Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

"Well worth the thirty bucks."

Finally, a game based on a popular series that isn't bad! It isn't as nearly as good as DBZ: Hyper Dimension for the Super Famicom, but it's better than Ultimate Battle 22 and Final bout.

Graphics 9/10
I didn't realize they changed the graphics from the PS2 version, till I saw the commercial, anyways the cel-shading is not bad, at all and is way better than Megaman Network Transmission. All the attacks are fully animated with no flaws, that I can see, what-so-ever.

Music 5/10
Eh.., nothing magical here, it's basically the same 5 songs over and over again, and it'll start getting annoying when you try to purchase capsules, believe me. They have the theme song for DBZ at the beginning of each Story chapter and every time you turn on this game, but the lack of music won't do it for me.

Story 9/10
The excellent story mode is portrayed to the full extent. You get to play through the Namekian, Sayian, and Android saga. After you beat the story mode you can beat it again, and let me say you can do some stuff that didn't happen in the DBZ manga.

Gameplay 10/10
This is simply one of the best playing fighting games out there for the gamecube and is almost as good as Soul Calibur 2. After you win each mission you are rewarded with a capsule of a certain move you can use with your custom character. You unlock more capsules buy beating Story mode missions over and over again or by buying them at Mr. Popo's shop. You earn money or ''zennie'' from beating the world tournament on either Beginner, Adept or Advanced. You start out with about 5 characters and you unlock them by either beating story mode or by beating World Tournament mode. With the capsules you can buy, you can make an ultra character with these moves that you can duel in World Tournament Mode or Duel Mode. There is also a practice mode where you can try out your skills and combos against the computer.

Replayability 9/10
After you beat Story mode you can either try to unlock all the capsules and try to unlock every character. You can also try improving your skills against friends or against the computer on harder modes.

Final Thought:
Though there are many games for the gamecube out there this is a must buy because of the gameplay and the replayability, plus it only costs about thirty bucks!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/03