Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi Review

Ban!All!DragonBall!Z!Fans!

The review is good entertainment and throughly suited people who don't like or will probably never buy games like that. I doubt many people rely solely on EG for guidence on what games to play, and those that do are probably perfectly happy. Of course, if you want a nice 'safe' review, go elsewhere.

The best reviews actually give the reader something to work with, as well as being entertaining and personal and everything

karlidog, I definately agree with your last post. Eurogamer tends to put more personality and entertainment into their reviews than most other mags/sites.

I do feel however that this particular reviewer’s humour/peronality was completely lost on you this one time! - But hey, that's the beauty of reviews - it would be boring if we all agreed all off the time!

(edit typo)

You're right, Hog-lumps (best name ever!) - the guy's style just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm really aware of how angry I sounded in those earlier comments - I didn't mean to come across like it was such a serious thing. I think I need more coffee. Or less, possibly.

Saying 'well, people who like Dragonball Z aren't going to be swayed by this review' isn't a defence, IMHO. DBZ fans are mostly kids- and kids don't have much spare money to spend on 'shit' games.

This isn't a very good review. What do we know about the game from this? That it's confusing, and that's about it. How many characters are there? Are the graphics any good? What about the sound, apart from that it's annoying? How long will it take me to complete this? How many characters can I choose from? Is there multiplayer of any sort? What about online features?

I just get the impression that the reviewer didn't bother playing for more than a couple of hours.

I thought it was a review of remarkable sensitivity, wit, warmth and insight.

After reading it I immediately left the house to fellate a dead Japanese buisnessman before returning home to play Mr Do on MAME, which is still better than any of the games you youngsters play.

Albeit I enjoyed the game (mostly because it actually clones Z.O.E. gameplay to a good extent), I have to say this review is right on the money. There is little here for someone that isn't a DBZ fan. And the colours, man, the colours. I wouldn't play that on a really big screen.

the guy's style just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm really aware of how angry I sounded in those earlier comments

I think when Eurogamer write reviews in a personal way it becomes more entertaining in general, but also runs the risk of clouding the main messages of the review.

So karlidog I actually understood where you were coming from and agree to some extent.............

\needs more cofee.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On a professional review site I have to say I expect any game, no matter how bad to get better treatment than this. You can't get a good impression of a game's quality by playing two fights and going over the tutorial. You can definitely put a big X next to the "simple to learn" column, but that's hardly enough to constitute a review and no amount of gratuitous abuse can make up the shortfall.

I think its a bit unfair to get Eurogamer find some Dragonball Z fanboy to review it, just because they don't have one to hand.

One of the worse EG reviews EVER!!!!!!!!

Blimey.

I haven't got a PS2 & would never buy this sort of game anyway

I was jolly entertained by the review.

I like the writing
I like the humour
I like the fact that it isn't just a bald description of the game
I like the fact that it upset some people

I'm surprised that so many have taken offence, though. I thought the review brimmed over with enthusiasm as well as utter confusion.

Kind of reminds me of melody maker writing style a year or two before it disappeared up

Well, saying the game is crap in a funny way is one thing. Saying this:

"You know the score. In fact, you probably love all these things in games, and totally beat the previous games in an awesome way! In which case, pretend you haven't read the final score already, and go and play this game. For me, however, in my comfy, challenged-by-the-unfamiliar domesticity, my mind is neither able, nor wishes to, keep up with the insanity happening six feet beyond my control at an alarmingly close proximity."

...is quite another. He's not talking about the game at all, he's talking about himself, about how superior he is to 13 year-olds. The game probably is a load of tripe, but it'd be nice if he'd say why exactly.

It seems these days EG are pushing towards intertaining readers more and more, rather then objectivly reviewing a game.
What happened to the days of doing both?

Imagine if EG reviewd wanda and the collossus(sp?) like this (as in a get someone who obviously isn't a fan of any game that doesn't follow the path of EA). I'm sure most of you who were entertained by this review wouldn't be praising the the reviewer then.

So sad.
A reviewer is only telling the truth when they give a game a critical bashing. When they like it now (like IGN), they are whitewash.

C'mon.

Bright colours
Lots of noise
Punk rock
Challenging
Dragon Ball Z

Awesome!/10!

There's the review for fans. Taken from the review you read yourselves and seem to hate so much.

Here is a simple reason why this review was bad, very fucking bad. A very simple reason. Because I read Eurogamer every day. Because it's the only gaming site I read every day. And because I was semi interested in this game, at least to buy it when I had the chance for maybe half the price. Not a fanatic, but I did enjoy Budokai 3, and was eager to see what had changed. This review didn't say what were the differences to the last budokai (which is half fair since this isn't a true budokai game, but even PES reviews compare it to FIFA inovations).This review didn't tell me anything at all. It didn't tell me a fighter rooster, or how the game plays.

It told me the reviewers never played an anime fighter (Budokai, Saint Seya, One Piece, etc, etc ,etc), and quite in fact, it's a biased journalists, unable to put his personal tastes a little bit asside, in order to TRY (and I do put TRY in very BOLD WORDS, since no one is completly unbiased), and give this game a fair run through.

According to his fabulous and hilarious review, he lost 2 fights. He played the tuturial once,and probably suffers from heavy short term memory loss, as well as general disorientation. He didn't care shit.

I supose the editor, likes this kind of reviews, otherwise, he'd kick the journalist in the nuts, and make him do his job, or fire him. He is being payed to do a job. He should be able to. That's why they PAY him. He is not a comedian. Kudos for the clever writing, but that's a plus in a review, don't make it a center piece of the review, and throw the real meat into the trash because you felt like blogging today.

I dunno, if I had to guess, this reviewer throwed a tamtrum. He is like one of those kids that don't want to write a text about their xmas vacation, so instead they write "on the day of xmas I was sick, and in bed all day". Deplorable. Disrespectable, specially from a gaming site trying to gain some credibility.

I don't like football games. But if I was stuck with reviewing one, I'd certainly be able to put my bias asside. When I read reviews of PES, and SEGA Soccer Slam, I mostly agreed with what I had played, agreed with the high score, even if I wouldn't personally spend money on one of those games.

It's a matter of respect. And back to the beggining, the reason why this review was bad? Because now, I'm going to move to other sites. I'm going to start reading the competition more. I'm probably going to start readin Eurogamer less. And like me there are other users, that feed Eurogamer's staff by coming here every day (and seeing the adds), that will eventually get fed up with this really lacklusting reviews.
This is not the sole case. Go read the Def Jam 2 review. It's really, really bad. I really dislike the hiphop and rap trends that we see in youngsters nowadays. And yet, I was able to see that was a bad, biased and mostly stupid review. Actually, no, it wasn't a review, it was a comedy piece.

If you are going to call it a review, then at least review the fucking game. End of story. If it's just to trashtalk something, call it "trashtalk". Don't call it review. I've seen reviews for laser tag better more professional than this blog text.

I tell you eventually this will become www.eurobloggers.net

"fighter rooster"

cooool

Yeah was this actually a review or what.. like one of the first guys said bit unprofessional....

How people could say this is a critical review, I don't know.

I mean seriously, how can we believe the game has bad controls, when he clrearly did not like the game, or anything related to it.

His opening comments completely voids any "facts" he makes afterwards.

Who cares if he's never played a DBZ game before? It just means that he's looking at this from an outsider's perspective. There is no "right" or "wrong" person to review ANY game. As long as the person who is reviewing it is honest about his background, his attitudes to the genre and his opinions of the game's source material, then he has the right to review whatever the hell he wants to review.

Not everybody who is interested in this game will have played a DBZ game before. I am one of those people, and this review was useful to me because the reviewer shares a similar background. If you're interested in the viewpoint of someone who is an expert in the genre, or someone who is a DBZ fanatic, then GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. You just need to find the right review for you.

In an ideal world, any one game will be reviewed by 2 or 3 different reviewers from the same publication, to give a wider range of opinion. EG have done this a couple of times to great effect, but I doubt that their reviewers would have the time to do multiple reviews of every game that comes their way.

This reviewer was honest. He told me where he was coming from, he told me whether the game was any good or not, and gave perfectly valid reasons for reaching his conclusion. He also wrote his review in an entertaining fashion, which is always nice.

/gives up

This review described my experience with Ninja Gaiden.
Yet they gave that 9/10.

Genji, your arguments make no sense at all. I'll say once again, because you obviously didn't read when me, and many other members said it.
Eurogamer, will not have a person who does not like football reviewing PES. I don't like football, so a review by a guy who doesn't like football to PES would be welcome for me. Why would not Eurogamer make such review? Because they give that review to someone who likes the game, to someone who would probably buy the game in the first place. That person, probably played previous PES, and can tell you what is new in this recent edition, and compare it to FIFA, and mention the inovations. That way, the review will be usefull to 99% of the people who were thinking on buying PES, which were the people who like football. Me? I don't like football, the review didn't mean anything to me, but then again, I wasn't going to buy PES in the first place.

Now this review, should have been similar. It would have been nice, if someone who has at least played Street Fighter 2, and was able to pull a D-DF-F+P reviewed this game. Perfectly, it would have been someone who had watched the series, or someone who likes anime, or someone who had played budokai 3, to bring up the inovations, like for example damage models, or split screen fighting. But no, this guy made a fucking useless review. This review is as usefull to you, as it is to my grandmother. You wouldn't buy Dragon Ball because it's not your genre, it's not a game you would buy no matter if it had a 1/10 or a 10/10. My grandmother wouldn't buy it either, because her background is simillar to the reviewer's (no gaming abilities). So, this review, doesn't help anyone. Those who wouldn't buy the game, and mock the series, have a chuckle. Those who were interested in the game, see Eurogamer acting unprofessional once again and have to go elsewhere looking for professionalism. If this was suposed to be comedy, call it "puns and one liners" or "comedy", don't call it a fucking review. It didn't help anyone understand how the game was.
Sure, you found it fun, but you were not intending to buy the game anyways. Someone honestly interested in the game premise, felt that Eurogamer failed them - which is sad when readers fell a suposely journalist website fails on them. Specially a site that mocked low quality tabloids many many times, and then publishes texts, that even such tabloids would think twice before printing.

This guy, mocks a whole culture, not just the game. He mocks Japanese traditional outfits (he brings up the fact that anime has bright color costumes, but he obviously is not aware that samurai for example, used kimonos of all colors, from pink to yellow, their fashion sense is very different). At least he is honest in saying that he is not the man for the job, somewhere betwen the mokery. Personally, and this is from a guy who wrote reviews here in Portugal, I would never sign my name reviewing something I found not able to review. Because it would not be a review. For shit like the one in this review, there are blogs, thank you. Go somewhere else? Of course I will. I already did. Quite in fact, now, I have the game, and I must say, it plays very different to budokai 3 (because it's not a budokai game, it's made by a different dev, Atari just called it Budokai to help increase the sales). Equally fun, mind you, with damage models, and split screen fighting (which permits you to fight over distance) when required, and each character transformation is selected individually from the character screen (no in game transformations like budokai 3).

You shouldn't tell Eurogamer readers to go somewhere else. I don't know if you are aware, but Eurogamer makes their money through advertising. Which means that every reader they can get, is an extra cent on their pocket. Loosing readers under any circumstance is bad (because it means that Eurogamer is loosing something that was the original reason those readers stayed, in this case, professionalism). Tell you what, I used to read computerandvideogam es.com , for european gaming news. Well not anymore, eventually the quality of that site went down the drain. And sometimes I worry the same might happen with Eurogamer.

So once again, let's make this clear for people as confused as Genji. We need reviews, for the targetted audience. You see Genji, if you read a similar review on PES, or whatever game you like to play next squell, you'd be pissed, because you did not find any information. Same thing with this review. People thinking on buying the game, finds Eurogamer has lack of professionalism. People thinking on NOT buying the game (like yourself Genji), find the review amuzing, because without actually saying a word about the game, it is able to mock something you are not able to understand, nor even really want to.

And don't call me a Dragon Ball fan. I am not. I like games, and that's that. If I read this on a PES review "I can't get this game. We have 22 sweaty baboons with ridiculous haircuts and shorts in the field, running after a ball, but I can't get this game. The practice mode fails to explain me how to score a goal, so I lost 2 matches and gave up." I'd be fucking mad at Eurogamer as well, even if I'm not found of football. But alas, Eurogamer is filled with football fanatics, ence it's not hard to find a chap who is professional enough to properly review it (even if with some bias). So what if they didn't find someone competent or professional enough to review this? Don't publish a review end of story. This review is completly useless and stupid. No one in their right mind, can agree that this review, reviews the game. Not even you Genji. One reads reviews to READ UP on a game. You tell me this guy has the same background as you, he might, but he clearly did not make an effort to play the game. He lost 2 fights. He gave up. I'm sure you, as well as any other half-hearted gamer would be able to play this game with 10 minutes of practice. A run though the tuturial, and you'd be able to pull kamehames, and the like.
I mean, let's say this guy was to review Barbie's latest game (those games need to be reviewed as well, and ti's not children that do it but adults). The review would be a piece of non informative trash, and people like Genji would be saying that the review was usefull for them, because the guy clearly shared the same background. And that's the most funny thing. Barbie games' reviews, usually are very very professional and unbiased, not because the reviewer likes the game, but because he is trying to evaluate if it's good and interesting enough for children to play. He throws age bias asside, and is professional about his job. This reviewer was not able to be professional. Simple as that. This text is acceptable in a weblog, not in a gaming site.

Maybe, this is Eurogamer's way to tell Bandai, that next time, they want a review copy of the game. Or maybe Bandai didn't pay Eurogamer well enough to put someone who had seen a PS2's DualShock before reviewing the game.
In any case my 7 year old female cousin, played this game with me this afternoon. She is able to counter my special attacks, and she has never played a budokai game before. Like I said, the reviewer gave this game a 15 minute look through, played a couple of matches and spent the rest of it's time eating icecream, or whatever, and when the time to deliver the review was up, he made up some shit text, with no facts what so ever (the back of the game is more informative than this review - the comedy is nice, but this is a journalistic site is it not? Information would be nice) and delivered it. Either that, or the gaming skills of this guy, doesn't even equal those of a 7 year old girl. Oh and what people call "background" is just genre bias. I can play PES if I dedicate myself to learn it, or waste let's say, more than 5 minutes with the contoler in the hand. My cousin's background is SIMs, Platform games, and Kart games.

So, you need to at least be 7, and have enough eye/hand coordination to jump a hole in a Hayy Potter platform game, to have enough skills and ability to play this game.
Mortal Kombat is harder to play than Dragon Ball. In MK, you have to memorise the combo strings for each character. In DB you just have to memorise how to do the general techniques, that they'll work the same way for every character. Once you learn how to do a Kamehame with Goku, it'll be the same for everyone else special attack.

Eh, forget it. I'm done with arguing about this. If you don't like the reviews, go somewhere else. You won't be missed, I'm sure.

The reason I remember this freelance "journalist" is from his review of MotoGP 3 on the PC. He marked it down because he played it with the keyboard. Duh. Oh yeah, and there was the contemptuous comment he left in the discussion of the review (second last post at time of writing).

Anyway, this review is the worst I have read on Eurogamer by far. 99% filler. The closest thing to review-tainment I've seen yet. Aweful. etc.

Gamers, if you're having sensory overload, check your drug usage.

Genji, if you don't like the reader's comments, go somewhere else. You won't be missed, I'm sure.

I do like the reader's comments! But I can see when continuing an argument is fruitless.

I'm not going to shut up, if that's what you're hoping. This was a fantastic review. People can disagree with the score that he gave but, in my opinion, there is no reason to call it the "worst review ever", as one commenter so eloquently put it.

Maybe it's that people have different expectations for a review.

With my games, I prefer gameplay over graphics. Graphics are nice, but cannot redeem an aweful game.

With my reviews, I prefer substance over style. Well written verse is nice, but cannot redeem a review that has virtually no substance.

In terms of the information I expect in a review, this had nothing. For me, at least.

Different horses for different courses innit

This review was absolute cod shit. Somebody sack the reviewer.

This reviewer should be taken outside, flayed, set on fire, and fed to angry Japanese schoolgirls.

I think that would be only right and good treatment for somebody who didn't like this game.

You've got it all wrong, Martin. We don't mind that you disliked the game, we just think the review was garbage.

What's this? Elitism at EG? Scandal!

(in response to a deleted post asking which 'we' I was referring to)

I'm referring to the 'we' that have found you out as a part-time story-teller who doesn't know much about gaming.

Edit: Added context in parentheses and removed subsequent posts in response to other deleted posts.

It's all true.

I don't even know what a Playstations are. I thought they were a kind of German Christmas Bread. I've been living a lie.

I've tendered my resignation to the Eurogamer Mgmt., and my assets are to be reclaimed on the next midnight run of the Kristan Death Borg.

God bless you, Martin. You've done the right thing.

The review may as well have simply read "I hate Japanese animation so think this sucks - 4/10", for all the use it was to anyone interested in this game. If you already know you hate a game before you've even put the disc in the tray for the first time then you shouldn't be the one reviewing it.

At a time of year where all editors seem to be complaining that there are more games (good ones at that) than they can find the time for their staff to review, what was the point of this? Better to have not run with the review at all if there was no one available whos knowledge of the game subject consisted of more than "Oh animé? I hate that!".

Sometimes reading EG can be very frustrating - it has some good writers who often write great reviews which are both informative and entertaining, and then there's ...this. Maybe it's just rose-tinted glasses, but i remember when almost all the reviews struck a good balance and i always came away respecting the reviewer's work even if i disagreed with their opinion. These days when i click on a review i never know if i'll get the type of informative review i've always loved EG for, or a pointless rant which serves no purpose.

If you're really wondering why those people complaining about the above review don't just just stop coming here, i suspect it's for the same reason as me - much of the writing is still good and it's just that they don't want to see things getting worse. They actually care, which should speak volumes in itself.

what DocTep said.

Can I just shock you all for a second?

Wait for it... I like anime.

I just don't like cack games.

Oh thank god I finally found a negative review of this game. I'm getting pretty pissed off at the main review sites and magazines giving scores a standard 8 because its a popular license or whatever (watch Shadow the Hedgehog get an 8, even though it is the biggest pile of horses**t ever devised).

I'm a DBZ fan, I love the series and I really enjoyed Budokai 3. Hearing that this was a more 'open space' fighter really intrigued me so I figured I'd try it out.

Sweet merciful jesus, this game is BROKEN. Before even attacking the playability of it, the Menu system itself is rubbish. You have to plod through several menu's just to get to the action, and then if you LOSE a match you have to go back to that menu and plod through it again before you can retry! Each and every time the game reloads the level, making the whole experience so frustrating its absurd.

Then onto the 'Tutorial' the reviewer expressed confusion to. No wonder! Its not a real tutorial like in previous Budokai games where you would actually learn how to perform moves in-game, its just a video file with a text explanation. Then you realise something must be erroneous with the control, with having to hold down 3 seperate buttons just to perform a simple move in game.

Actually then starting my first battle, after this confusing 'tutorial' I find the game plays clunky as hell. Gone is the mad-cap frantic teleporting behind the player of Budokai 3. Heres slow moving floating! The camera often obscures your view as its totally fixed, meaning if youre standing infront of a tree, you can't see s**t through the leaves! The graphics themselves are a downgrade from Budokai 3 (gone are the incredible aura effects and ingame transformations), and the cutscenes before fights are laughably static. The game is a blatantly obvious rush job, and made me seethe with utter hatred by the time I played the 6th bloody awful "SURVIVE UNTIL TIME RUNS OUT!" match. The AI of course will spam all moves that you simply can't block. And you'd better believe that the 'well thought out concept of Lock-On being varied for different characters' doesnt apply to the AI. It will know where you are all of the time!

I see lots of people suddenly appeared here and had a go at the reviewer for a low score. I realise now that due to gamerankings, theres now a horrible culture of a franchises fans following links to sites that have lowered their beloved games precious score, and feel the need to screech their heart out at the perpatrator.

This game is a horrible mess.

Hey! luckettx! Nice work. You've managed to give us some information about the game AND explain why the game is bad, which is what we all wanted to hear in the first place. In fact, there's more detail in the fifth paragraph of your post that there is in the entirety of the Eurogamer review.

More of this, please.

lukkettx. I think you'll find the vast majority of the criticism aimed at the review, not the score. As the previous post points out, you have articulated exactly why the game is bad (which is what we wanted to know). That is exactly what the review was missing. Well done and thanks.

sorry, didn't mean to attack everyone here. Just found a worrying number of people on the net that not liking this game is somehow absurd and that its "the best dbz game yet", when its clearly not.

I could always apply to be a reviewer at EuroGamer, if thats possible ;P

/In before "You have to kiss Sony's ass" responses

I feel it is not right to justify all reviews with the "it's just an opinion" line of thought. A review is obviously an subjetive opinion, but it has to be one that is useful to the reader. As a journalist, you convey your opinion in an useful way to the readership by getting your facts right, doing research, and being informative about the reasonings which created in you that opinion which you present to them as relevant in the form of a review.

In this case, none of these apply. This review is of no use to anyone because it is full of inaccuracies and it's marred by the prejudices of the reviewer, which to me most blatantly stem from his absolute ignorance about the subject he is reviewing.

Such work needs to be reviewed in a context that is informative to the readership and potential buyers of the product. In this case it would include being familiar with the original the game is based in. I think this is essential. It would be like having a motorsports journalist reviewing a book on interior decoration. Just because it all revolves around the same medium (printed publications) does not make his opinion relevant.

To me, this was an unprofessional choice of reviewer by Eurogamer.

Martin, if you do actually like animé then that only leaves the review even more embarrassing. Why anyone who says they like a thing would make such sweeping comments about it, i have no idea.

I'm not calling you a lier. As i obviously don't know you i'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that. From what i understand the game does deserve the final mark you gave to it, but to be honest i find the text of a review way more important than the mark at the bottom. Maybe you quickly realised it was a bad game and thought you'd just write something aiming to be a pure entertainment piece? I don't know. But unless you have a particular dislike for Dragonball Z, i don't understand the thinking behind much of what you wrote - especially if you do like some animé.

I really don't want to single you out as this isn't the first review in recent times that i've had this issue with. For what it's worth i did chuckle at a couple of the comments you made in the review, it's just that a comedy review of a bad game without anything more than jokes is still of no use (no matter even if it succeeds in being amusing).

I know i'm being quite critical, but hopefully you can at least see i'm also trying to be constructive along with it...

" Martin, if you do actually like animé then that only leaves the review even more embarrassing."

Maybe he only likes anime that isn't -complete shit-, which would rule out DBZ as a source of entertainment.

An average person checking out this review for something about the game will be sorely disappointed.
Basically, the review says it's bad, two player is good, it's hard.
Well -- HOW is it hard? What's so great about two-player except that you can win? What's bad about it?
I mean-- the review gives general thoughts, but no detail. I wouldn't take this review seriously, except for that it adds to that vast majority of people that give it a bad review, this is another one.
Though, I don't know why this person wrote a review in the first place: So you suck at Dragonball Z games, so what?


When the person said it was a 'general opinion' and 'not a review,' the person meant that it doesn't say anything about the game itself, except that it's hard. Which is not a review worth reading.
And just because the person can use big words (and some made-up ones), that doesn't mean the review was 'grownup' or 'intelligent'.

Now, it was kinda interesting. (except that I'm not familiar with most of those words, so my brain hurt half-way through... I was half-expecting to get a prize at the end for reading it all)
But it can't really be taken seriously if you're actually trying to find something out about the game.

Congratulations, we now know that you suck at Dragonball Z games, that helped a lot, I think I won't buy the game anymore.


Overall, the review gets 2 for being helpful. An 8 for being interesting reading.


Atari: out

Just thought I'd bump this review 'cos

1) Mention of meaningless scores reminded me of it.
2) It reminded me of the fierce debate over whether some reviewers are cack-handed imbeciles (or not )
3) It reminded me of a request I made for this particular guy to review Halo3. Arf.

Enjoy!

Holy shit, you can put hyperlinks in comments now?

What a shite review. :/

BEST REVIEW.... EVAR!

God this review sucks.

I nominate Cyberclaw for OFFICIAL BARMIEST FORUMITE

No wonder he goes raj at homeless people if he likes this kinda stuff

Great review!

Ban all Japanese games/gaming/influence from our shores!

\o/

lol/10