Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Tenkaichi 2 also features "vanishing" attacks - where one character suddenly appears behind the other and slams them into the ground - which were used to catch us off-guard more than once. More interesting were the transformations; for the first time, you'll actually be able to bust these out in the middle of a fight - enabling Goku to go Super Saiyan (with four distinct levels of power), or Vegeta to transform into a gigantic monkey - which can rapidly turn the tide of battle.

You'll also have the option of two-on-two or two-on-one tag-team matches, enabling you to switch characters on the fly when things are looking grim. And continuing with the theme of transformations, you'll also be able to use "fusion" moves - combining two fighters into one super-powerful badass - if you pick the right characters.

Transformations aside, each character comes equipped with all-new super attacks, which range from the aforementioned giant fireballs to huge, cinematic finishers - one that we saw showed Goku summoning a giant, snaking dragon to deal massive damage. Pulling off certain attacks will also enable you to destroy the battlefield itself, demonstrated by Frieza calling down a fireball so massive that it turned an entire stage into a volcanic wasteland for the rest of the fight. (Strangely, it didn't kill us.)

CATEGORIES
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.