Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

"This DBZ game is strongest under the heavens!"

Preconceptions
Like many fans of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series, I had been looking forward to this game for a long time now. I spent many hours playing the original Tenkaichi Budokai and I thought it was a good game.. Good.. not great.
There were many issues in the first game that I had a problem with, such as a stale combo system and a lack of in-game transformations. However, I'm not going to get further into those issues in this review.

Improvements
I began the first battle in Story Mode knowing more or less what to expect and I was still blown away. The gameplay has VASTLY improved over the last game. The combo system is much more intricate in terms of what kind of attacks you can string together and nothing has been taken away from what it was before. You still have the option of throwing out a volley of punches and then going for the gut stun or teleporting behind your enemy. However now, you can add punts and trips to the mix. Sweep your foe's legs out from under him or launch him into the sky (or hurtling into the ground, your choice.) and of course, you can still blast him away or throw several ki blasts into the mix. There really is a lot more freedom to it now.

Another big improvement is the implementation of in-game transformations. Now, by using 'Favorite Gauges' (Gauges that slowly fill and are mostly used for defensive moves) you can transform to up to four different forms of a character. How many of these three other states you can reach, depending on the character himself, of course. As in the last game, each form will have their own move-set for the most part and furthermore, you can now revert to your character's base form.

Perhaps one of my favorite improvements is a boost to the CPU's AI. In the last game, Ki focused characters like Chao-tzu would constantly try to fly away from you and spam ki blasts when they think they are far enough away. This got real old, real fast. As of yet, I have not seen him exhibit any behavior like this. The other fighters will stay in your face a lot more, what your opponent in a fighting game should do.

There are many more minor improvements, such as much less generic looking attacks and ultimates, but I won't get into those for fear of taking multiple pages.

Presentation
The menu system in this game is simple, yet effective, complimented by some very nice 2D artwork. The menus and sub-menus are not nearly as gimmicky as some of the earlier Budokai titles, and I am thankful for that.

Music / Sound
This is a big issue with some people, as the option to use the original Japanese music is still not available. However, the game no longer exclusively relies on recycled music from previous games and does, in my opinion, boast an above average soundtrack.

The sound effects in this game, much like the last one are superb. Most of the SFX are drawn directly from the series, which goes far towards providing the DBZ fighting 'feel.'

Gameplay / Control
The single player mode in this game is probably my favorite of any of the Budokai series. You take control of various characters and fly to different destinations to engage in battles faithful to the DBZ storyline. In addition to the Saiyan, Namek, Android and Buu sagas, you will also get to play storylines from almost all of the movies as well as Dragon Ball GT.

As for the overall feel of the game, it can be stated in one word: Freedom. This is perhaps where this game shines through. In-game, you are granted far more freedom in terms of what your character can do. With a really short learning curve, you'll be doing evasive flying maneuvers as well as teleporting combos (Budokai 3 style) in no time. You will also have plenty of room to do these as the arena size and interactivity (read ability to blow parts of it away) has been significantly increased.

Controls can be redefined in the options menu in case you don't like the defaults, not like they are hard to master anyway.

Fun Factor

This. Game. Is. Fun. I can't really say it any other way than that. You are going to be stuck on this game for a while, conquering the Story Mode as well as the multitude of tournaments. Also, the option of pseudo four player action is present in the versus mode via a tag team system, as well as the ability to engage in 5 on 5 matches. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Worth the Buy?
There is no way that you are going to get everything out of this game by renting it. This is a game that no Dragon Ball fan can pass up, and a game that no fighter fan can overlook.

For the fans : 10/10
For non fans 8/10

- M.P Ninja

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/06