Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo review

After two mind-frazzling Wii beat-’em-ups (roughly 800 remote inputs to throw a single punch), things cool down in Dragon Ball’s latest. It makes sense: it covers the earlier pre-Z adventures. Simpler times deserve simpler play – so it’s out with finger gymnastics, in with mindless button-thumping as Goku churns his way through a tame scrolling brawler.

Has it gone too far? There’s nice anime flair in the sudden camera zooms used to capture close-up pummellings, but we miss the landscape-splitting theatrics of the earlier Wii games. And combat fails to ever up the stakes – swiping goons into the air and pounding them back down remains the chosen tactic from start to finish. Small, but not perfectly formed.

Oct 20, 2009