Having been subjected to my idealised preview I thought it would be worth writing review after having played the game for a decent amount of time.
I guess the first thing I have to say is that there is no faulting the graphics. They look, as expected, amazing. Most people used to the Dragon Ball series of videogames will find that the voices used for special attacks have been rehashed from Budokai Tenkaichi 3 not that it matters much.
As for actual game modes nothing has changed much in the offline component. The Dragon Ball story has been restricted to the Dragon Ball Z series and this has been reduced into a very short progression of fights from each story arc.
Online mode is the interesting addition that as far as I am aware has been well done. The main problem for us in New Zealand is the connection. This is a game that does not do well with lag since counter moves, sonic sways and rapid movements require precise timing to execute. Because of this I have lost my fair share of online battles and yet I can't resist trying.
Lastly the actual gameplay itself is essentially the same as the venerable Budokai Tenkaichi series. The fight sequences feel smoother and the engine more stable. The only innovation is the super rising move which is essentially a very quick and almost instantaneous rush up to the top of the map in order to compensate for the large size of the battle arenas.
One word of warning, the camera can be annoying. It is not as awful as some forums on the internet say but it can cause serious headaches especially when backed up against the wall. Your character disappears in this situation and your opponent can pretty much do whatever he wants which in this game is a recipe for death.
The controls have also been completely redone and I actually don't like them that much. The old PS2 control scheme worked much better in my opinion and having to relearn everything was not something I was to keen on doing. They are strange but they work, just.
The character count stands at 70 including transformations which seems okay but when compared to the over 160 we used to have on the Playstation 2 it seems sadly lacking.
Overall the game is good but could have been done better. The exclusion of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT series hurt the character roster and niggling gameplay issues may cause frustration but it is by no means bad and well worth the high speed action it provides.