Am I really doing this…? I always said to myself ‘’I’m never going to review the Budokai Tenkaichi games, because I would be super biased’’

So, yeah, welcome to one of my most biased reviews of all time! I am reviewing dragon ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 1, and I’ll be doing the rest, too, and trust me, I’ll be even more biased with those ones.

So if you like Bias reviews, you’ve come to the right place, mate!

So why am I biased, well, this series of games is the most nostalgic series of games for me, and I know I’m 12, so maybe It doesn’t count in your eyes, but it does in mine!

The first one in the series happens to be my least favourite one.

It was released in October of 2005 to all of the world, and as to be expected from dragon ball games, the pal box art is better than the awful NTSC box art.

It was developed by Spike, and published by Atari. (Bandai published it in Japan)

Anyway, let’s get going!

Depth: 7/10

There is a lot to do in this game, you might not have a lot of different modes, but what’s there is very big, and will take a while to beat. It’s probably one of the biggest fighting games on the PS2.

First off, there’s the main 1 player mode of the game, Z-Battle Gate, this is a mode where you fight opponents with various objectives, like kill your opponent with a certain move, survive for so long, etc. It follows the Anime, and manga pretty closely, and even has some nice unlockable what-if sagas I won’t spoil.

Then, there’s the Ultimate Battle mode, which is also playable in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 with the ‘’Disc Fusion’’

It’s a mode where you pick a character, start from number 100, and try to make your way to the top, I never really thought this mode was anything special but it’s a great time killer, and it can get pretty freaking difficult, too.

There’s also a tournament mode, you can earn some money from it, which you can use to buy items to improve a character.

Gameplay: 8/10

One of the most important aspects about a game, is of course the gameplay, now this game’s gameplay, is much different than those of a normal fighting game, and here’s why.

It’s behind the back, and in a destructible 3D environment, now that might sound completely looney, but it’s executed very well, there is somewhat of a learning curve to this game, but it’s a fun learning curve.

What I mean by a destructible environment is, well, it is destructible, there are buildings you can destroy, trees you can blast off, and much more.

Probably the best thing about the gameplay is how true it is to the anime. You feel like you’re in dragon ball, which is an accomplishment because dragon ball is very high paced, and difficult to make an accurate game of.

The worst thing about the gameplay is the camera, it’s bad, but it’s not great, either, it was fixed in later installments.

Flying in future games, felt a lot more refined, in this game, it feels somewhat stiff, you can fly fast by pressing the X button, but it doesn’t feel fluent, and you can still get hit really easily by an attack.

Graphics: 8/10

These graphics are really impressive, some of the shading here looks very good, and the character models are pretty much identical to their anime counterpart, the beams look kind of weird, though. I don’t know what it is, they just look off.

Now, I would comment on the transformation sequence, but – There isn’t one. Yes, that’s true, in this game, you cannot transform in to a super saiyan, they're all their own character, now do I like this?

No. One of the most exciting things in the future games, especially tenkaichi 3, were the transformation sequences – especially frieza’s in my opinion.

The stages in this game, look really great. They feel open, and just give you a good vibe, and really adds to the game.

The stages are colourful, and cheery when they need to be, and dark and gloomy when they need to be, it’s really fantastic.

Story: 10/10

Of course I’m biased, I grew up with dragon ball, since I was 4, 5 years old, I was sucked in to the world of dragon ball.

As I mentioned in the depth category there was a mode galled ‘’Dragon Gate’’ This is where all of the story takes place.

It follows Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and some of dragon ball GT, if you didn’t know yet, these were all their own anime.

Now, what is the story all about?

The story is about a young boy, Goku. He meets a teenage girl named Bulma, who tells him about the dragon balls, 7 mystical orbs that if brought together, can make any wish come true. Although that was never shown here in the game. He then sets out to find all of the orbs with Bulma.

But of course, the most historic part of dragon ball is not the first anime.

It’s the second one, known for its insane fights and historic quotes, Dragon Ball Z is one of the most influential anime of all time.

Dragon Ball Z starts out with Goku and his young boy meeting old friends again, like Bulma, and his master, Turtle hermit. But then, an alien arrives on the island where goku and his friends were meeting up again.

Explaining this game’s story is very difficult, because it has so many things in it, you also have the movies, and what-if scenarios which all have their own story.

The what-if scenarios, are pretty much, what-if the villains beat the good guys, and some of the notable scenarios are:

Broly: This story is about Vegeta, the prince of the planet the alien from earlier on came from. His planet was destroyed many years ago, but it turns out some surviving aliens from that race have recreated the planet! But, there is a rampaging lunatic on the loose.

Cooler: The brother of one of the villains wants revenge for Goku putting his family to shame… no, he doesn’t want revenge for his brother, he wants revenge for his image.

Sound: 8/10

The sound definitely gets an 8. It uses different songs from the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series.

It has some killer guitar in it, and the drum is also very good.

But I have to mention the copyright scandal when I’m talking about the OST.

The composer of this game apparently used a lot of things from other songs, so in the remake of the Budokai games, all of the songs from the original game where replaced by the ones from Tenkaichi 2, and 3.

Now, I can hear the resemblance somewhat, but that doesn’t change the fact I still like the songs. They get you pumped up for battle, and the menu songs are also very fitting.

The sound effects… they’re a lot worse than in future installments, I don’t know what it is, they just don’t do It for me, the blast sound effects sounds good, I guess. But the rest is just very meh to me, to be  honest.

Difficulty: 8/10

Out of all the Tenkaichi games, this one is definitely the hardest, of course I’m talking about the hardest difficulty here, so no normal or easy.

This game got me pulling my hairs out at multiple occasions, and it made me want to set the disc on fire numerous times. Sometimes the things you are asked to do are so insane, so ludicrous, that you will be wondering what they were thinking when they made this.

For example, you’re in the beginning of the game and you have to survive a fight with a gigantic ape.

It’s pretty much impossible except if you try 24/7. I ultimately made it, and I got myself a new haircut in the process.

Addictiveness: 8/10

I felt that this game, while pretty difficult was fun to play, and made me come back for more.

You had to unlock a lot of characters, which was very addicting, not only that, you could earn money to buy to improve your character, which also gives it somewhat of an RPG edge to it, even though the item thing isn’t necessary, it’s very, very helpful.

The controls are mostly flawless, and aren’t frustrating at all.

The gameplay was a lot of fun and added to the addictiveness.

OVERALL: 8.5/10

I recommend this game to everyone! Not just dragon ball fans, not just fighting game fans, simply everyone.

It’s a fun game, with good controls and innovative gameplay. There is something for everyone, fun fighting mechanics for fighting game fans, and very good  eye to detail for all the dragon ball fans! And I can go on, and on.

This game is lovely,  And you should play it!

Thanks for reading, and have nice day.