I really liked last year’s DBZ game, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit 2. It felt like the franchise had finally achieved some serious attention with a game that was both deep and fun.

This year, we get Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, which feels like they took Burst Limit 2 out back and tried to killed it.

It’s not all grim. The character models look better, and there’s a different take on combat that is actually novel (but limited, more on that later)… but any good feelings are stomped by the game’s outlandish insistence on loading screen after loading screen after loading screen.

Ultimate Tenkaichi tosses another DBZ Story Mode on the fire. All the highlights you know and love, with some fresh additions… like Bardock’s fight against Freiza back when Goku was just a baby, for example. The game also includes massive boss characters, meaning you finally get to face off against Saiyans in Great Ape mode.

The structure for Story Mode, however, is a Great Bear. Encounters are selected by flying characters across a pointless overworld. Choosing a battle initiates a load, followed by a cutscene, and then another load. Finish the battle and win yourself another loading screen. The game helpfully puts a terrible minigame on the loading screen, a sure sign that the developer knows there’s a problem but has no real good idea what to do about it.

The battle controls shift to something less like a fighting game and more like constant Quick Time Events. Whether you’re in short range or long range mode (which determines if your buttons throw punches/kicks or ki blasts), you’re working up to triggering a “clash” that ends in either your or your opponent winning a QTE faceoff. Faceoffs can be chained into a sequence of pre-animated attacks that do a nice job of replicating DBZ-style battles.

Which will look neat the first time. After the fiftieth? Not as neat.

Unlike Burst Limit 2′s special attack system, Ultimate Tenkaichi makes character-specific attacks an oasis in the desert: rare and often an illusion. You need to meet certain conditions to pull off a special attack – both specific energy levels and position on the battlefield – and I felt like most battles were skating by without me ever reaching that point. Whether I was in Story Mode or Hero Mode or Tournament Mode, every battle became a race to get in the required number of attacks to initiate a clash, win the clash (which is little more than a coin flip) and then string together the big high-damage QTE hits.

Like I said, it’s a novel system, turning a fighting game into a QTE faceoff, it just needs way more options and animations… and even way more QTE challenges themselves. Holding left and hitting square will sail you through the QTEs almost every time.

I’ve often complained of the DBZ games’ pattern of ignoring the anime’s non-fighter characters, like Bulma and Master Roshi. Ultimate Tenkaichi makes a move towards opening up the playing field with all-new massive boss battles. No, it’s not Mr. Popo, but at least you get to fight something outside of the usual Toriyama musclemen.

Perhaps the single best addition is the ability to create your own Z-fighter in Hero Mode and tackle a wholly different Dragon Ball alterna-verse. Familiar characters will show up for fights, but it’s against a customizable, RPG-lite battler of your own design. There are even different voices to choose from, meaning the game bothered to have eight or so different voices run the script for the entire Hero Mode storyline.

Again, this is all great… except that you’re still stuck in the same repetitive QTE combat, chaining together similar attacks for the same net result.

In the end, it’s the constant, lengthy load screens that do more damage than anything else. DBZ fans are likely willing to sit through another tired replay of the storyline in order to experience a new combat system or see a few new characters… but nobody should have to sit on their controller for this long between bouts. Head back to Burst Limit 2, DBZ fans.

For a bulky, repetitive framework that wrecks some otherwise nice graphics and animation, Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi gets 2 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi was released October 2011 (NA) on PS3 and 360.
Rated T

Check out other Dragon Ball Z reviews at Test Freaks.

The game already has nearly a dozen costumes revealed, some retailer-exclusive, ranging from Animated Series Batman to Dark Knight Batman to Batman Beyond. Sinestro Corps Batman reflects about three panels from a couple of years ago when one of Sinestro’s yellow fear rings selected Bruce Wayne as a potential member. He refused.

Note that the “Green Lantern” bonus definitely states PS3 only, so you 360/PC owners are screwed out of this one. Although, like most of the Arkham City skins, it seems likely the “exclusives” will turn into paid DLC soon enough. Example: the “Play as Robin” Best Buy exclusive was revealed as merely a timed exclusive for Best Buy and will appear as DLC some time in the future.

GAME> Goldeneye 007 (1997)
SYSTEM> N64
SOURCE> EGM #134, September 2000

Well that’s some nightmare fuel.

I’m just getting around to playing Mafia II on PS3, which came out a year ago, and I was SHOCKED to see this storefront window in the game’s second mission! I wonder what the Vita would have cost in 1945 dollars?

I have it on good authority that the 360 version of Mafia II has a picture of a Windows 7 Mobile Phone in this store. And the Wii version has a picture of Yoshi.

GAME> Starfox 64 (1997)
SYSTEM> N64
SOURCE> Nintendo Power #109, June 1998

Oh sure, this is doable. First, you have to have set up one schmuck to be winning, then have him kill two guys at once. That will break the game and let you play forever until somebody resets the N64. Why again? I can’t wait to see if this trick works on the 3DS version. Has anybody tested this on the Virtual Console?

Let’s sweat! Just Dance 2 has become the eighth Wii title to clear five million sold.

The October 2010 release is now part of an exclusive club, heretofore populated solely by Nintendo first-party titles. One can imagine smoking jacket Mario sitting by the fireplace in mid-conversation with Reggie, their private discussion interrupted when the door opens and the Ubisoft dancers stroll into the penthouse suite.

The other seven games to crest five million are Wii Play (13.04 million), Mario Kart Wii (10.64 million), New Super Mario Bros. Wii (8.36 million), Wii Fit (8.17 million), Wii Fit Plus (7.06 million), Wii Sports Resort (6.45 million), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (5.28 million). Quite a spread in the numbers, but that’s the Wii for you. There are all US totals, incidentally.

Just Dance 2 Becomes Eighth Wii Title to Sell More Than 5 Million Units

Just Dance® 2 from Ubisoft®, which plays exclusively on Nintendo’s Wii™ console, has sold more than 5 million units, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. With this milestone, the Wii system now has eight 5-million sellers* in the U.S., twice as many as competing current-generation consoles combined.

In the month of July, seven of the top 10 and 15 of the top 25 best-selling software SKUs play on Nintendo platforms. Just Dance 2 sold more than 120,000 units to finish No. 3 for the month.

“By crossing the 5 million sales mark, Just Dance 2 joins one of the most exclusive clubs in the world of video games,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Nintendo systems have games for every type of player. We’re poised for a great holiday season, thanks to tremendous value across all our platforms and fan-favorite franchises delivering fun new surprises.”

During the next few months, Nintendo will release a huge selection of fan-favorite titles. This includes Star Fox 64™ 3D, Super Mario™ 3D Land and Mario Kart™ 7 for the Nintendo 3DS™ portable entertainment system, The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword for Wii and Kirby™ Mass Attack for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, which was the best-selling platform in July.

* The Wii titles to surpass 5 million units sold in the U.S. include: Wii Play™ (13.04 million), Mario Kart™ Wii (10.64 million), New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii (8.36 million), Wii Fit™ (8.17 million), Wii Fit™ Plus (7.06 million), Wii Sports Resort™ (6.45 million), Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl (5.28 million) and Just Dance 2 (5.09 million).

GAME> Kingdom Hearts (2002)
SYSTEM> PS2
SOURCE> Kingdom Hearts Official Strategy Guide, 2003

One of these days, Disney is going to wake up, call Square Enix and ask “Hey, why haven’t you guys made a decent Kingdom Hearts game in the last five years?”

First, if you register with the site under your PSN ID, you instantly receive a PSN code good for a small pack of PlayStation ephemera: PSN avatars, theme and Home goodies. Not the most amazing free offer ever, but I’ll take it.

Second, check out the goof in the registration survey (after the jump). Apparently our pals at Joystiq are a genre unto themselves.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is in stores November 18, and that’s the real reason why PSN members are getting this notice.

GAME> The Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess (2006)
SYSTEM> Nintendo Wii, GameCube
SOURCE> The Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess Trading Cards, 2007

This is actually a mostly-useful tip. Another card I have suggests “find another Clawshot to create a Double Clawshot,” which is not especially useful.

It’s a unique idea, Dead Block. The $9.99 PSN/XBLA release takes the usual third-person zombie-killing action approach and jams it into an intriguing tower defense format. The hero characters are locked in a building and must survive waves of zombies that keep piling in through the open windows. Rather than focusing on shotguns and gore, Dead Block asks that you deal with the horde by quickly installing silly traps inside the windows and door frames. While the undead are being frozen into popsicles or whacked on the head with rolling pins, you’re kept busy by turning the rooms inside-out in search of the hidden items that will let you finish the level.

The game bears a superficial resemblance to beloved trap-oriented franchises Dungeon Keeper and Deception, although Dead Block is nowhere near as complex.

But first: the setting. Yes, this is yet another zombie game (although at least this is one that gives us something to do aside from shooting them.) Dead Block also happens to be set in the 1950s, transposing a whitebread “Leave It to Beaver” world against the slow-moving horror of rampaging ghouls. Interestingly, the playable characters sort of aren’t 1950s cliches at all. I would have expected a Grinning Omnipotent Dad, or a tough teen greaser. Instead you cycle between Jack Foster (burly construction worker), Mike Bacon (chubby boy scout) and Foxy Jones (tough traffic warden.) Is there anything specifically ’50s about that cast? This is not a complaint, just an observation.

The reason for the trio is that Dead Block revolves around three key actions: building, searching and shooting. Each character specializes in one of the three, and I’ll let you figure out which is which because it won’t take long. Each character also has a specific set of barricade only he or she can build. Only Jack can build the mighty Concrete wall that will never crumble; only Foxy can install the Bomb barrier that clears out a zombie-packed room. And only Mike can build the trap that dumps poop on enemies as they shamble through, which somehow reduces their health bar and allows them to inadvertently spread the crap infection to nearby zombies.

Even though you do not always get the option to play as all three in the same level, the general idea is to take control of the one you need, when you need to make sure his or her special skills need to be best levied. I tended to walk Jack into a room full of stuff and let his AI take over to start demolishing furniture for wood, while I built the awesome Bomb traps with Foxy.

If you absolutely must kill zombies with your bare hands, you can whack them with a frying pan or other character-specific weapon. In a one-on-one contest, you’ll probably be okay – characters self-heal over time – but if you’re surrounded it is unlikely you’ll survive. For the direst of dire situations, each character also has a unique mega-attack that automagically upgrades over the course of the game. Foxy ends up with a shotgun (sigh) that kills the twelve nearest zombies without you having to aim, while Mike is granted the ability to toss a distractingly delicious cheeseburger into the room to pull the horde’s attention away from you.

This may all sound very cool and inventive, but Dead Block seems to simply not have had enough thought put into it. The zombie traps tend to be unbalanced and one-note, never creating opportunities for the ridiculous trap combos of Dungeon Keeper or Deception. So you can more or less focus on putting Bomb traps EVERYWHERE since they are easily the most useful barricade. There is no incentive to branch out into the other types (unless you’re in one of the early levels where Foxy is not a playable character… and in that case you’ll probably just use Jack’s freeze door and do a lot of ice smashing.) You end up building the same traps and using the same strategy on every map.

Searching items is meant to invoke the B-movie suspense of the harried hero rushing through closets and drawers looking for weaponry. Dead Block creates that tension by making you click through the shoulder buttons to simulate rooting through junk, but all you find is a nut. Nuts are used to build traps, but I’ll be damned if the game ever explains how it decides what traps you earn by finding nuts. You just collect yer nuts and watch your inventory count to see what traps are made available.

Then there’s the level finisher, a supposedly triumphant display of the power of rock-and-roll. Your primary goal is to locate the three parts of the world’s cheapest Rock Band kit: a guitar, an amp, and something else that hooks up to a guitar and an amp. Once you find all three, you end the level with the worst rhythm minigame ever designed, a slow-yet-picky PaRappa pastiche set to a barely-variating series of guitar riffs. For some reason, hearing rock music stops the zombies. If I’m to believe the end-level cutscenes, it doesn’t even kill them. Just stops them. So I’m not sure why we’re bothering.

And while Dead Block deserves points for including some pleasantly genuine-sounding 1950s proto-Elvis music, it promptly loses them for making us listen to the same moany song at the end of every level. Also: the game’s final level scoreboard (where you get some nice stats on how much furniture you destroyed and how many zombies were killed) popped up on top of the credit scroll. That is just plain unpolished. The cinematics that preface each level – poorly mimicking 1950s horror movie trailers – are also no great shakes.

However, Dead Block does a great job at modeling 1950s furniture! It is all viewed through a kooky MAD Magazine lens, but I liked seeing the bean-shaped designs and smooth chrome that define ’50s America.

While crafting a third-person action-oriented tower defense is a laudable goal, I spent the entire game wishing I was seeing the events from the usual top-down perspective, placing traps and protecting innocents from my comfortable birds-eye view. Which Bomb trap just went off? Hey, I don’t know, I’m stuck inside a bathroom two floors up.

This is indie developer Candygun Games’ first release, so we can chalk up Dead Block as a learning experience. My suggestion is to learn to avoid zombie games.

For an unfinished, poorly explained take on a decent tower defense concept, Dead Block gets 2 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Dead Block was released July 2011 (NA) on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
Rated T

Check out Dead Block and other PSN reviews at Test Freaks.