Review
by Jack DeVries
Dragon Ball fans have a pretty good Fall season in store for them. Namco Bandai Games is releasing Goku themed games on nearly every system, and most of them are totally different. While the Wii has its sidescrolling beat-em-up based on the original Dragon Ball series, the Nintendo DS gets an old school role playing game that picks up pretty much where the Wii game lets off. We got a chance to try out the DS game and beat the crap out of Master Roshi.
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans picks up after the great dragon revives the characters that Piccolo killed. The game starts off with Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien as they head off to go meet up with Goku (and later Gohan, Piccolo, and other characters). You've probably guessed that Saiyans attack, which you probably already know since that's like the first episode of the series. If you've played any of the Gameboy Advance Dragonball RPGs you'll be familiar with the style: small sprites of the characters on top of painted, isometric backgrounds. Lots of talking heads, too. The game is being developed by Monolith Software, a team that hasn't had many games released in the US.
The battle engine on Attack of the Saiyans is a three-party system. Players control three characters, and can switch them out for other ones. It's standard RPG controls. Pick an attack, item or special move from the menue. Select an enemy. Then watch the fireworks. We've only gotten to play a little of the game so far, but there will be combo attacks and specials that team up the characters. Just like the previous DBZ RPGs, the battles and special moves are the coolest part. Each character has various special attacks, ranging from fierce physical combos to the classic Kamehameha, to other elemental moves. Players can also guard against attacks with some quick timing, and based on the early boss battle we played, this will become crucial to surviving some of the tougher battles.
At this point the game feels very much like a GBA game. The bottom screen is relegated to some menus and a display of your equipped items, but we haven't seen any touch screen gameplay so far. We haven't seen anything particularly new in general, but for fans of the series this looks like a heaping helping of the same stuff you already like. The three character battles are and special moves are pretty sweet though. There's something really satisfying about energy blasting a small dog person in the face.
Dragon Ball fans have a pretty good Fall season in store for them. Namco Bandai Games is releasing Goku themed games on nearly every system, and most of them are totally different. While the Wii has its sidescrolling beat-em-up based on the original Dragon Ball series, the Nintendo DS gets an old school role playing game that picks up pretty much where the Wii game lets off. We got a chance to try out the DS game and beat the crap out of Master Roshi.
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans picks up after the great dragon revives the characters that Piccolo killed. The game starts off with Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien as they head off to go meet up with Goku (and later Gohan, Piccolo, and other characters). You've probably guessed that Saiyans attack, which you probably already know since that's like the first episode of the series. If you've played any of the Gameboy Advance Dragonball RPGs you'll be familiar with the style: small sprites of the characters on top of painted, isometric backgrounds. Lots of talking heads, too. The game is being developed by Monolith Software, a team that hasn't had many games released in the US.
The battle engine on Attack of the Saiyans is a three-party system. Players control three characters, and can switch them out for other ones. It's standard RPG controls. Pick an attack, item or special move from the menue. Select an enemy. Then watch the fireworks. We've only gotten to play a little of the game so far, but there will be combo attacks and specials that team up the characters. Just like the previous DBZ RPGs, the battles and special moves are the coolest part. Each character has various special attacks, ranging from fierce physical combos to the classic Kamehameha, to other elemental moves. Players can also guard against attacks with some quick timing, and based on the early boss battle we played, this will become crucial to surviving some of the tougher battles.
At this point the game feels very much like a GBA game. The bottom screen is relegated to some menus and a display of your equipped items, but we haven't seen any touch screen gameplay so far. We haven't seen anything particularly new in general, but for fans of the series this looks like a heaping helping of the same stuff you already like. The three character battles are and special moves are pretty sweet though. There's something really satisfying about energy blasting a small dog person in the face.
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