Review #177: Dragon Ball Z - Tenkaichi Tag Team

 The best Dragon Ball game on a handheld.

 Back when the PSP first launched, it promised PS2-quality games, and it failed to deliver until later in its lifespan. Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi Tag Team was the final installment of the Tenkaichi series and it was made exclusively for the PSP. Not only does it deliver a "PS2 quality experience", it's also one of the best versions of the Tenkaichi games.

 The game offers a respectable amount of modes, Story Mode, which covers the entire series from Raditz's arrival to Buu's confrontation, witch unlockable "what if" scenarios. Story Mode is fairly interesting, as you are placed on an overworld, and you can just go straight to your objective, or travel around in search of sidequests which reward you with Capsules or Money. Whether you tackle the optional objectives or not, it's still a fairly lengthy mode. Then there's the obligatory VS CPU or Player mode, "Battle Selection" which houses Survival and 'vs 100' where you take different battles that task you with different challenges for points, Training and Customization. Customization works just like it did on Budokai Tenkaichi 3, you can equip your fighter with different Potaras to raise its stats, there's even "AI" Potaras to make the CPU fight in a certain way, or Potaras that change the color of your Aura, very cool.

 The game plays just like Budokai Tenkaichi 3 but with a twist... there can now be up to 4 fighters at the same time! Sadly, no free for all, it has to be in teams of up to two(1 vs 2 or 2 vs 2, no 3 vs 1), but it's still very cool. Obviously controls have been tweaked to fit the PSP, and they work very well. Transforming is no done with the Select button, Specials are done with L+Triangle and Stock-consuming Specials with L+Circle and R is used to switch targets. It works well, I didn't have any issues with the controls. Naturally, the character roster saw some cuts, but mostly of the side characters. The only movie characters that made the cut are Brolly(Legendary Super Saiyan only) and Gogeta, everyone else is gone, other cuts include GT charactes(Who needs them?) and Dragon Ball characters. Some minor characters are also gone, like Future Gohan, Oozaru transformations, Frieza's father and Super Buu(Gotenks absorbed, the other two are in.). Basically, everyone that matters in the Dragon Ball story is accounted for. The stage selection was also cut to ten, but it's enough stages.

 Graphics are phenomenal, character models are on par with Budokai Tenkaichi 3's, but they lack some of the details, and they don't move their mouths when they speak. The game also looks less vibrant, Tenkaichi 3 was very colorful, this game opted for a more subdued color palette, which I think doesn't look as good. The particle effects and beams don't look as good, but some of the bigger explosive attacks cause the framerate to drop, so they probably did the best they could. Music is fairly good, it suits the game. As for the voice acting... there's no dual audio, which is disappointing, but not a deal breaker, the English voices get the job done, and they are not as bad as people make it out to be. Plus, the game has a lot of voice acting, there's many voiced dialogues in the Story Mode.

 Tenkaichi Tag Team is an excellent Dragon Ball Z game and a superb handheld game. There's a ton of content that can be played in small bursts, ideal for a game on the go. The gameplay is intact from the PS2 games, and the new 4 player battles are a blast. The one thing that could be held against the game is that the tutorial is only text-based, and not very good, and I guess the controls can be a bit overwhelming for someone new to the franchise, but coming from Tekaichi 3 and Raging Blast, I had no troubles coming to grips with them. Would I recommend the game to someone who isn't a fan of DBZ? It's a toughie, as fun as the game is, I don't think it's worth learning the game to someone who isn't a fan of DBZ or hasn't dabbled into the Tenkaichi series, I can see how learning to play the game could put people off, but then again, I think it's worth the hurdle.
 8.0 out of 10.