Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

"Another Dragon Ball Z game? Oh no."

The game's first screen sums it all up. Look at Buu's face (he's the pink sack of goo). That describes what I felt while playing this. Pain. This is not a good game. My eyes filled with tears as the cutscenes seemed infinite. I fell me stomach turn as the battle system was revealed to be only pressing the A button.

The graphics are what I'll start with. They're definitely not bad. They're the best part of the game. But that's like saying the light at the end of the tunnel is the best part of dieing. The characters are actually recognizable this time around. I guess this game would be tolerable if you don't press any buttons and stare at the pretty landscape.

The gameplay is summed up by the words “A button”. To have the same experience pull out your Gameboy Advance and tap mindlessly at the A button. I just saved you some money. The enemies are pretty much palette swaps the whole way. You'll find yourself asking “Didn't I fight him last map? Oh, he's green now.” How hard is it to think up a few more baddies for you to viciously maul with your fingers of fury? You can play as Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Vegeta, plus one secret guy. They're all the same person, except for the “Ki” attacks. You activate these by pressing the B button. They have different effects but you'll find them useless because they take up energy, which you have a limited amount of. You get armor in this one, but it doesn't show up on your character, which makes the concept useless. The level up system is simple but effective. You get some skill points each level that can be distributed as you wish. The system allows you to customize your characters however you want. More features like this would have improved the overall game. That brings me to the cursed “level up doors”, as I call them. You'll be happily walking through a map, when a door pops up telling you to train another twenty levels before getting through. You must break the door to advance the plot. It's as if Goku just shouted “Grrrr I'm so angry at Buu! Let's fight him, oh wait, TRAINING BREAK EVERYONE!”

The story is faithful to the original manga. You'll traverse various maps to fight the evil Buu. The story has a lot of filler because, let's face it, it wouldn't be very long without it. You'll be fighting evil sorcerers one moment and infiltrating bandit lairs the next. It breaks up the game and slows everything down. The cutscenes are quite lengthy but interesting if you're a fan.

The sound is average. It gets irritating fast. You can see a bit of effort went into it though.
This game has almost no replay value. There are a few assorted to trinkets to collect in the end, but that's it. The only reason you would replay this game is if you want see the story again. Which you probably won't want to. Who expected this to have replay value, anyway?
My conclusion is, don't buy this game. You'll be wasting your money. I usually end review of anime game with “If you're a fan, go for it”, but I don't even need to say it for this one. This will be bought no matter what by the fans.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/06