DragonBall Evolution
Score: 70% ESRB: Teen Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: CRI Media: UMD/1 Players: 1; 1 - 2 (Ad Hoc) Genre: Fighting/ Themed
Graphics & Sound: DragonBall Evolution is the game based on the movie based on the anime series of sort-of the same name. And quite frankly, the game feels like it. Visually, DragonBall Evolution gets the job done, but considering it's pretty much just a 2D fighter, the only thing it really needs is nice looking models and backgrounds, plus some special effects for the more powerful moves. Well, it has that. Between fights, when the game is progressing the movie's story, the stills used look like post-processed and cel-shaded versions of the actors themselves, and in-fight, the models, while not as detailed, look pretty good as well. As for the fighting arenas, the backgrounds look like many of the main locations from the movie. You will see everything from Gohan's house (both built and in rubble), to the desert where they meet Yamcha, to the temple at the end of the movie where the dragon finally gets summoned. Sound is okay and entertaining, but it really doesn't add anything to the overall experience. The story-advancing cutscenes use text instead of voiceovers and the only real voice acting are the frequent one-liners shouted out in the game's fights. The game's background music has enough energy in it to keep you moving, but much like the rest of the sound package, the game doesn't feel all that different when you turn down the volume.
Gameplay: DragonBall Evolution has all the necessary parts for a solid fighting game and for the most part, it all comes together nicely. The main drawback when it comes to gameplay, at least in the game's Story Mode, is that it is simply over way too fast. Not counting the cutscenes (which seem to be almost word for word the same lines from the movie), I was able to beat the Story Mode in less than an hour. The game possesses a dozen or so fights that you have to go through and until you get to the last three or four, most of them can be ended rather quickly. There is some replayability here since you get graded on each fight and you can go back to them in order to get a higher rank, but there really isn't a whole lot of incentive to do that. The other modes actually add quite a bit more to the overall experience - namely DragonBall Evolution's Mission Mode. Here you are tasked with various objectives. Each fight will have you doing anything from pulling off an ultimate attack to winning a fight by never guarding or jumping. I definitely found this mode much more enjoyable and longer lasting experience than the Story Mode. The last major mode is Arcade. Here you can go through a series of fights with some loose story thrown in there that basically shows each of the characters' story after the events of the movie. This was actually pretty interesting, especially for some of the more minor characters since they were able to work them into this extended story pretty well. After those modes is a Training Mode where you get to try out any of the characters that you have unlocked and the standard Versus Modes that let you take on an A.I. or another person.
Difficulty: DragonBall Evolution's Story Mode is pretty much a joke. It wasn't until the last couple of fights in the game that I had any real trouble winning. Most of those were because I didn't know how to pull off some of the game's intermediate moves, but after spending some time in the Training Mode, those issues were resolved. On the other hand, Mission Mode definitely poses some tough challenges. While they start off fairly easy, the more you make your way down the list, the harder they get, and to top it off, once you beat all of the missions, a harder difficulty setting for them open up. It's this mode that might make you want to keep picking up DragonBall Evolution, and a lot of that has to do with the smooth difficulty increase.
Game Mechanics: DragonBall Evolution has a fairly simple control scheme that works pretty well for the game, and if you have any real problems pulling off some of the moves, then the game's Training Mode is a good place to practice. While it won't walk you through any moves in a tutorial fashion, it is a nice playground to get used to how the game does things. Your basic attack is done with the (Triangle) button, while a more powerful character-specific attack is (Circle) and the (Square) is used to rush towards your enemy. These three buttons end up forming quite a few strong combos that, while button-mashing may achieve some of them, the better ones require fast fingers and a bit of practice. Each character has different moves that are pulled off with these combos, but the button combinations themselves seem to be fairly standard across the board. The (Left) shoulder button is used to build up your Ki so that you can perform some of the more powerful attacks while the (Right) shoulder button releases an Aura Blast that can knock your enemy back if he/she/it is a bit too close for comfort. I found it really easy to pull of the characters' more powerful moves. This is typically done with the (Circle) button, but if you have a full Ki gauge, then you will be able to unleash that character's ultimate attack. These are things like Goku's Kamehameha, or the Oozaru's move where he grabs you and spins you around before doing massive damage. When you get the hang of pulling off these super powerful moves, the game's difficulty drops pretty quickly. For one thing, some of the characters will be able to hit their opponent with that attack unless somehow they get behind the character at the last second. This is a bit more balanced in some of the characters whose Ultimate Attack starts off with a rush and if they don't hit their opponent, the rest of the move doesn't occur. But characters like Roshi, Goku and Piccolo can hit you from pretty much anywhere on the screen. And while the Ultimate Attack won't necessarily drain your health bar completely, it will definitely take a lot out of you. If you are looking for a new fighting game for your PSP, then DragonBall Evolution is definitely something to look at, but it's more of a rental than a purchase. Trust me, you should have no problem beating it during the rental period.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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