Let's play a game of cards!
The new tie-in of the series, developed especially for the Nintendo DS, is called Dragon Ball Z: Goku Densetsu and it's a role playing game with cards. Once you have chosen one of the available characters (initially Goku, Gohan and Piccolo, to whom Vegeta is then added), the plot of the comic is retraced starting from the arrival of Raditz up to the clash with Cell. The levels vary depending on the character, and tell the story from his point of view, including fights; and there is no shortage of additions, in order to "lengthen the broth" as happens in the very slow cartoon. Each stage contains a game board, and you have a deck of five cards for each turn. The cards each have an attack (top left) and defense (bottom right) value ranging from 1 to 7, with the Z acting as "wild card" (worth 8), and are divided as follows: Attack (gives the possibility to launch a blow, different depending on the image depicted), Energy (increases the attack value of the cards left in the deck), Training (increases the defense value of the cards left in the deck), Character (yes can attack with another character, depicted on the card), Object (you can use one of the objects collected on the board), Invert (modifies the outcome of a play, reversing the attack value of our card with that of the opponent), Hide (allows us to escape from combat) and Z (which can become the card we want). We must play our cards to move on the board, in which case the attack value indicates how many squares we can move (in a predefined direction, which can only be changed in the presence of crossroads) and the defense one is used at the end of each movement, to see if we will be attacked or not by a lurking enemy (the clash occurs if our card has a lower defense value than the opponent's). Each fight won raises the level of our character, and a higher level corresponds not only to a greater number of hit points, but also the possibility of using a hoipoi capsule to increase the possibility of drawing one card instead of another. At the beginning you can play only one card at a time, but after a few levels a combo system of both attack and defense becomes accessible: it is possible to associate cards with the same attack value (attack combo) or defense (combo defense) so that very high numbers are reached, therefore attacks of exceptional power and solid defenses like steel.
Goku serves up poker!
But how exactly do fights work in DBZ: Goku Densetsu? Our opponent has the same number of cards per turn as we do (five). We must select a card (or more than one, if the combos already work) and play it, then compare it with the card played by the enemy: if we have a higher attack value, we win the hand and therefore the card will be activated (depending on whether it is an attack or other card, see above). In case of attack, this will have a power equal to the attack value of the card, and the opponent will be able to defend himself depending on the defense value of his card. It goes without saying that if our attack has a value of 7 and the enemy's defense has a value of 2, we will deal 5 full damage. All this will have more or less marked implications depending on the difference in level of the two contenders. Explaining how the game works in words is not easy, but two games are enough to understand everything perfectly and also note the numerous strategic implications of this videogame genre ... you can throw yourself into the attack or take advantage of "light" fights to do " grow your deck, for example, or play low attack value cards just to move around the table. The movement and fighting routine is repeated in each of the numerous stages available, which as mentioned resume the story of Dragon Ball from the arrival of Raditz to the clash with Cell, in a long adventure that will not fail to thrill fans of the series.
Technical realization
The games in which the fights take place automatically, through animated sequences, now belong to a very successful genre, especially in Japan. Since the days of the first Super Robot Wars, however, things have changed a lot and now watching the clashes hardly becomes boring, due to the numerous animations that the characters are equipped with and the various actions available. This also applies to Goku Densetsu: despite having characters without animations, the game's graphics manage to express an out of the ordinary dynamism and complete the picture with an excellent use of colors (which stand out more than ever on the Nintendo DS screen, especially if in Lite version). The eye-catcher is really top-notch, and although the sequences can't be skipped, they hardly get bored. The sound sector contributes in an important way to the atmosphere of urgency of the fights, with very rhythmic, catchy and engaging music, together with some good voices (in Japanese, fortunately, where the game is completely localized in Spanish in the numerous texts on the screen) . It is played using the stylus and the touch screen, in a really intuitive and comfortable way, although it is also possible to use the normal buttons and the directional cross. Both screens are exploited in the best way: in the upper one appears the board (which can be moved below if we want to explore the paths of the boxes), in the lower one the cards at our disposal. During the fights, in the upper screen we will see the opponent, while the attack sequences will develop on both displays. In addition to the single player mode, Goku Densetsu also offers local multiplayer, up to four players (all in possession of the cartridge) or for only two participants (with only one cartridge - but that was not handled in an exceptional way) . Unfortunately, there is no online multiplayer via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which is a real shame.
Comment
Dragon Ball Z: Goku Densetsu it is undoubtedly an atypical videogame, very "Japanese", but it is amazing how it is capable of involving and thrilling even those unfamiliar with Akira Toriyama's manga. This is both for the goodness of its structure and because it is completely localized in Spanish, which makes it truly a product accessible to all. Technically excellent, with more than functional graphics (although it offers room for improvement on several fronts), a sound level and an almost perfect control system, this new Dragon Ball Z tie-in stands as one of the products on most successful license for DS, especially since it was designed specifically for the Nintendo laptop.
- Pro:
- Equipped with a surprising thickness
- Lots of internships to face with different characters
- Technically excellent
- Against:
- It is not possible to move freely on the board
- Some internships are perhaps too long
- There is no online multiplayer
Dragon Ball Z: Goku Densetsu is available on Nintendo DS.
It is truly amazing how certain ideas can not only influence the course of one's life, but also arouse the keen interest of millions and millions of people around the world. Perhaps this is what Akira Toriyama thought to himself, when he realized the extent of the success of Dragon Ball, a manga published for the first time in Japan in the now distant 1984. As the story became less focused on humor and more on fighting, which in the cartoon occurs in conjunction with the birth of the Z series, Dragon Ball has automatically become the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs ... a huge hen, since at more than twenty years later the phenomenon shows no signs of stopping and cyclically gives life, among other things, to highly successful video games.
