New Layout and New Review
The site has been quiet for a few weeks again, but we are still slowing pumping out content. I have added my review of Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. I just finished Mario Galaxy, and Halo 3 so look for reviews of them sometime in the coming weeks.
There is also a new layout. I was continually frustrated with how poorly the old layout rendered numerous pages on the site. I still have some kinks to work out with the new color scheme, but over all I am happy with the new look.
1 commentDragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
To purchase this item click here!Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
If you are into fighting games, this is a great game to get.
You either love or hate Dragonball Z, but if you love it you will probably enjoy this game. If you hate it, you may enjoy the unique fighting controls that the game has to offer. But regardless of whether you love or hate Dragonball Z you will be disappointed, nay, angrily bitter about the online play.
So lets get this out of the way. If you are purchasing this game because you want to beat up your friends in multi-player online ecstasy, you should probably look into other games. The online component is a train wreck to put it nicely. There were many attempts by the community to encourage Atari to get off their butts and fix the problem. Nintendo even made a press release stating they were aware of the problem and provided Atari with code samples that they could use to correct the problem. But, alas, Atari let us down, and that is probably why they keep needing to borrow money to stay afloat.
Even though the online game is inexcusably bad, the actual game is enjoyable. If you are a fan of the series you will appreciate the new story mode. In previous titles you had a series of single match battles you would go through for each saga. Each saga might contain 5 to 10 battles, but in this installment their is an entirely new mechanic. Each saga is a single battle with trigger points. I know a lot of people in the community complained that a full story mode was not present, but I certainly appreciated the new approach to the story mode.
Another plus for the game is the wealth of re-play value…if you enjoy the fighting mechanics. There is the new story mode, tornament mode, ultimate battle, and I am sure a whole ton that I didn’t mention. Each mode has it’s own slant. Tournament mode is basically the same as it has been in previous games, but the difference is that you can only play certain tournaments at certain times based on the internal game clock (not real time). So if I fight in 3 tournaments it might adjust the game time by 3 hours. Each tournament also has it’s own special rules, for instance Yamcha’s tournament randomly selects the character your are going to play with.
Ultimate Battle was in the previous game but it worked differently. In Tenkaichi 2 you had numerous totems you could work your way up, sort of like Mortal Kombat 2+. In Tenkaichi 3 there are actually 3 games types inside of Ultimate battle; Dragon Sim, Mission 100, and Survivial.
Dragon Sim is a game where you select a character and train him between battles. Training consists of selecting what you want to work on, for instance attack. If you select attack you may either gain or lose attack points, and you almost always lose defense points. You need to plan your training carefully to ensure you have decent stats before the next battle. Your health is also persistent in this mode, so if you take a lot of damage in the first battle you are going to need to rest more during training to regain your health for the next battle. When you rest you lose attack and defense strength though. Overall this is a fun mode to master, although there is a lot of chance involved with the training.
Mission 100 is…100 battles. They are basically package battles with teams that you fight, with specific rules. This very much acts like the Ultimate Battle mode from Tenkaichi 2, but you don’t see the totem you are walking up, it is simply a tag battle. I found the later battles to be the most difficult battles in the entire game.
Survival is an exhausting tag match. The general idea is You as your character of choice, vs a crap-ton of fighters. After each fight you regain a little health, but you have to be able to win fights without taking a ton of damage to win. I found Cell especially helpful in these matches because you can use his life drain ability to restore your health if you get low, and his transformations give him life back as well.
And of course you have standard Duel matches that you can beat your friends up in.
During each game modes you unlock Z-Points, the games currency. There are so many ways to collect Z-Points it is unbelievable. You use Z-Points to purchase Porta’s (attribute modifiers) for your characters. Unlike in Tenkaichi 2, these are not single use items, and they don’t gain experience. Instead it is more like you are unlocking the power-up to be used on any character. I like the unlock aspect a lot, but I still preferred the original power-up scheme in Budokai where you unlocked attacks and transformations as well, so you could really customize your character, instead of just modifying the characters stat attributes.
Overall if you are looking for a good fighting game, I think this game would be a good purchase on either the Wii or the PS2. I have the Wii version and the game controls are a lot better than for Tenkaichi 2. From what I understand not much has changed for controls on the PS2 side. If you did play Tenkaichi 2 you will need to give yourself a little time to adjust to the new control scheme on the Wii but it is well worth it.
My rating: stars
No hope in sight for Tenkaichi 3 online lag issues
I have been following various different online communities and the efforts going into getting Atari/Nintendo to get something moving with the whole Tenkaichi 3 lag issue, but it seems like it is a lost cause. I haven’t written my review yet, because I was really hoping they would fix the issue prior to me having to put an opinion on the game. All those disappointing things asside here is what information I have gathered about the issue.
There have been different tips and tricks for getting better performance out of your wii connection to possibly help out the lag issue. Both of which I had to link to the google cache because the actual forum posts were missing and both of which I have tried with relatively no results. However, I haven’t been able to hook up with someone local to see if that helps, but apparently the closer the person is to you the better the performance. This makes sense because you have to cross across less networks blah blah blah.
In addition to people trying to hack their hardware to fix the lag issue, their have been groups complaining and trying to get Atari to fix the problem. It has even birthed a petition. The Atari representative on the atari community forums has said she passed this petition onto customer service, but doesn’t promise any results. I signed the petition, but I don’t have high expectations.
So there is that, I hope Atari steps up and does something. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like they will. The shame of it is, the game is actually really good, and if they had excluded the online play entirely and just released the game, so many DBZ fans wouldn’t be upset. Look for my review over the next week or so.
2 commentsDragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Online Issues
The purpose of this post it to put a little more fire into the blaze of complaints that are surrounding the online issues with Tenkaichi 3. For those of you who don’t have the game, or haven’t tried the online component yet I will fill in the details.
It is the equivalent to fighting in slow-motion, with your hands tied behind your back, while having a seizure! The online piece is completely unplayable. If you don’t believe me watch this video of an online game, and then this video of a single player game! If you are interested in following the problem, a couple sources have attempted to pull together resources describing the state of a fix. If you just want a summary of the major events you can keep checking back here, and I am sure as soon as a fix is presented, and I know about it. It will be on here!
The basic state of a fix is that everyone spammed Nintendo and Atari with complaints about the problem. Nintendo has responded with:
Message(#6851-000639-1203\6391203)
Hello, I’m sorry to hear about the issues you’re having playing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 online. Our role in online play is matching players up. Once the match, race, or fight starts, you’re connected directly in a peer-to-peer format and no longer connected to Nintendo servers.
From the reports we have received, we have determined that this is an in-game peer-to-peer latency issue and not something that occurs through Nintendo’s servers. We have provided Atari information on how they can address this issue and recommend contacting them.
To get their contact information, go to the following web address and click on Atari: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/licensees.jsp
Nintendo of America Inc.
R.M. Rickets Nintendo’s home page: http://www.nintendo.com/ Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529
Atari has blamed in on the wireless network
Thank you for contacting Atari Support. Atari would like to sincerely apologize for any multiplayer lag issues you may be experiencing within Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
If you are experiencing multiplayer lag, this may be due to Wifi wireless internet connections or poor signal from the your ISP. To resolve this issue, please ensure both players involved in multiplayer gameplay use a hard wired connection – this should solve current lag issues.Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you from enjoying Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and thank you for your continued support.Thank You,Atari Support
but if you read over the Fix Budokai blog, you will notice references to numerous people who have attempted to fix the bug using a wired adapter for the Wii with no luck.
I don’t really care who fixes it, I just want it fixed. The game is great, and when I write up my review I will explain why it is a good game regardless of this feature. But this is ‘the feature’ that makes Tenkaichi 3 amazing as opposed to just great. Atari, Spike, and Nintendo need to put the Wii’s patching system to the test, and get this corrected ASAP.
No commentsDaniel’s Christmas - Kamehameha
In case the title doesn’t give it away, I got the new Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the Wii.  The game is fun, but I feel like I am starting from scratch because the controls are quite different than 2.  The other game goodies I got included, Mario Galaxy, an XBox 360, and Halo 3.  My XBox came with Ultimate Alliance and Forza 2, but if you listen to the podcast you will know, I am not really all that excited about either.I am happy with my loot, although I don’t have an HD television, so I will have to enjoy my XBox on standard definition television.  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Some other holiday I probably missed.
2 commentsEpisode 5: Spark of Intuition
In this episode Bucky claims that all things good in video games is doomed. All the players apologize to Too Human, because we are all excited about the game. Michael tries to claim that Daniel is stupid for playing video games on his Mac, and we discuss the big news about LucasArts and BioWare working together on a Mystery MMO.
Dragonball Z is explained, and compared to the likes of Tekken, and Street Fighter IV, and we all wonder if GTA IV is going to be as bad as GTA San Andreas. Finally we wrap up discussing some of the news that came out about Nintendo over the last few weeks.
Thanks again to our sponsor Pudding by Ataraxis Software. Go check out the promotional site, and sign up for a free trial.
links
- BioWare Interview with Gamasutra about EA Acquisition : http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15840
- Pandemic Interview with Gamasutra about EA Acquisition : http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15834
- GameSpot Hands on With Too Human : http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/toohuman/news.html?sid=6181072&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;2
- Cyrsis System Specs : http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/09/crysis-pc-requirements-a-new-pc/
- Nintendo Press Conference wrap up : http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15804
Episode 2: Need more Bucky
California still can’t figure out what to do with Violent video games. Bucky once again makes fun of someone’s name. BioShock is amazing…only because they took the time to make a game. Metroid Prime 3 is everything it needed to be and more. Daniel makes another DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 plug. The Wii is not a Fad, and Sony is trying to figure out their place in the world. Finally advertisements in games have started showing up in old classics being released for free.
links
- Metroid Prime Graphics Comparison : http://www.gamespot.com/features/6178117/index.html?tag=topslot;title;1
- DBZ Trailer Contest http://www.atari.com/dragonballz/trailermaker/
- Sony Rolly http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/rolly/index2.html
- Kotaku Free Game Download Links to FilePlanet : http://kotaku.com/gaming/free-games/ubisoft-titles-go-free-on-fileplanet-295680.php
Once again we apologize, as we lost Bucky’s recording so he still sounds like he is in a box. I attempted to do a little more editing on the audio so hopefully it sounds a little better than the first episode. Please let me know if the above show notes are what you, the listeners, were looking for and if not what I can do to make it better.
5 comments