Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

"Even after four years, this is still my favorite DBZ game."

Intro: DBZ Budokai is the first in the budokai series and the first Dragonball Z game on the play station 2. The fighting in Budokai one is broken and the graphics are outdated. So why bother with it when you can play the more recent one? The story mode, this is the best game to relive the Dragonball Z's most intense battles.

Story- the story mode in Dragonball Z budokai one is by far the best in the entire series. It replicates the anime exactly as it is. The story mode is played in sagas, each time you beat a saga you unlock a new one. So what's so good about the story mode? The cut scenes! The cut scenes are simply amazing, they look exactly like the anime show. You will be treated to a cut scene of this kind before each battle and or major event. More recent DBZ games are good only for the fans because they don't explain the whole story and details. This game however tells you the story with every little detail from the Sayain saga to the Cell saga. Between sagas a cut scene taken directly from the show will play, with a narrator summarizing the previous saga and telling what will happen in the next one. So even if you never watched the series, you will understand what is going on. How many DBZ games do that? Not many..

Fighting- The fighting however, is the worst in the series. Mainly due to the broken combo system and very similar characters. Every character has around 5 combos, and two special moves. Now that is not bad if those combos were unique to their characters. For example, Gohan and Krillin have the same type of combo the only difference being that Gohan ends it with a Punch while Krillin ends it with a kick. So basically what I am saying is that the characters are clone of each others, the special moves like Big bang and Special beam cannon are the only thing unique about them.

Another major flaw about the fighting system is the pace. The game is too slow for a Dragonball z game. You can not fly at will, nor fire an energy attack whenever you want to. The normal punches and kicks lack speed as well, a super sayain 2 Gohan should be much faster than that. My last complaint is the stages, although destructible they are too small.

The game modes are the usual story, tournament, duel, shop, and a hidden one you unlock after beating it once. The story mode is easily superior to the other modes, I have beaten it countless times and still play it. Just like in Budokai 3 and 2 you can buy different capsules and customize your characters, there are many capsules to use. To buy them you need money, and the only way to get money is the tournamnet mode, so you will end up playing tournament over and over again to get enough money.

Characters- the roster is not huge but respectable. They included the major characters like Goku and Vegeta and major villain like Cell and Frieza. The rest of the roster is made up of support characters like #18 and #19. They included some interesting characters like Zarbon and Dodoria. The disappointing part is they did not include some very popular characters like Majin Buu and Vegitto, probably because they story goes to the Cell saga and stops there. So don't expect super Sayain 3 Goku or Majin Vegeta.

Graphics- although outdated they are not bad. The intro is done in 3D and it looks better than the one in Budokai 2 and 3 believe it or not. The cut scenes look amazing as well, probably better than the slide show we had in Budokai 3 or the nothing-at-all in Budokai 2. The character models are a little off, Vegeta is a bit short and Android 20 looks like a football. Special attacks are off too, like the Kamehameha color is yellow and the spirit bomb is smaller than a baseball ;( the background however are nothing short of perfect. You will recognize familiar location like the rocky area where Goku and Vegeta fought their first battle, and the Cell ring where Cell held the tournament.

Sound- the best thing about DBZ games is that the developers use the true voiceovers from the show. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo all have the same voices they had in the show. Sound effects are dead on too, when you fire a Kamehameha or a Big bang attack the character will shout the name. on the menu you have some interesting sound effects as well like MR Poppo saying “how can I help you” and such thing to keep you in the DBZ mood.

Music- the music is alright, I don't pay lots of attention to the music in fighting games. But from what I remember many songs from the actual show are used here. The intro music is the same one they used for the show, I don't recall its name but I am sure you will recognize it.

Value- the story mode will probably take you anywhere between five to ten hours. Its pretty short but extremely fun. You will also want to unlock everything before you go back to Tenkaishi 2. Doing so will at least take another ten or so hours. But I am positive you will go back to playing story mode after every Dragonball Z episode you watch.

Overall- so should you bother with this almost five years old game when you can get Dragonball Z budokai Tenkaishi 2? I say yes. You won't experience a better story mode in any Dragonball Z game ever. Even with the broken fighting engine, the game is still worth playing just for the pure awesomeness of the story mode. The fact that its very cheap nowdays makes it even easier to recommend for Dragonball Z fans. Go buy it right now, just be aware that you are getting this for the story mode and not gameplay..

Final score- 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/06