Namco Bandai GGD 2012: Dragon Ball Z for Kinect preview

I am a Super Saiyan. If you've said those words, you've either got a YouTube video that has tons of people laughing, or you're a big fan of Dragon Ball Z. If it's the latter, you might be happy to hear that Namco Bandai has announced Dragon Ball Z for Kinect, so you can pretend you're a Super Saiyan without ripping off your shirt and having people on the internet laugh at you.

At Namco Bandai's Global Gamers Day, I got some hands-on time with Dragon Ball Z for Kinect; ten minutes later my arms were sore and I needed a new shirt. If you want to find out how out of shape you truly are, then try to play Dragon Ball Z for Kinect. Obviously, it requires a Kinect — duh. It's also geared towards fans of Dragon Ball Z. And those fans will be happy to know that the game comes with 30 minutes of exclusive anime content.

Dragon Ball Z for Kinect has you participating in first-person battles. You mimic the motions and attacks straight from the show, but most of the time I wore myself out by throwing a flurry of punches. I felt like I was going to blow my arms out. Some weight resistance would be nice, instead of me punching at air, but it's the Kinect, so what are you gonna do? The Kinect was very responsive and my actions were always picked up. Make sure you're not playing in a dark room with lots of flashing lights, however, because some other people had problems. You'd think they wouldn't have strobe lights right near a Kinect set up.

Like I said, you perform moves that you see some of the characters from the show do. The battle relied on a defense portion, then an attack portion, where you could finally go all out with punches and kicks and perform a finisher. If there's one complaint I have, it's that the fight was way too long. I ended up just walking away from exhaustion. If you have the stamina and the love for Dragon Ball Z though, you will power through it and love every second of it.  You also see the motions you should be performing, and the actually motions you are performing.  It was good for someone like me that isn't an expert on all that is Dragon Ball Z.

There are over 50 characters available to play as, and some of those come from a cool QR code system. You collect QR codes on cards to unlock more characters, moves, and content. It was really easy to use, too. You just hold the QR code in front of the Kinect (there's an overlay where you should hold the code), it scans, and then the move/character is available. They said there are over 20 different QR codes available, but I'm sure there will be more if the game is a success.

Yea, Dragon Ball Z for Kinect was a tiring experience for me, but this is the Dragon Ball Z game that fans will love. The Kinect functionality worked great — but just remember to take breaks. Unless you're a 10-year-old consuming large amounts of sugar. Then you're good to go.

Dragon Ball Z for Kinect is set to release in October of 2012.

You can follow Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ