|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Being a Dragonball fan,i was pretty excited about the arrival of Finablbout. Did it live up to the hype as a Dragonball fighting game?My answer is Yes. Unfortuately,many disagree with that because of the game's slow down and unresponsive controls. During the days of the SNES,Namco wasn't just famous for its tekken series. In fact,Namco's fighting game,Yu Yu Hakusho ,spread over 4 series,were just as popular as Dragonball was in Asia.I am sad to say that we won't see any Yu Yu Hakusho anymore. Dragonball,like Yu Yu Hakusho,started off as a Japanese manga and has evolved into over 450 TV show epsiodes,countless Dragonball toys,action figures and comics too. Whether you are a Dragonball fan or not,try picking up the game,and if you are a true Dragonball,fan,then you shouldn't hesitate anymore.It could possibly be the last Dragonball game ever released.Besides,for the first time,Dragonball is making its way to the US shores.
Story: In this game,the story has no direct connections with the Z/Gt anime,but is a sort of a remix of characters from the Z and Gt universe.A mix of 10 fighters,plus eight hidden ones make up the cast of the game.
Graphics:10.0/10.0 This is the first time that all Dragonball Gt combatants are polygonal animated,however the battle takes place in a two-dimensional plane.Mind you, the 3-D graphics is fantastic.The visual effects of the special moves like kameihameiha are cool,and the details are amazing,just as cool as Tekken 3's graphics quality.Each character has his own distinct actions.If he gets tired and run out of Ki,you will see him bending his head down to rest for a while. Cool,isn't it.What's even cooler is the fact that you can actually turn the HP and the Ki bar off,which looks exactly like REAL fightings.Dragonball Gt's dynamic camera angles allows you to see much more intense detail and action than any normal fighting game.The meteo smash are even more devastating,and even cooler,having to chain up to a max of 8 combos.One word,revolutionary graphics.Not only that,the characters does have a lot of facial expressions and a lot of details are paid the character's expression at the end of the battle.An example is to see Goku tighten his belt. Music and
Sound Effect:10.0/10.0 Musics are fantastic,and each one suits every stages perfectly well.Though sang in japanese,the introduction music is top-notch,and is definitely one of my favorite Dragonball theme.Sound effect are up to the standard.I owns the Japanese version of Finalbout,so i wasn't sure how the sound effects turn up in the English version,but i am glad i bought the Japanese version instead. Do you know,in the japanese version,it contains a special secret sound test mode that you can't find it in the US version.Trust me,if you enter the sound test mode,and listen to the voice overs and so on,you will be amazed,as if those voice overs were taken from any TV episodes.
Controls and Character cast:6.0/10.0 I hate to give such a low score for the control and character cast.The game suffers a lot of slowdown,and the frame rate is low due to the highly detailed that needs to be displayed also,if not it could really be a perfect game.This is an extreme major error and keeps gamers annoying and fustrating. This is probably one of the reason why Finalbout is critised.Character cast is too small.Though,including the secret characters,they are a total of 17 playable characters,+ 1 non-playability boss,most of the characters' move, actions are too similar.If you count the young and big Goku,it will make up a total of 5 characters,nearly one-quarter of the entire cast.Super saiya young goku and normal saiya young Goku doesn't differ too much in moves,except for the golden hair and maybe uper saiya does slighly more damage.There are only 4 villains,plus the final boss,which is non-playable.The rest are mostly belong to the saiya family. Possible Reason for the Slow Control: If you have noticed carefully,you will notice that stronger characters like Goku saiya 4 does lot more damage and moves faster than weaker character like Pan.That's why you see a great difference in movements/damage.Is it a good thing?Shouldn't everyone has balanced stats?
Battle Combat:10.0/10.0 I still give the battle combat a virtually flawless score.Each fighter has a puch,kick,block and beam button.Battles are still very thrilling and fast if you use more powerful characters like Saiya Goku 4,Vegeta.Firstly,supers can be divided into short and longe ranges.If you are far away from your opponent ,you will be able to perform a long range super,for example, kameihameiha. Dragonball Finabout still retains the old fun features.You can actually blocked or countered the move.If you counter a super with a super,two powers will eventually lock up and an ensuing tug of war matches will begin,which you win by tapping the beam button and of course,determine whose super gets through and who gets hurt.Is it fun?Of course.Challenge your friend in it. Secondly,for the first time,there are actually no distincts height,ground or air.Now,dragonball fighters can fly anywhere they like to any height they want.Cool,isn't it?Definitely,a lot of new strategies involved.Lastly,is the newly meteo smash,which is by far the most devastating move.Unfortuately,not many people know how to execute it.Meteo smash is divided into punch,Kick and Ki blast meteo smash.You can actually link up these meteos for a max of 8 combos.What's even more challenging is the fact that you can actually countered them,forming an endless chain.Cool,isn't it?Besides,physical factors actually affect the chances of executing a meteo smash.If your opponent is trapped in a corner,it's unlikely that your meteos smash will be executed successfully.All in one,groundbreaking ideas.Unfortuately,the main drawback is there the battle systems are far too complex to understand,but they are very easy to perform,epecially for the US gamers and non-Dragonball fans,which is the most possible reason why Dragonball games are not as successfully in US,as in Japan or Asia.If you are a fan of Dragonball,then it shouldn't be of a problem to you at all.Treasure it by all means.
Gameplay:10.0/10.0 Gameplay marks another watermark.Instead of offering the standard Player vs CPu or Player vs Player,Dragonball game has lots more new features to offer. The first is possibly the build up mode that is first used in Dragonball Ultimate Battle 22.The idea and concept was furthur expanded in Finalbout. Data in the build-up mode from ultimate battle 22 can be imported over to Finalbout.In this mode,you get a chance to build up yoru character stats,and when you build up several characters' stats,you can challenge your friend. Cool,isn't it?In this mode,you will fight several characters,including the good and the bad guys.If you keep on using ki blast,your character's ki blast will grow in strength.Similarly,if you use a lot of punches and kicks,your punches and kicks will get more stronger after several battles.My advice is to have a well mix of attacks.The next interesting feature is the Toshiden Tournament,a tournament whereby martial arts expert from all over the world gathered to compete for the first.This idea has been greatly incorporated ever since the first Dragonball game in SNES was released.Is it fun?Of course,find a group of friend of around 2 to 8,each of you choose your own character and sees who can get the champion.To make fights more interesting, you can actually have a well mix of Players and CPU. This is what makes Dragonball an entirely new game different from other fighting games.
Overall:9.0/10.0 Had it not been because of the poor controls,this game would have rated a perfect score.Hopefully,Bandai will consider making another new Dragonball fighting game,with these major errors being corrected.If you are new to a Dragonball fighting game,i suggest you read the manual or refer to any FAqs, because it's unlikely you are going to understand.It may be a good idea to rent first if you are not sure whether you are going to like it,but for all Dragonball fans,who have been very familarised with the battle system,this is a must-have keeper,or you will regret it forever.