Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

"DBZ fans will love it, good game with minor flaws"

I'm a really big fan of DBZ, so I was overjoyed to hear that Budokai was coming out on GameCube. I picked it up right away and played. What I saw was pretty, with a few setbacks.

Graphics 6/10
This depends on how you look at it. From one view, it is 3-D. On the other hand, the characters' bodies are shaded with the same shading all the time. It can get slightly annoying. Also, in the story mode, when they have characters struggling, such as Raditz stepping on Goku, or Vegeta realizing he has no chance against Cell, it's not to fun to watch. Again, it depends on your own point of view.

Music/Sound 9/10
The music I thought was pretty good. The title screen music is short, but so much cooler than the opening movie song, which isn't bad. One thing I was hoping for, though, was the DBZ theme song from later in the series. Sound... that was really good. They have the real voices of the characters, and the explosions sound real. One thing that can get annoying, however, is the World Tournament announcer. Small price to pay.

Gameplay 6/10
This is what sunk my opinion of the game. The story mode follows the DBZ storyline from the Saiyan Saga to the Cell Games Saga. It is amazingly short the first time you play it. They skip a lot, however, which gets you to play what you skipped, plus Vegeta, Freiza, and Cell each have a side quest. The story is still short, however, and it took me about 5 hours in total. Maybe. In Duel Mode you can go one on one with either a computer player or one friend. Just like any other fighting game. World Tournament is very depressing, the only thing keeping me from winning every time I play it is the ring outs. It's way, way, way to easy to get a ring out. Not to mention the annoying announcer's voice saying, ''Aw, contestant loses! Looking forward to your next fight!'' Winning prize money in the tournament is vital. You can go to Edit Skills and buy new capsules from Mr. Popo. These capsules contain items and special attacks, such as physical moves and death moves. With these skills, you can customize your own custom character to become the best fighter.

Replay Value 4/10
Once the story mode is beaten, there's not much else to do. Duels are always fun, but there's not much new. It gets old too fast.

Buy or Rent?
Rent. Save yourself some money and rent. You can beat the story mode in a few hours with some dedication, and afterwards, you won't touch it too much. This is a must-rent.

RATINGS
Graphics-6/10
Music/Sound-9/10
Gameplay-6/10
Replay Value-4/10
Overall-6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/03