Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

"This Game rocks with 1 minor flaw"

Introduction:
The first time ive played this game my eyes where just stunned by the awe of this game. It was great. I got this game around 2:30 P.M. and I didn't stop playing until 2:30 A.M. I had no breaks for food, bathroom, rest, or talk. This game has a good mix of everthing needed for a perfect DBZ game.

Gameplay: 7/10
Well first off your main mission is obviously to gain all the capsules in the game, play the World Tournament and get lots of money, fight in Dragon World Mode to beat all of the greatest enemies in the DBZ series with any of your favorite DBZ characters, or have fun in Practice Mode. While this game is very fun it gets a little old doing the Dragon World Mode over and over and over and over about 30 some times. But other than that you can have a lot of fun checking out the unique moves that are put into DBZ: B2. This game isn't too hard to beat. But I wont lie to you if you do set the computer at the max difficulty you definetly will have a hard time. I even cant beat a computer controlled opponent at their max level. But the lowest level is really easy until you get to the end of the game, thats just hard any way you play. As far as controls go, they are exellent. There is no limit to your controls they can be completly edited at your own free will to whatever setting you wish them to be at. for example if you wanted to have your Ki attack to be a shoulder button just set it to one of them.

Story: 6/10
Not much in here because instead of a story mode from DBZ: B1 you have the new Dragon World Mode. But there is somewhat of a story from the Dragon World Mode because you do go through the sagas in the DBZ series like the saiyan saga and the Frieza saga. The story is a little sketchy since you have a kinda wierd way of playing the story. If you buy the game you'll definetly get it. But other than that I guess it gets an ok from me.

Graphics/Sound: 10/10
The graphics are something you would always want from a DBZ game, the good old cell-shaded look makes the game look just like a cartoon like the series. This is a serious improvement over the last game with just a whole bunch of normal grachics. And since this nice improvement I can't just keep loving this game more. These graphics actually inspired me to play more often even when I didn't really feel like playing. And the sound is pretty much everything that could be expected from a DBZ game. My only real beef with the Sound is they probably should have added actuall songs from the show, this would give the game a morerealistice DBZ feeling. And the sound effects like punching and kicking is fairly good but they could of added different sound effects as a punch or kick hit different parts of the body. Also the wizzing of punches, punches, and body movements is all good. To tell you the truth I didn't expect to get a nice whoosing sound when I punches someone in the face. Overall that sound is great and original.

Play Time/Replayable: 8/10
Well as far as the play time of this game it's pretty long. Since the average time it takes you to go through Dragon World Mode is about a good 1-2 hours of play time. And thats going fast. And as far as replayable goes the game is very replayable. And it's most likley you'll have to replay the game at least 5-7 times to get all the characters. But you will have to play the game through in exess of 30 times to get all breakthroughs and fusions. And trust me getting all of the fusions and breakthroughs is the only way to fully beat the game and feel as if you have completed everything. The only problem is that doing the Dragon World Mode over and over and over again can get way too repetative and not really worth it all.\

Rent/Buy/Borrow: Borrow or Rent then Buy (if you like it)
Well me I bought the game. I did this because im such a hard-core DBZ fan, and my friend already bought the game and i've played it before and I loved it. As far as you guys go, I wouldn't buy it or rent it if you hate all fighters. But if your obsesed with fighters then maybe you might want to rent it or buy it. But if you love DBZ then definetly buy no questions. The game is such a great example of the show. Also if you just want to check out the series, start it off in the right foot and rent the game then buy it if you like it.

Final Recomendation:
Awsome game. A must buy. The best DBZ game yet. Most stunning cell-shaded graphics. Those are all of my personal feelings about this game. Since this game is such an improvement over the last game it would be a good idea to buy the game insantly before you find yourself the only person who hasn't ever experience this great game. Even if you don't really like DBZ you can't say that this is a horrible game just because of the title, the gameplay along will get you hooked on the game. Even though the fighting system isn't too great as games such as Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and such it is a very good shot at replicating the show. My personal take is to completly skip renting it but buy it since it's such a great game that accuratly portrais the show.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/04