The king of arena fighters returns with Budokai Tenkaichi 4.

It is a straight upgrade from not only Budokai Tenkaichi 3 but also the combat mechanics of Xenoverse 2, taking everything good from both series and turning it into this singular ultimate arena fighter. Aside from things like beam struggles being back amongst other things the combat is fast, fluid, feels intuitive and has more depth than any previous Dragon Ball game.

The story(episode mode) is very interesting, as if you take certain actions you can branch off into entire what-if routes until they're completed. For instance, if you're able to defeat Raditz quickly you'll be able to completely change the trajectory of the saiyan/namek arc, causing Goku to never meet with King Kai and need to turn Super Saiyan to defeat Vegeta. So it's not just your stock standard play through the story like you have 20 times before in every other game, there's some actual depth to it and tons of branching paths to explore across the 8 playable characters. Do keep in mind though that the game absolutely prioritizes its combat/gameplay elements over the story, you aren't getting a Dragon Ball Z Kakarot or Tenkaichi 2 level storytelling experience here, but it's enough, especially with how it covers all the major story beats of Z/Super and multiple what-if routes.

Then there's the Custom Battle mode, if you've played Super Dragon Ball Heroes before you effectively know what it is, but you're able to completely set up custom scenarios, with even more control, being able to set triggers that occur when conditions are met, special win/lose conditions, add in dialog and make your completely own what-if scenarios, or perhaps recreate scenes that don't yet exist in the game like iconic movie battles customized nearly down to the last detail.

From the custom battles I've played that other people have made I have been very surprised at the amount of controllable things you have access to and in the future I wouldn't be surprised if every missing battle in the game was recreated, as well as very good custom what-if scenarios. The only downside to this is that it's very hard to search for specific dialog/speakers/etc, if you're going all in on making a custom scenario a lot of time could be spent just looking for what you need as you don't have the ability to freely manipulate dialog outside of character names/locations, and even then only existing ones on a list.

This game doesn't have the absolute plethora of game modes you might expect from a BT title, but they did go all-in on the World Tournament, allowing extreme customization of various tournament modes, some of which even make use of new mechanics to this title, such as switching in a fighter FighterZ style during the Tournament of Power. And to emphasize the previous point of how customizable the custom battles are I have no doubt that people will be able to make games within games or extremely unique matches with special conditions that fill the void of the missing content like Sim Dragon (RIP).

There's a few bugs here and there like enemies staying down instead of getting up or AI getting slightly bugged and ignoring you for a bit but those things can likely be fixed in upcoming patches, I don't even think we've had the day 1 patch yet so lots will likely be fixed as time goes on.

All in all this is a superb arena fighter experience and a game I'll probably find myself playing even more than TEKKEN 8, other things like the music and visuals are also at the very top of their game, at one point in a fight I got immersed enough that it felt like a scene straight out of the anime. 10/10 would go super sand with kakacarrot cake again.

If Muv-Luv was ever a step ahead of Steins;Gate, well, that's changed. Both stories hit hard, but now a fully animated remake by White Fox (S;G, Re:Zero – some of my all-time faves) blows all competition away. Even scenes I found slow in the original are gripping!

The music and sound design blend seamlessly, creating a captivating anime-like atmosphere. While some sounds made more sense in the VN, the remake still feels authentic. New music enriches scenes that lacked it before, flowing perfectly with the action.

Speaking of action, the animation is phenomenal. I was hooked from the start. A few questionable stills don't mar the incredible work that went into this production. It truly merges VN and anime – unlike School Days, which played solely like anime. Controlling dialogue and animation speed retains essential VN feel. This sets the gold standard for AAA visual novels!

Some OG content is replaced by tons of new @channel posts, additional dialogue, timeline fixes, and hidden details within the new scenes. A fair tradeoff! Expect an epic 35+ hour journey to every ending (took me 48 to "complete", still haven't read all the phone triggers!).

New to Steins;Gate or even VNs? This is where to start! Its touching story builds skillfully; don't be fooled by a "slow" opening. Each moment matters. I recommend going in blind – this ride's better without spoilers. Just check the store page for a summary.

Despite room for minor animation tweaks, this is hands-down the best way to experience the best story in all of anime/VNs. It deserves all the hype! 'Remaster' usually is a red flag, but not here. New VA work, perfect music, full animation... A brilliant update likely to keep me engrossed for years to come, like the classic S;G anime. Here's hoping for a Steins;Gate 0 Elite! El Psy Kongroo.

Screenshots
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1672479259
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1672461791
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1672473303