Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team first-look

Dragon Ball fans surely face no dearth of games to choose from. Soon two more entries will arrive; the first of which, Tenkaichi Tag Team, is of the portable variety, coming on PSP. As is appropriate to Dragon Ball, it’s a free-flying 1v1 fighter, except it’s really 2v2 – players can create their DBZ dream teams and tag out characters for some crazy-ass team-up moves.

The 2v2 is a first for Dragon Ball, and as such is the star here, allowing for four-player ad-hoc matches. In keeping with proper DBZ canon, enemy characters can’t team up, so there won’t be any “fantasy” teams – strictly teams that make sense in the universe. Still, with seventy characters to choose from, there won’t be any shortage of potential team-ups.

On top of the new multiplayer component, Tag Team brings several single-player options like Dragon Walker mode where you can follow the entire DBZ storyline from beginning to end, wandering around an overworld, going to towns and talking to people in an RPG-lite mechanic, and battling enemies in the field. The Battle 100 mode lets you experience classic fights from DBZ history, and each battle has certain parameters, which if met, allow for earning credits to unlock goodies. There’s also a Survival mode, which is a traditional “how many guys can you beat in a row” mode.

Tenkaichi Tag Team also has destructible environments – another first for a handheld DBZ, as well as character customization and a cast of all original voice talent. It aims to provide everything fans are wanting – more, bigger, crazier amounts of DBZ goodness. We didn’t get a chance to play this version, but from what we saw it’s the expected fast-flying, energy-ball lobbing, mega-destructo-combos familiar to fans. It certainly looks bright, sharp, and snappy for a PSP game. It plans to release soon, on October 19.

Sep 30, 2010