About a week ago Atari sent us a preview of copy of Super DBZ, its latest fighting game that's hitting US shores mid July, and after spending some time with it we're convinced that it's one of the better DBZ titles that we've played, a game that has a decent amount of options, a cool customization mode, and of course, pretty solid fighting mechanics.

Seeing as how there are two DBZ titles releasing this year (Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 being the other), it's important to note how these two games are different, and for the most part, it all comes down to the gameplay. Matches in Super DBZ can get quite crazy, but they're nowhere near as over the top as in Tenkaichi 2. For example, there's no free flying. The levels (at least the ones that we've seen) are much more linear in design, meaning that the battles are somewhat contained. With that being said, air combat's also been toned down because you're unable to free fly. Instead, you can jump into the air and hover on different planes for a limited amount of time. So the game feels like more of a standard 3D fighter. The levels are fairly large and you'll cover a lot of ground, but you can't just go anywhere. At first it felt a bit limiting, but considering that we can always go back to the previous DBZ games for that sort of combat, we don't mind what the developers have done in Super DBZ, particularly because the camera isn't spastic like in some of the other games. And finally, while there's no Ki button, you can execute those maneuvers by using the d-pad and face buttons.

What also makes this game unique are its modes, and while we're not going to go out of our way to spoil things for you, we certainly want to briefly explain them starting with Original. Similar to the arcade version of Super DBZ, you'll battle a series of opponents in an attempt to reach Cell, all the while collecting Dragon Balls as you go. There appear to be 18 fighters to select from but only 13 are available from the start. These include Majin Buu, Frieza, Android 18, Krillin, Gohan, Goku, Trunks, Cell, Vegeta, Android 17, Android 16, Piccolo, and Chi-Chi. However, it doesn't look like they have individual stories, so choosing a fighter is more a matter of personal preference than to see different narratives.

The next mode is Z Survivor, which is essentially the heart of the game. You need a character card in order to actually play it, but once you're in you may never leave. It's here where you can pit your created fighters against a wealth of different opponents, many of which are modified versions of the stock characters. And as you progress you'll unlock special bonuses and skills.

Dragon Summoning mode is best left under wraps until you get to play. You need the seven Dragon Balls in order to check it out (they can be uncovered while playing the other modes), and once you have them you can call Shenron. We'd spoil it, but we're not asses. Well...most of us aren't.

Up next is Customize mode, and it's here where you can mess around with the characters by making slight alterations to their appearance. However, you can't go all crazy and deform the character models as the changes are more subtle (color, for example).

Finally, we come to everything else, most of which you've seen before in other games. There's a versus mode for up to two players (this includes a handicap setting), and if you want to perfect your moves before taking on real opponents, you can also check out Training, which allows you to peruse your selected character's move list as well as set a bunch of parameters on your opponent such as whether they should counter with a light/strong attack after getting knocked down.

Thus far, Super DBZ is a pretty good fighting game and we're looking forward to its July 18 release. The actual fighting isn't exactly triple A quality, as the mechanics are a tad bit stiff (it's just not as fluid as in the better fighters on the market such as Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur II), and the visuals aren't anything to do back flips over (the graphics are similar to previous 3D DBZ titles), but we also think that for a DBZ game, this one's pretty damn good. Not super, mind you, just better than most of the ones that've come before it. Look for our review in the coming weeks.