Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

"Doesn't Live Up to The Hype"

I am a huge and I mean HUGE fan of DBZ. I loved the show so much that I have almost all the main parts of DBZ on tape. The series started airing in the mid 90's at a late night schedule and then later Toonami picked it up during the day and everybody started to watch it. Some hate it and some love it (me for example.) The games finally started to come in. The first main 2 games just happened to be Legacy of Goku which bombed liked no other DBZ game to hit the market. The other one was for the Playstation 2 and it was called Dragon Ball Z Budokai. It was a mediocre fighting game but fans like me played it for days and months on in. Now the next generation of games started coming in. The first to come out was the sequel of Legacy of Goku and it proved to be a great action RPG even to people who hated DBZ. The next DBZ game was called DBZ: Taikeytsu and it bombed as well as the first LOG. Now the granddaddy of DBZ games has arrived but does it live up to the hype? Let's find out.

Story: 6/10
There isn't really a story mode but there is something called Dragon World which was a bad idea to me. It seemed cool at first glance (like in magazines) until you actually played through it. Sure it was cool the first couple times through but then it just got boring and repetitive. It starts off with a little epilogue of Goku guarding the Dragon Balls from evil. He goes off to go find all seven and 2 evil Saiyans pop up out of nowhere and start wreaking havoc. Goku (being the good-hearted fool that he is) goes out and confronts the evil with an ally of your choice. Now this is where the game goes wrong. The 2 evil Saiyans in the show that come are Vegeta and Nappa and Raditz comes a year before they do and is defeated. But in the game Raditz and Nappa come and start wreaking havoc. And to make matters worse, Nappa appears to be the brains of the operation! Anyone who has seen the show knows that Nappa was a major bonehead in the show and was a barbarian. You don't really see Vegeta until you get to Namek. I can't really say anything more because then that would be spoiling it and you would'nt want me to do that now would you? Nah didn't think so. Overall, they should've stuck to the regular story mode.

Gameplay: 8/10
The game is kind of lacking in some areas in this department. The game does have some faster gameplay making the fights seem more realistic and that is good. But unless you have somebody to play with then it gets old real fast. Here are the modes:

-Dragon World-Play through a weird story mode and gather to dragon balls to make a wish.
-Duel Mode- The Versus Mode of DBZ
-World Tournament- Compete in varying difficulties with basically the same fighting except you can get knocked out of the ring.
-Practice Mode- Name says it for itself
-Edit Skills- Customize fighters so that you can make them more powerful than ever
-Options-Increase or decrease the game difficulty and change some other options like the controls for the game.
-A hidden mode that you have to unlock in Dragon World

THe fighting is more fast-paced as I mentioned before but some of the character's finishing moves are just too frustrating to pull off like Goku's Super Spirit Bomb or Super Buu's Absorbtion. You can fire an energy blast at will at your opponent and you either hit them or they sidestep and hit you with their energy blast. All of the finishing moves are redone and are made more detailed than ever (my favorite moves are Cell's Spirit Bomb and Vegito's Spirit Sword.) Fusion is done nicely and there is no complaints in this category.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics are the strongest point in the whole game. All the characters look like they should and there is more of a Cel-shaded look(they look more cartooney and more like they belong in the anime than the previous Budokai) All the moves are done pretty nicely and everything is different. The Kamehameha and Galick Guns and all the other beams are shown correctly like they should in the anime. I have no complaints in this category and this game deserves a 10/10 in the graphics category.

Sound: 9/10
Almost a perfect 10/10 except that the music can get annoying after awhile but other than that the sound is near perfect. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. When you're playing as Cell his ''Perfect'' form is only present in the game but you hear his first form's voice when you're playing as him in combat. They also changed Dabura's voice and made him sound like a rich man with a desire for a lot of coffee. Other than this game's sound almost deserved a 10/10.

Replay Value: 6/10
After you've played through Dragon World and unlocked almost everything you tend to get bored and just put the game down. The only time when I play this game is when a friend comes over and he/she wants to play it. Other than that, this game is just gathering dust.

Final Verdict:
It kind of depends on what your taste is. If you hate DBZ stay away from this game because you will not like it no matter what. If you like fighting games give this game a rent but do not buy because you will most likely get bored very quickly. If you love DBZ then run out and buy this game really fast because you will not be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/04