Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

Well, we are here at the THQ press conference waiting for it to start. As with all the conferences, there are some delays between conferences getting in and getting out. We will get everything to you as it comes up on the screen and we will have pictures from the event as soon as we get a chance to download and post them. Also look for a huge image post later today of everything I have collected so far.

THQ has started the show borderlike playboy style with a pictoral of female wrestlers from the WWE. This is an introduction for the new WWE 2008 Smackdown vs. RAW title. The intros for the matches look good and they say that they have tried to match the ring intros that the pros use. The game is being played on the Wii, and you move the controller to fight. They have to of the lovely ladies from WWE demoing the game and they are borderline fighting on the stage. The character models look great, but the action is a bit confusing. It might be that the ladies just don’t know how to play the game.

The VP makes a statement about bringing their games to all major platforms. They have sold 30 million WWE games. They also are focusing on their kids line as well. They have a new Cars game that will follow up the first game that was hugely successful.

They show off a Conan game that they have in the works that will feature Blades, Babes and Brutality. The game is pretty smooth and the action is furious. It shows a lot of bloodletting. No actual gameplay is present, but the movie is pretty tight. I can see that this is pulling from the source material quite nicely.

They have a new game called Frontlines Fuel of War, which is a game based set 20 years in the future. They joke about how all developers must have at least 3 war games in development at all times. The game focuses on the future where a lot of the energy predictions of today come true. It is to be a cinematic gaming experience. A big component of the game is the way the line of war is designed. There is a combat map that shows you a red side and a blue side. The lines overlap in the middle of the map. You are given objectives that will advance that line if you succeed or move back if you fail. While the game has sharp graphics, and lots of action from the air and ground, it is really jerky and stutters prominently even when light action is on the screen. You can call in air strikes and other special weapons to help with your war. Multiplayer plays out the same way. All the weapons in the game are based on real world devices like assault drone and recon drones. Each level could take up to an hour to an hour and a half. 32 player multiplayer will be available on the PC and it will support 32 player support on the 360.

Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon which will support the 360 and PS3 and will be rebuilt from the ground up for the Wii. The game will deal with the 70′s time frame in Las Vegas, Paris, Hong Kong, and other places. He has become confused and hears voices during his destruction. In the movie of the game, they show our protagonist in a Hong Kong kung-fu monistary. Your old powers are back like the magetism. The classic anal probe is back and they have been improved so you can fire multiple probes at first. You learn a new move called temporal fist. You can freeze time and manipulate the environment to put humans in danger You have sticky bombs and your jetpack at your disposal. It is a sandbox enviornment where you can build your destruction The action is fluid and it plays great. Large action slowed the framerate down a little bit, but it still plays like the previous two, which should satisfy most gamers.

Now they are mentioning their racers, like Stuntman, Juiced 2 and others. They will have a new version of MX vs. ATV Untamed. They have a trailer that they are showing off. It shows Stuntman in flull effect, looking pretty sharp. Then we have the ultracustomizable Jucied 2 with cars that can be super modified. Then it segways into MX vs. ATV Untamed. No real gameplay footage is shown.

We are shown de Blob, a game designed for the Wii. Inky is the main co star of the game who tries to remove the color from the world, as color is banned. de Blob is a rebel that tries to put color back into the world. The game controls are simple. Movement is mapped to the nunchuck while the Wii controls his actions. When you paint the world, you add music to it as well. The game plays easy and it reminds me of a Katamari game. You roll around and paint the world, and as you do, you get bigger. And you are trying to avoid the Inkies. The whole city can be painted. It looks like a great party game.

Darksiders: Wrath of War is up next. The game is an action genre from Vigil Games. It is an action adventure game for the PS3 and 360. You play War, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. They took a comic book approach, so all the characters and beasts are over the top. The game world is open so you can follow the main story as you would like. The world starts in a real city, but then it morphs into something very unreal. Over time, you gain your horsemen powers back. The action is choppy, but the game is in an early state. The game takes cinematics into account while allowing for puzzle solving during the main action. War can use the environment to gain weapons. It almost reminds me of a Metroid type game. I could be wrong, it has that feel.

They have one new suprise for us today and it is an exclusive relationship with the UFC. It is announced by Quinwten “Rampage” Jackson. Talks about loving video games, and he told THQ that he wanted to be involved with the game. The action is fierce and brutal. It looks ten times better than the WWE game. He complains about how Chuck Liddel was kick his ass a little too much in the demo. Also tells everyone to start watching UFC, because it is the future of sports. The game looks great and will be coming about in 2009.

One more treat. The lovely ladies of the WWE were nice enough to give me a second to photograph them