Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

 Xbox 360
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 68 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 68
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 68
  3. Negative: 23 out of 68
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  1. nintendo9378
    Apr 9, 2012
    0
    Seriously, is this really a fighting game?! It is nothing more than a game of repetitive rock paper scissors. Trust me, after 1 hour of gameplay, you will realize that you are doing the same thing over and over again, albeit with different characters. But then again, there's not much difference between using different characters, since everything in this game is more or less fixed; whetherSeriously, is this really a fighting game?! It is nothing more than a game of repetitive rock paper scissors. Trust me, after 1 hour of gameplay, you will realize that you are doing the same thing over and over again, albeit with different characters. But then again, there's not much difference between using different characters, since everything in this game is more or less fixed; whether you are Saibamen or Gogeta, whether you are shooting Kamehameha or just a simple energy beam, the whole gameplay is circumscribed into a game of coin flipping, rock paper scissors style game of probability. Which in turn, makes the game incredibly stale, boring and repetitive. You press a few buttons, the game freezes, and takes you into preset cutscenes of combo attacks(all the same), conveniently taking out the manual button mashing style of combo attacks which was what fighting games are supposed to be about. Boss battles are more irritating than rewarding, some are so difficult that when you beat it you feel more relieved than satisfied and rewarded because you finally got through that horrible ordeal. Quick time events are poorly implemented(in normal battles as well as the boss battles), and feel like they are there just to restrict your every movement. You cannot even fire a Ki Blast at will, because of the introduction of the lackluster melee and range modes. The amount of freedom given to the player in this game is near to 0. Between the original Tenkaichi series and the RB series and this, I would say the fighting mechanics are given constant downgrades rather than upgrades. With this game, it is a HUGE and MAJOR downgrade. Plus its limited character(you can't even play as Goten) roster, coupled with this really horrible gameplay, this game isn't even worth $6, much less $60. You might think the character creation may be its saving grace, but it is so limited in customization that it might as well have none. The only thing commendable about this game is its graphics-which I have to admit is pretty decent. But then again, what is the use of pretty visuals when the gameplay is absolute crap. And story obviously does not save this game because the DBZ story is well... as we know of it. And the game does not even tell it in a refreshing way, or at least introduce interesting "what-if" scenarios, merely replacing it with its meager character creation. In overall, the game is a dismal DBZ game, one of the worst I've played(yes, I am a DBZ fan, all the more reason I cannot tolerate badly made DBZ games), which tries to cover up for its abundance of flaws with visual aesthetics. Conclusion: This game is NOT even worth a rent. Heck, 0/10 is already being lenient. It is so bad that even a long time fan of DBZ like me is so pissed at it that I sold it within 4 days. Buy/rent it at your own risk, and I have to warn you that it is very likely you would find much more joy in playing Raging Blast or its sequel than this game. An utter disgrace to the Tenkaichi series(not even worthy of having Tenkaichi in its name, it shares absolutely NO gameplay mechanics with the BT series), and a definite waste of your time and hard-earned cash should you buy it. My advice- save that $60, this thing should be the last thing on your list that you should spend it on.… Expand
  2. David1991
    Jul 10, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. dragon ball z budokai tenkaichi 3 is a million times better ..........................................................................................................................................… Expand
  3. HmhWolf
    Jul 22, 2013
    1
    This game has beautiful graphics, and it really stands out among its predecessors with how awesome it looks. The character customization mode and Hero mode following it are great additions, and it shows that the creators of the Dragon Ball franchise listen to the fans to an extent. But that's where my praise ends. The gameplay is mind-numbingly repetitive, and obviously isn't based on aThis game has beautiful graphics, and it really stands out among its predecessors with how awesome it looks. The character customization mode and Hero mode following it are great additions, and it shows that the creators of the Dragon Ball franchise listen to the fans to an extent. But that's where my praise ends. The gameplay is mind-numbingly repetitive, and obviously isn't based on a players' skill level nearly as much as it is based on sheer luck. I often found myself thinking back to Budokai 3 and wishing they'd stuck with the same sized roster, among other game details that were either downgraded in this installment, or scrapped completely. The aforementioned character builder and Hero mode are also very limited, and center more around the Android Saga and Dragonball GT than any other point in the Dragonball universe's story. Also, if you were looking for a decent story mode then you'd be safer looking back to the old installments in the game series because this one has significant plot gaps and nonsensical use of techniques mid-match for the sake of the story. The battles are cramped, only allowing for two 'modes' of combat (and not allowing for use of ki blasts at will.) Players only have three special moves to choose from during battle, as opposed to the grandiose list of moves you would see in earlier games and that takes hardcore fans out of the experience. Transformations can be done at will without the use of the ki or spirit meters, but all that changes are the moves your character can use. The soundtrack is more or less what you'd expect, with mild guitar solos and upbeat synth but it too suffers from the same monotony of the rest of the game. This game is so horrendous that they even took one of the series' most famous scenes/lines and blatantly misquoted it, then passed it off as if it would go unnoticed in the eyes of die-hard fans such as myself (And yes, I'm talking about the "Over 9,000!" line.) Long story short, you'd be better off taking the money you'd spend on this and buying the games that came before it, as they're much more enjoyable overall.… Expand
  4. ChicleNegro
    Aug 1, 2013
    3
    The sad truth is that this game had it all, but threw it all out the window with the repetitive rock, paper, scizors fighting style. The cinematics, dialogue(although lacking mouth movrment) and story is probably the best ever seen in a DBZ game. Unfortunately the combat ruins it all, and this IS afterall a fighting game.
  5. dibblez27
    Mar 16, 2012
    3
    I was extremely disappointed in this game. Besides the stunning visuals, the actual game play lacked in variety. Every character pretty much fights the exact same, minus the moves that are theirs. I guess I was hoping for more of a Budokai 3 style of fighting. I'll definitely start checking reviews more often, so I dont waste my money as I did with this game.
  6. RunnrX
    Dec 29, 2011
    1
    I signed up with Metacritic just now just so I could give this game a bad review. I was so stoked to buy this game for $60 just to be disappointed by it bigtime. I loved Budokai 3 and played it for probably 40 hours. And I loved Budokai Tenkaichi 2 & 3 and made sure to unlock all the characters etc. Those had great fighting mechanics. I feel like playing them again now to get theI signed up with Metacritic just now just so I could give this game a bad review. I was so stoked to buy this game for $60 just to be disappointed by it bigtime. I loved Budokai 3 and played it for probably 40 hours. And I loved Budokai Tenkaichi 2 & 3 and made sure to unlock all the characters etc. Those had great fighting mechanics. I feel like playing them again now to get the taste out of my mouth from UT.

    This game shouldn't have been made like this. The close range is totally restricted - you can't do anywhere near the number of attack initiatives that you could in the other games I mentioned -- or in the long range stance, you still are restricted to some unsatisfactory moves. If you want to dash up and slam into your opponent's face, like in the other Tenkaichi games, you can't -- you have to dash up and initiate a coinflip minigame to see if you can get close range or not. This game has the worst fighting mechanics I've seen since playing some of those terrible random 2D PS1 DBZ games that should have never made it out to market.

    I'll still get myself to play through the storymode because the battles are playable, but it's just so clunky and restrictive -- like firing a kamehameha is a rare and requires certain conditions instead of being able to just fire them off like you used to be able to - a really sour experience.    … Expand
  7. AlienGoku
    Jul 3, 2012
    0
    This is the worst game I've played in my life. I hope that none of you dragon ball fans make the same mistake I did. I would rather buy the dragon ball manga.
  8. FacingFacts
    Oct 28, 2011
    0
    Yes, this is the worst dbz game ever. Gampleay sucks HUGE time. Boring. They have killed dbz. I dont get why people love this. seriously. Maybe for kids, ok.
  9. icadaT
    Oct 27, 2011
    2
    The game is as bad as everyone says - in fact it is one of the worst games i have played in a long time. Combat is abysmal. Whilst RB wasn't outstanding, you could atleast move around freely, do combos and do a variety of special moves. In UT it is literally QTE QTE QTE... movement feels really restricted as there is just 2 'ranges' you can be in. The UI is confusing as hell and i found itThe game is as bad as everyone says - in fact it is one of the worst games i have played in a long time. Combat is abysmal. Whilst RB wasn't outstanding, you could atleast move around freely, do combos and do a variety of special moves. In UT it is literally QTE QTE QTE... movement feels really restricted as there is just 2 'ranges' you can be in. The UI is confusing as hell and i found it difficult to work out how to do a special. There is no satisfaction from playing you just mash buttons and hope you get the right flip of the coin in the 'rock paper scissors' type clashes you get with the opponent. I didn't make it far enough through the story to get to a big boss battle as the combat is so dire and repetitive I had to stop playing.

    The story mode is poor. After doing the first mission of Bardock vs Frieza you are placed on Earth for the Raditz battle and can fly around the map (flying feels super slow btw, nothing like the TV series). Instead of going where Raditz was i went to the World Tournament that was also marked on the map as a point of interest. Suddenly i am placed in a tournament with the likes of Frieza, Cell and Android 18! So much for story lol.

    People have praised the graphics but i think they are worse than those in RB2. The edges are really shoddy and most of the time you can't see whats going on anyway because of the stupid camera angles and QTE.

    The character editor is very limited. The characters all look the same pretty much, you can change the skin colour to look a bit like a Kaioshin but other than that it's palette swapped Saiyans. I am not going to say Raging Blast 2 is an amazing game because it isn't. However I would recommend that over UT to any fan as UT is sadly complete tripe.    … Expand
  10. MrGamingAnime
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    This Game is I honestly Hate it this was the first Dragon Ball Z game I had ever played so at the time i thought it was good i went to my friends house a week after to play Raging blast 2 it was 10 times better then this you can hardly control your character in the game its all mid-Game cutscenes the only good thing about this game is the graphics/cutscenes and also heo mode is KINDA cool
  11. Sacatuki
    Feb 7, 2017
    3
    I hate giving games bad scores, especially from a good franchise like Dragonball. But, I have to give it to this addition to the franchise. The game is meant to be a fighting game that retells the story of the Dragonball Z universe, like all of the Dragonball Z games before it, and adds a side story to it with your own created character. The created character idea is now incorporated withI hate giving games bad scores, especially from a good franchise like Dragonball. But, I have to give it to this addition to the franchise. The game is meant to be a fighting game that retells the story of the Dragonball Z universe, like all of the Dragonball Z games before it, and adds a side story to it with your own created character. The created character idea is now incorporated with the much better Dragonball Xenoverse titles. Unfortunately, the gameplay on this game overshadows the rest of the game. The gameplay starts off as what a normal fighting game would do and thats the 3D fighting as we've seen in previous installments. However, when you land a few hits in whether you're far away and or close up, you do nothing but do quick time events and even do a small guessing game with the enemy so you don't press the same kind of button that they do and then you need to press the same button when they land hits on you. It's a mess and repetitive as hell. I'm so glad this never saw a sequel and was replaced by the Xenoverse titles. What made it worse was I bought this for a $30 price tag. I felt cheated out of my money and wished I never bought this. The only redeemable thing I can think of is the character creations you can make with additional armors and so forth that can be used to customize your saiyan character. However, the repetitive and stupid quicktime events aren't really worth the frustration to get more goodies to customize your character. It's basically the kinectless version of Dragonball Z Kinect which should say a big no to anyone who has ever played that game. And to those looking to buy it, please don't suffer the same fate I had.… Expand
  12. Xatrios
    Aug 14, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Les qte infernal sont 80% du jeu et sont nul tout comme le système de comdo… Expand

Awards & Rankings

62
#62 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2011
68
#68 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 24
  3. Negative: 7 out of 24
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Jan 26, 2012
    50
    Ultimate Tenkaichi may be the best looking DBZ game to hit our shores, it doesn't have the gameplay to back it up.
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  2. Gamereactor Denmark
    Jan 23, 2012
    50
    Comes closer to perfecting the style of the Dragon Ball Z universe than any previous game, but the combat system is too simplistic to offer any real depth, and so we can only recommend Ultimate Tenkaichi to the most hardcore fans of the franchise.
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  3. CD-Action
    Jan 19, 2012
    60
    The story in the new Dragon Ball game is chopped up and very chaotic so you will get lost if you don't know the TV series very well. Fights get boring after a while and the load times are annoying. It was fun to play but as a fan of the original anime I was lenient to some degree. [February 2012, p.58]
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