Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

"The game emulates the anime so well, it makes you wanna watch it again!"

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is the latest DBZ game. And if you didn't know that, you may not be a fan of the vide games. Well if you're a fan of the anime, then you will defiantly love this game, even if you are shy of fighters, including most past Dragon Ball Z games.

The game uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuck attachment quite well. If you ever seen Gokus stance while he is charging a Kamehameha, well now you can imitate it in real life...and this time something actually happens (admit it, we've all tried once or twice)! The basic controls aren't hard to learn. But to master takes some time. You only get one basic physical attack button, along with one Ki blast button. But using these two along with others, or together, or just simply with a cirtian direction or pull of the controllers, you'll be able to pull off quite a varatiy of moves. The excellent thing about the game is, that if you only have one set of controllers for the Wii, but want to play with a friend, the Classic controller or even the gamecube controller can be used. This can be used for giving a feel of a classic fighter, if you're too used to them as well.

The graphics are all cell shaded, giving it that anime-esque look to it. And flying around various planets feels pretty smooth. The sounds all seem ripped right out the show itself. And the voices are of the FUNimation dub group. The music fits well enough, although the sound effects seem to block out most of it, just like in the show.

The game is also rather big. 60 hours of story mode play, going through the Dragon Ball Z and GT sagas one by one, including the ones from the movies. Over 120 different characters to fight, unlock and use for yourself. Tag battles, tournaments, within 16 locations to fight, and so much more.

Overall, the game seems flawless. You really can't rag on the controls for being shotty, because it's your own hand movements that would be bad. And with the option to use GCN controllers (that come rather cheaply now, by the way), the game is great in multiplayer giving it a good replayibility in the sense of just picking it up to play a few rounds. And with everyone having their own movesets and signature blasts, it's really quite fun to play through and use everyone. A few Wii games so far have been worth no more then a rental, but this one should call your collection it's new home for any fan of anime, DBZ/GT, fighters or just good multiplayer games. And since there isn't anything I can actually find in the game that's worthy of badmouthing, the game gets a perfect score. Try it as soon as you can.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/08/07