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PlayStation Holiday Preview Event
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

I didn’t really spend too much time with Dragon Ball: Raging Blast at the Sony PlayStation Holiday Preview Event. Reason being? It was right beside Tekken 6. Another reason is that I’m not really a big fan of the Dragon Ball series. Despite this, it’s hard to deny how fluid, crisp, and all-around impressive the game looks.

The characters are completely cel-shaded, and from what I’ve seen of the anime the likenesses were great. What’s funny, actually, is that the game looks better than the anime. I’ve never actually played any of the Dragon Ball games before (the only thing I’ve played that’s remotely Dragon Ball is Battle Stadium DON for the GameCube), but I have seen enough of the anime to know that the fights are over-the-top crazy, so I was wondering how that would translate to a console.

Well, this game is to Dragon Ball what Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm is to the Naruto anime.

The area in which I fought was huge. Much of the environment was destructible, and its painted look contrasted with the character visuals nicely. It definitely made for an interesting fight in terms of visuals. The fight started on the ground and, as the fight went on, my foe and I ended up floating higher and higher, all the while beating the snot out of each other in the air.

The controls were easy to figure out, and I was using Goku to fight Piccolo high over some lush valley with interesting rock formations that deformed as I threw a hapless Piccolo into them. The fight was fast-paced and a lot of fun. I know I didn’t spend much time with it, but I did end up playing it for a lot longer than I thought that I would.

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast will be released in North America on November 10, 2009.

Check out our Dragon Ball: Raging Blast gallery »

Posted in PlayStation 3, Previews |