PlayStation 3 Review: Dragon Ball - Raging Blast

One of the best things about 3D (or 2D) fighters is the fighting. Nice environments, good graphics, great sound, and a decent story are all nice, but the actual fight mechanics are the most important thing. Thus, when one plays Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, the latest Dragon Ball fighter, one might find themselves momentarily impressed by the look and quantity of content included (as with some of the other DB games, there are over 70 characters), the game is ultimately a massive letdown. The fight mechanics are distinctly subpar and the entire experience suffers greatly for that.

As with previous entries into the fighting franchise, this game allows for several different kinds of attacks to be performed – smashes, melees, Ki blasts, and signature moves – but the melees, which should be a fighter's bread and butter, are woefully inadequate. The game responds sluggishly if at all – playing the game one will definitely experience several times in each battle where they swear that they pressed for a punch and nothing occurs. The emphasis within the game doesn't lie in any sort of basic attacks, it lies in the special moves, Ki blasts, and signature attacks, and even those don't always seem to work when one presses the right combination of buttons. This issue is all the more frustrating when the game actually suggests a move to perform and following the on-screen instructions nothing – or the wrong thing – happens. The instruction to perform the special move then stays on the screen, still encouraging the player to perform the action and, unintentionally, mocking them.

The game itself is divided into several different sections including Dragon Battle Collection (story mode), Super Battle Trial, Versus, World Tournament, and Online Battle. Then, in keeping with Raging Blast's desire to put quantity over quality, Dragon Battle contains several different sagas (storylines from the Dragon Ball cartoon) and "what-if" scenarios one can play through, and Super Battle Trial and Versus has several different types of battles one can engage in. Perhaps the oddest of these is Time Attack in Battle Trial. One would assume that in a battle that revolves around a time limit, that has "Time" in its very title, would show a timer. It doesn't, not until time has nearly run out at which point a timer will appear to let the player know that it's just about too late to win unless they're but a few blows from victory.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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