast. If you hate the tenkaichi style, or DBZ in general, then stay away.

One problem though. The camera in this game is bad when you are near a wall, or your opponent is too directly above you. Just wanted to let you know.  

[Volkenheim]

That's really nice review. smile Also, I always thought the Tenkaichi series were way better than the budokai games since you get to fly around and the battles are much more dynamic.  

[nitnit]

Thanks =D

I'll admit that for anyone who isn't a fan of the series... they should probably stay away... but if you liked tenkaichi, or thought that tenkaichi needed a little fine tuning, it's definitely worth a try.  

[Your Irish Twin Brother]

nitnit

Thanks =D

I'll admit that for anyone who isn't a fan of the series... they should probably stay away... but if you liked tenkaichi, or thought that tenkaichi needed a little fine tuning, it's definitely worth a try.

This game makes me angry. The Wii has got the last 2 DBZ fighting games, and now we get an short RPG and a side scroller instead of a fighting game, which is where DBZ shines. scream

But the graphics of this game are amazing though. heart The closest to the show so far.  

[nitnit]

Raging Blast would definitely be doable for the Wii. Just look at games like Monster Hunter 3. RB's graphics are great, but the Wii can definitely handle them with some effort. Unfortunately Atari, and more importantly Spike don't really seem too interested in putting in all of their effort.

I view the whole Tenkaichi series as a work in progress, with each new version being closer to what it should be - a balanced 3D fighter featuring the entire cast of Dragon Ball/Z/some GT, with each character being relatively unique. A daunting task for sure, but maybe in 10 years we'll see it.  

[Raike99]

Sounds fun; I'll consider buying this when I get my PS3 in a few weeks.
Only thing I don't like is that 70+ characters are being cut.  

[Felix Kristanelo]

I was thinking of skipping this one but maybe i'll give it a try  

[Jahinske The Second]

I bought every single DBZ game out, but I really want to rent or borrow this before I pay a hard 60 bucks. It really doesn't look worth it with the limited character count. I do like the Tenkaichi style over the budokai though. Blockbuster doesn't carry this, but I'll be sure to try it. Thanks for the review, by the way.

 

[nitnit]

Like I said, it's really a matter of if you prefer a huge character roster or slightly updated gameplay / solid online play. (And vastly upgraded graphics)

Some people don't really care at all about the battle system and just want to have ridiculous battles between Cyborg General Tao and Omega Shenron. This is understandable, but raging blast is not for them.  

[Tron714]

GOOOOOOOOSH this game is horrible!!!! Just rented this to see how they are changing the gameplay and blarg! This game blows.

Reasons why this game sucks:
-the button layout is little terrible(why is the right stick for ki?)
-the camera is miserably looking somewhere else
-characters are not balanced
-it doesn't take much effort for combat(Where is my combinations? gonk )
-the "what if's" are terrible (as nitnit pointed out for purists, this is not fanfiction!)  

[Jahinske The Second]

I want to rent it, but blockbuster isn't carrying it.

 

[nitnit]

Tron714

GOOOOOOOOSH this game is horrible!!!! Just rented this to see how they are changing the gameplay and blarg! This game blows.

Reasons why this game sucks:
-the button layout is little terrible(why is the right stick for ki?)
-the camera is miserably looking somewhere else
-characters are not balanced
-it doesn't take much effort for combat(Where is my combinations? gonk )
-the "what if's" are terrible (as nitnit pointed out for purists, this is not fanfiction!)

The button layout is fine. The what-ifs are fanfiction, never said they weren't...

Also I'm just going to assume you never played a tenkaichi game before.  

[Kunx the Mighty]

Tron714

-characters are not balanced

It's a DBZ game it's based on power levels and strength. DBZ:RGBT is now about melee and not ki blasts.  

[King-Kai91]

Thanks for the review! I can't wait to get the game it looks and sounds good!  

[Lt Gigglebottom]

nice review i thought almost that exact same thing as you did when i played it, but soul calibur 4 was never really a laggy problem for me.