Dragon Ball Z: Sagas

"The New Direction for DBZ hits a Brick Wall"

Atari set out to take the epic world of Dragon Ball Z and turn into what everyone really wanted: a free-roaming, destroy anything world. That's what they claimed they would provide. Anyone would want that, with DBZ games being very limited to mostly fighting games. While a valiant effort, if unfortunately falls flat to its face.

Graphics -- 7/10
Nothing too spectacular here. The worlds and characters are very colorful and vibrant. The character models look very well... at a distance. At the few brief moments when the camera zooms in to any character's face, you can see the low amount of detail and effort put into them. However, any sort of explosion from a ki blast is large, and would be just what you'd expect from a well-placed Kamehameha into a large boulder.

Sound -- 8/10
The sound is good for the most part. All official voice actors are there. That cool "swish" sound when teleporting is in there, along with the standard thuds from punches and booms from explosions. I actually rather liked some of the music, especially one specific piano piece. However, during any sort of boss fights, character will shout out insults and taunts. That wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't happen too frequently. Often times, they'd say the exact same thing right after the other within three seconds. Also, a lot of times they'd just be out of place. For example, you deliver a crushing blow and the boss goes flying back, but for whatever reason you hear yourself shout out "Whoa, that was a close one!"

Gameplay -- 5/10
Atari said players could run any where and blow up anything. They did about half off that. Levels are very linear in that you follow a set path with several destructible objects along the way. You collect items along the way, sometimes as part as a requirement for the level.

Of course it'd be all about the fighting. The controls fit well, however the use of the Gamecube's small, shoddy control pad for menu screens instead of the control stick is a poor choice. The actual battle system is broken and shoddy. It starts off very boring, as you have no special moves, combo attacks or finishers. By the time you obtain decent ones, you really won't be having fun anymore. You either punch, kick, or throw a ki blast, with combinations of the three. The game offers a lock-on option, which is the only way to do any sort of side-to-side dodging, or backflips. This would be good, except that while locked on you can't actually just run and circle around your target. You either dash forward, sideways or back by tapping the control stick. This heavily limits mobility, and dodging all but futile.

Flight is essentially useless, save for collecting airborne power-ups.

By the time you reach a boss, he'll be so over-powered compared to you, it's not even remotely fair. You take heavy damage, while delivering very little in return. In fact, during most boss fights you'd constantly use your character signature move, so you have a full 10 minutes of hearing yourself constantly yell "Kamehame....ha!" or "Special Beam.... Cannon!".

However, to save face, they offer a two-player cooperative mode. This is a huge step up for DBZ games, but it executed poorly. It's nice to have someone watch your back during boss fights, but there are a select few in which both players are the same character. There is a timer in the corner in which they switch control, however each player has their own life and energy bar. This would've been fine, if the game didn't glitch upon EVERY switch. Several times you'd be trapped in Lock-on mode, thus making yourself unable to move. There'd also be times in which one player would simply fall to the ground as if he were injured upon making any sort of attack on the boss. In a few of the more freakish ones, the boss would stuck underneath a player's arm after a throw, or simply watch the boss fall through the floor and forcing a restart on the level.

Lasting Appeal -- 4/10
Beating the game allows you to unlock five special "hidden" characters... even though they tell you which characters right in the instruction booklet. You can then use "Pendulum" mode to go back and do any stage with any fighter, but honestly by then you wouldn't even want to play that stage again. Regardless, each character is essentially a clone of another, except for their signature move.

Buy, Rent or Avoid?
For DBZ fans, it's worth at least a rental, however I'd only suggest that if you plan on playing it two-player, because it does make a world of difference in the fun factor. If you're a hardcore enthusiast and plan on purchasing it anyway, the 'Cube version is $10 cheaper than the other two.

OVERALL -- 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/05