It seems that the Dragon Ball Z series of fighters have had some problem really gaining traction in the United States. This never made sense to me, as the controls were more than serviceable and the game design enough to tax even the most-current wave of consoles. However, there may just be a DBZ title that will have players buying it in droves and keeping it in their PSPs for months to come. Whether it be taking on the single-player mode or ratcheting things up considerably in multiplayer mode (which allows up to 4 individuals in an “ad hoc mode”), Tenkaichi Tag Team looks to destroy previous conceptions about the DBZ franchise in the United States.
The control scheme allows players to run through an impressive array of different attacks, ensuring that there will be a substantial amount of variation to be had in every battle. After each successful series of battles, players will be able to collect enough in the way of points to buy capsules, allowing for additional abilities and skills to make the rest of the game that much easier.
The most major commonality that one can draw between Tenkaichi Tag Team and the previous titles in the line has to be the graphical intensity present. Where the PSP has a great amount of computing power given its size, it is fairly limited in that regard to something like the Playstation 3. Regardless, there is an amazing look to this title that does not even slow down when a tremendous amount of action is going on during a battle. Couple that solid graphical quality with a sheer amount of character selection (players can assume the role of over 70 important roles in the DBZ universe), and fans of the fighter genre will absolutely adore this title.
Rating: 7.6/10
Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team (Sony PSP) / 2010 Namco Bandai / http://dragonball.namco.com /