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Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Hands On Mini Preview
Jon Wilcox
28/03/2006
TVG goes Super Saiyan in this hands on preview of DBZ's PSP debut...
Having made an appearance on pretty much every platform dating back to the Nintendo Famicom (NES) in the early 1990s, the Jump series Dragon Ball Z is set to make its debut on Sony's PSP on April 21st. Revolving around the events of the anime movie, Fusion Reborn (or Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Returns! Goku and Vegeta in Japan), the game looks set to bring the high tempo, and often bizarre, world of DBZ to the portable platform with a number of game modes and Ad Hoc Wi-Fi multiplayer.
The main mode in the game, Dragon Road, describes the story of Fusion Reborn, and sees the release of all the souls back onto Earth, including some of the series' most challenging characters such as Janemba. Caught out while planning a camping trip, DBZ hero Son Guko and the rest of Earth's defenders find themselves travelling across planes of reality as they try to stop evil from taking over. As you'd expect from a Dragon Ball Z title, the storyline and especially the dialogue does get a tad bizarre at times, but that's all part of the DBZ experience. Although largely following a linear series of fights, the Dragon Road mode does include several alternative fights according to a player's decision during certain cut-scenes. It's a neat idea that to a certain extent breaks an otherwise rigid structure, and it'll be interesting to see exactly how much it's used in the final version of the game.
Oozing a similar style to its PlayStation2 predecessors, Shin Budokai features cel-shaded 3D characters, bringing the anime to life, together with many of the trademark techniques (such as movement lines and striped backgrounds). Taking the battle to the skies, a staple part of any self-respecting Dragon Ball Z title, is of course prevalent throughout Shin Budokai, and certainly helps to recreate that authentic DBZ touch. What's perhaps most surprising is how well the control system is shaping up on the mono-analogue PSP. Whereas it's fair to say that a lot of titles have been let down by the lack of a second stick on the Sony handheld, the control system in Budokai is shaping up to be one of the most responsive to be released on the system to date.
In addition to the Story Mode, Shin Budokai also brings two staple gametypes of the beat-em-up genre, Survival and Time Attack, to the PSP. As with a multitude of other fighters, Survival sees players fend of a never-ending barrage of enemies until their health reaches zero, whilst Time Attack mode tests a player's ability to complete a series of fights in the quickest time possible. Of course neither are particularly original, but along with the story mode, they do offer a level of variety that seems to be ideal for PSP pick-up-and-playability, although hopefully the Autosave will be turned on by default.
Shin Budokai is set to feature fourteen playable characters at the start of the game, with further additions available as players progress through different modes. Gamers can also choose which of the character forms to fight as, such as Son Goku's Kaioken or Vegeta's Super Saiyan, though the variants may confuse Dragon Ball Z newcomers. The ability to choose a particular character is only available in three of the gametypes however (Arcade, Time Trial, and Survival) with players designated different fighters through the course of the main "Dragon Road" Story Mode.
Fighting the AI is one thing, but Shin Budokai also features one-on-one multiplayer through the PSP's Wi-Fi Ad Hoc system. As well as the ability to choose a multiplayer game from the menu, the game also includes an interrupt feature so that a player caught in mid-fight can be challenged by a second PSP at any point. It's the equivalent of player two pressing "Start" on a console, and works particularly well, though one concern (like most of the PSP's titles) is that the chances of finding that second player during travelling may prove to be a little difficult.
Perhaps the most peculiar feature in the game is the ability to create your own profile card, which breakdown the player's battle stats, and can be swapped with other Shin Budokai gamers via Ad Hoc Wi-Fi. It's certainly an original idea, but hopefully gamers will be able to spend their hard earned 'Zenie' on character upgrades rather than just new images to accessorize their profile cards. It does seem to be a good way of keeping track of the different PvP battles fought, however the mode obviously relies on frequent Ad Hoc battles to be of any real use.
Distinctly Dragon Ball, Shin Budokai is shaping up to be good addition to the ever-expanding franchise of DBZ titles. It certainly seems to be suited to the handheld platform (hopefully auto-save will be switched on by default when the game is released at the end of April), and has that pick-up-and-playability that's nigh on a requirement of PSP titles.
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