Super Dragon Ball Z

"What is this?"

Introduction-
Super Dragonball Z is meant to be a serious fighting game. Now I am not a big fan of fighting games, so my expectations for the game were pretty low, but nonetheless I was still disappointed.

Controls- 8/10
The actual fighting is simple and straightforward: the square button is your weak melee attack, the triangle button unleashes a stronger melee attack, circle lets you jump/fly and X for blocking. You also have the shoulder buttons for dashing and throwing. Overall the controls are good but the command list (from the pause menu) is very confusing, you will have a hard time figuring out the moves.

Fighting- 5/10
Here is the second most disappointing part of the game. The main problem is that each character have a very small moveset. I am talking about 10 to 15 moves per character. Most of them are simple punch punch kick combo. To make things worse, there is an Action meter which depletes every time you use a special move like flying/dashing, limiting your options during fights. The AI is not bad, although sometimes he tends to use some cheap moves like the homing attack repeatedly. Overall the game suffers from limited moves but the fighting itself is not broken and very enjoyable especially for non fighting vets.

Modes- 1/10
Okay so what is the most disappointing aspect? Well the game modes! Super Dragonball Z features an extremely limited game modes, when I started the game and navigated through the start menu, I felt like I was playing Dragonball Z Taiketsu. There is the usual practice mode, where you can test new skills and practice new combos. Original mode, which is basically the arcade version of Super Dragonball Z, this mode puts you through a series of seven fights, after each battle you gain experience points and one Dragonball. Z survivor mode is an endurance mode, here you keep fighting opponent after opponent until you run out of health. Finally you have the versus mode, which is well pretty self explanatory. These are basically all playable modes in the game.

Extras- 8/10
There is a massive amount of extras and unlockables. Once you collect all seven Dragon balls you can summon Shenron, he will grants you one wish per summoning. You can wish for stat boost, new skills, or even new character. Since you are allowed one wish only, it will takes forever to unlock everything. You will have to create a card for each character, then you can customize it as you like, like adding skills, changing their names, or giving them alternative colors. So as you see the playtime is huge.

Visuals- 8/10
Superb. This is by far the best looking Dragonball Z game. The environments and characters are extremely well drawn and features lots of details. The stages are plain awesome, almost entirely destructible. Special attacks look great as well.

Final Score- 6
The problem with Super Dragonball Z is that it does not have the depth to be a serious fighting game, nor the flashy moves and fast pace fighting to be a true Dragonball Z. The very limited game modes does not help either, the game gets old very fast. I really can't recommend the game for anybody, its worth a rental but nothing more.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/06