Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

"Dragonball Z Fans Unite! Everyone else, stay away!"

Theres no doubt that Dragonball Z has had everybody from children to adults, glued to their televisions sets, and has caused mass hysteria throughout the anime culture and fanbase. Being a fan of good ol' DBZ myself, I sure as hell enjoyed this game, and even though it works miracles compared to Budokai, Budokai 2 still is suited to the DBZ fan, and no one else.

Even though the story spans the entire DBZ saga, from the Saiyan saga, to the Kid Buu saga, its told through a boardgame-esque manner, and its very....how you say, je ne c'est quoi? It's different, and in someways, fun; but it just doesn't have the same impact that the episodic styling of the story mode of the first Budokai had. With no cut-scene in the actual story mode, the impact of the overall story is not felt, but is still there, and any story is better than no story. I just hope that Dragonball GT Budokai has much better story telling.

Being a fan on the DBZ series, I care nothing about how intuitive the combos are, all I care about is seeing the different techniques being pulled off in flashy animation. This game does so, and it gives it to you in spades. With almost every character having an Ultimate technique (which goes directly to an amazing cut-scene just to pull it off), its hard to put the controller down, because you'll want to keep playing and see all the different moves and Ultra death moves. Particle effects, and truly unbelievable cel-shading animation, make this game stand out among all other cel-shaded games. It creates a benchmark for cel-shading, as every character in the DBZ universe, is recreated in stunning detail, and full fledged 3-D models. Even if you hate DBZ, you'll love this game, just for the eye candy.

As I said, I care nothing of intuitive controls for a game like this. But many people do, which is why I must be fair, and give this game some negative points. The controls are basic at best, and every character does have there own unique moves, but they are executed with the same button combos, and doesn't add much to the variety of the gameplay. Though, actually seeing these moves being pulled off is another story. The moves are just so flashy, and there are so many of them, not to mention 5 different fusion characters (yes, you heard right, 5!), a total of 34 regular characters to chose from, 10 different battle locales, each with their interactive elements, there is nothing to complain about other than the forsaken controls.

The controls are nothing special. Square punches, X blocks, triangle Kicks, and O activates energy attacks. The combos used to pull off super moves are pretty easy, and require little thought. Most death moves only require Square, Square, Square, Square, Circle too pull of the basic energy attack, and combined with basic punches and kicks, you can fly through Very Easy, Easy and Normal modes. The more difficult challenges will require more thought with the combos, and require the use of more advanced techniques. Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Circle is the basic combos for Ultimate moves, and few variations after that. Although the average fighter vet, won't find these controls useful at all, as well be peeved at the inability to jump and fly at will; the DBZ fans will quickly become accustomed to the controls, and use with the same fluidity that most fighter vets would use in games like Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter. It must be stressed though, that most combos are not useable without some sort of transformation, or fusion technique, and must both the transformation ability, and the actual technique must be aquired exclusive from each other, and equipped separately. Thought its a system that works in principle, you'll find yourself changing the capsules and combos on each character more than actually choosing a character.

The soundtrack is so-so. But the rest is superb. None of the original songs and compositions from the animated series make it into the game, but its easily reconciled for with the use of the real voice actors. With high-quality voice actors like the ones at FUNimation, you can't go wrong, no matter what dialogue you use. The voices are portrayed better than most Fighter games, and the sound effects of transformations, energy blasts and ultimate moves are something to gawk at.

There are so many capsules, and so many secret abilities, as well as Breakthrough capsule for each character, there is no reason to stop playing after your first time through DragonWorld mode (story mode). You'll have hours of fun just playing with all the different abilities and transformations you can utilize in this game. I just wish there were hidden story missions, or something other than capsule collecting and character mastery to do in this game.

Theres something for every DBZ fan in this game. Though with unintuitive controls, and the off-the-wall power moves, as well as characters only DBZ fans will enjoy, this isn't for those who aren't DBZ fans. But the overall effect is still here, pleasing just about every DBZ fan imaginable, and that's what Atari needed to do, and all they intended to do. I'll hope for the best for DBGT Budokai, and hope that its a game for both DBZ fans, and fighting vets alike.

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04, Updated 01/18/05