Dragon Ball: Raging Blast
Looks the same if not even better than the cartoon on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but kids must wait until autumn to unleash their inner Super Saiyan.
Having proved their point with games such as Killzone and Gears of War, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are now cruising into Christmas with good-looking blockbusters such as Dragon Ball: Raging Blast. If your household DB fan lit up when they saw Goku and Frieza erupt on PlayStation 2, the latest console experience could see them transforming into glowing psycho-powered warriors quicker than you can say “Kame Hame Ha”!
You can tell Namco Bandai games are thrilled with what they’re about to unleash on an unsuspecting juvenile public. The latest Dragon Ball console games are almost indistinguishable from the brightly coloured, fast and frenetic battles depicted in the Japanese anime. They’ll look even better than the cartoons in fact if you’re playing through an HDTV. With infectious enthusiasm the creative team is aiming for something ‘far beyond’ what kids witness on the telly or DVD.
They're well on target.
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is the latest in a very popular fighting series, but this year ups the ante with 70 playable characters and MASSIVE destructible 3D arenas. The latter enable battles to reproduce the free-form canyon busting exploits of the anime, as you can see in the screens but of course this all looks much better in motion. Fighters zip around the screen at blinding speed, dodging projectiles before appearing in your face to deliver concussive blows.
Wide-open spaces add an element of pursuit to the battles, whereas in previous editions combat was kind of like an aerial Tekken – toe-to-toe exchanging blows and blasts. The new Super Rising technique really adds to the sensation of vertigo as fighters soar hundreds of metres into the air to perform speciality moves that send their foes crashing down at faint-inducing speeds.
To further convey the thrill of the anime you’ll relish the fact that all the environments are destructive, so when a character gets slammed into a cliff he’ll leave a huge dent… or sail clean through! And you’ll see the hurt on their faces too, while the victor’s expression changes from desperation to elation.
Although our experience with the game has so far been brief, we've seen enough to know that Dragon Ball: Raging Blast will be a must for DB fans when it arrives later this year.
