Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

"I have half a mind to give a "Kamehameha" to this game myself..."

Dragon Ball Z: You either hate it or love it. You either love huge blasts that fill your Television screen on a daily basis or hate the fact that the characters are able to take a sword through their heart without dying. I could recount my personal opinions about the show here but, chances are that 50% of the human population will agree with me, and the other 50% will want to strangle me with their fighting gi (who doesn't have some sort of fighting gi lying around nowadays?).

However, this review is about the Game, not the Show. And boy, will I recount my personal opinions about this one!

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, sequel to a good Dragon Ball Z game (but a mediocre fighting game), in some ways, has improved, but mostly, it's made a fall in the area of improvement. Now, I can understand a sequel being bad because the original game was bad, but a sequel being worse than the original!? What were the developers thinking!? This game is sure one-of-a-kind, but for all the wrong reasons.

” I'm a ****ing GAME PIECE!”

Usually, fighting games don't have much story, but as most of us know, Dragon Ball Z games are HEAVILY based around either some of or all of the Anime's very... interesting story. The main mode last year was Story Mode, and, if I'm correct, it recounted the adventures of the whole cast of characters from the “Raditz Saga” to around the “Cell Saga.” Of course, this basically meant it was one battle to another, over and over again, with you controlling Goku 90% of the time, with cut-scenes in between every battle. Naturally, this Story Mode got boring fast; even with the cool ALTERNATE-TIMELINES you could play through. This time around, Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 attempts to put some more excitement and more gameplay elements into its “new and improved” Story mode with a different name: Dragon World mode. But what it all adds up to is a watered-down version of last-year's Story Mode, complete with a presentation that makes the whole thing seem like a joke.

Dragon World is described as a “quest to find all seven dragon-balls,” but it's really a not-too-well-hidden replica of last year's story mode. It attempts to hide it with its shameless “game board” like presentation. Yes, I did say game board. Goku (and whoever you choose as an ally) starts each story “Saga” on a game board, modeled after a location from the Anime. The board is sprinkled with many items and capsules, along with enemies and, if you're lucky, a Dragon-Ball. Basically, you, your Ally, and your enemies (all except for you are represented as game pieces... how strange...) take turns moving around the board. However, no matter how hard the game tries to hide it; your real purpose is to kill all of the enemies and move onto the next stage in your “supposed” search of the Dragon-Balls. However, what makes this mode worse than last year, besides the game board presentation, is that the story is incredibly compressed. Entire series of episodes are represented in about three sentences of quick dialogue before or after a battle. In fact, I think the record for this game is Goku and Dr. Gero summarizing about 11 episodes in a simple conversation along the lines of:

“Huh? Who are you?”

“So, we finally meet, Goku. I am Dr. Gero.”

“Dr. Gero!?”

Okay, let's all say it together: WHAT THE @#$! WERE THOSE GAME MAKERS TAKING!?”

“I could fight this game... and win.”

But this game is not all about the story, oh, no, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's almost all about the fighting. The fighting is the one thing that gamers will judge this game by when they first get it, and it's the one thing it all comes down to in the moment of decision. What do I have to say about the fighting?

I say the fighting system is just about the simplest thing I have ever seen.

Now, the first thing you may ask is, “How could the last game be better than this if the sequel makes IMPROVEMENTS on the fighting system!?” and I would answer, no, there have been no improvements made. What the game makers call “improvements,” I call “simplifications.”

Budokai's fighting system is the LAST fighting system that needs to be simplified. It probably had to be the shallowest fighting system on the market when the original came out. You only had 2 regular attacks- punch and kick, and 1 energy attack. Basically, you used those three techniques in combination with each other to beat the living stuffing out of your opponent, and, if needed, you had a “block” button that could... well, block. Sidestepping was possible; it could be used to get behind your opponent. There were also a variety of awesome specials that could be used by entering lengthy button combinations while hitting your opponent.

The fighting system of Budokai 2 is, essentially, a carbon copy of Budokai, except that it has a few trivial additions that are canceled out by the simplifications. There are no additions to the fighting system that are an integral part to the gameplay. None. Man, these guys are in desperate need of some sort of a class like “How to Update a Fighting Game 101.” Or maybe something a bit less lame, but still...

Remember the special attacks that required lengthy combinations being done on your opponent? First of all, the only way you're gong to get them is by retrieving capsules in Dragon World mode or the Capsule store, which adds a whole new layer of unnecessary difficulty and annoyance. But what makes this worse is that you can now adjust the control setup to execute them at the mere press of “ONE” button. ONE. How cheap is that!? There's a REASON that you had to enter the combos, it was so your opponent could avoid the attack if they defended right! Now, it's possible to just unleash a “Kamehameha” on the poor sap without them having a chance to realize what you're doing.

Another simplification that just showed a lack of THOUGHT was the idea to make each character have either similar or nearly identical move sets, just with different names for each move. The only plausible reason I can think of for this idea is so gamers could choose their favorite character and not have them be that different from powerhouses like Goku, Gohan and Vegita... and that's still a bad reason.

The “additions”, as stated before, are trivial at best. Now, in this game, during some attacks, you may have to twirl the analog stick to “charge up,” or press a button in hopes of canceling out an opponent's attack. Also, there's a “fusion system,” where two characters can “fuse”, forming a new (and supposedly more powerful) character. However, this system can backfire if you perform the button combinations wrong, leaving you with some fat Pillsbury Doughboy. The Fusion system, while fun for about 5 seconds, does almost nothing to gameplay. The fused character isn't much more powerful than a regular “powered up” character.

As with all simple fighting systems, there are easy ways to exploit it, which makes this game worse than it already is. Hitting characters into the air is almost a guaranteed way to score tremendous amounts of cheap damage, because one you hit them into the air, they always stay still, stunned (while still in midair), for about three seconds. Therefore, it's possible for you to constantly combo them over and over WHILE THEY'RE STILL LYING, MOTIONLESS, IN THE AIR. Sure, they'll recover after about 20% of their health is gone, but when you do it again, watch out. And small characters have to be just about the cheapest characters in the game, because 1/3 of your attacks will go over them, and some of them are JUST AS POWERFUL as you are. Overall, the fighting system is best explained as “a system for amateurs.” Not just for amateurs at fighting games, but for amateurs at making fighting games.

”It's like you're playing an anime!”

I must admit, the graphics in the game are very good. This time around, the game makers decided to go with a “cel-shaded” approach, and everything just looks so bright and colorful, not to mention very similar to the actual anime. I'd have to say it's a big improvement over the last game. In an interesting approach, they have blended digital effects with the cel-shaded approach for such things as energy attacks, and it comes off as looking very cool. They have also added a few nice touches such as you being able to break through some of the scenery, and I even loved how, during Death Attacks, the whole entire stage could be reduced to a barren wasteland. However, I do have some issues with the graphics. The game seems to define the lines the characters are drawn with A LOT, so you can see each character's outline very clearly, and it even sticks out from everything else. It's kind of annoying, really. But aside from that, the graphics manage to be, for once, a nice, new, refreshing change from the last game.

“Hey, I recognize that voice...”

If you like the sound of American Dragon Ball Z, you'll love the sound in the game. The FUNImation voice actors are all here, and this game is complete with all of the whistles, blips, and stereotypical explosion sounds that litter the anime. In fact, I think they directly ripped off every single sound effect that's in the game from the anime...

But the main problem with the sound is that it's too limited. WAY too limited. There are only about 10 distinguishable sound effects in the game... and for the record, the anime had much more. It's amazing how a Spirit Bomb can sound so much like a Final Flash... or how a Kamehameha can sound so much like a Gallic Gun. It's like they took the 10 sound waves and basically applied them to every single thing in the game. That shows a lack of... a lot of things.

”Cheapest. Replay-ability. Ever.”

That above statement must be the understatement of the year. The only thing you'll be getting from the game is extra characters and/or new capsules that contain new moves. The former is basically nothing, because the characters are so similar, and the latter is fine, except for the fact that the only way you'll get the new capsules is by PLAYING DRAGON WORLD MODE OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Sure, you can buy them in the store, but you won't get any good ones. The game basically FORCES you to play it more, and this should never, EVER be the sole reason you're replaying a game.

Overall, Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 is just too dang simple and cheap to be a choice fighting game. If you're a hardcore DBZ fan, you may like it for about three seconds, but when the flaws make themselves known, you'll eventually tire of it or realize just how bad the game is. It may satisfy your 5-year-old brother, though. But he really shouldn't be watching Dragon Ball Z, now should it?

Overall: 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/27/04