Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II

"From the ashes of its predecessor, comes a better gaming experience."

Story:

Legacy of Goku II takes place just after the Frezia saga (ending of LoG1), and ends at the end of Cell's saga. The dialog of the game is true to the actual Anime. I mean, I haven't seen the actual Anime in ages but I do remember plenty of those memorable lines that take place in this game from the Anime. There are a few parts in the game, that do not take place in the Anime however. But those parts won't stand out unless you saw the Anime already. So it's not like they clearly get offtrack of the main storyline or anything.

Gameplay:

You can control up to 5 characters. Starting with Gohan, Piccolo, Vegita, Trunks and finally Goku. Though there is an extra secret character you get at the end of the game, he isn't anything special. The combat system takes place in real time, like an action game but with certain RPG elements such as levels. Each character can learn special melee attacks, and ranged attacks. The melee attacks are innitated simply by holding down the melee button for a second or two. The ranged attacks, can be switched with by using the L button. A final addition to your array of attacks, is becoming a Super Sayin (or "Super Namek" in Piccolo's case). Becoming a Super Sayin drains your Ki energy slowly, but in turn enhances your speed and power (And regenerates health for Piccolo).

On paper, it may sound like a nice battle system. But there is one glaring problem with it. At first the system may seem hard to get used to, because the melee attack range is pretty far than you would normally expect. So the enemy will hit you before you "think" you are in range to attack them. But after you get used to the way the melee range is set up, the game swiftly swaps to the players favor. The final boss for instance, was pretty easy to constantly hit over and over without him even having a chance to react to my speed. Because when something gets hit, they fall back and get stunned for a split second. Thus opening the enemy to an endless combo. With that problem in effect, this game is pretty easy to beat. But it is many times better than LoG1, so don't worry.

The max level in this game you can get is level 50. This game has an excellent balance of grinding levels and actually playing the game. Leveling up doesn't seem like a chore, unless you are trying to hit level 50. But getting to level 50 (from level 40), doesn't really take as long as you would think. I timed myself taking around 6 minutes to get from level 49 to level 50. It's not long, and it's not short (you do have 5 characters to get to level 50 anyway). And it still gives you the satisfaction of accomplishment afterwards. Dare I say it, but I honestly can say it a near perfect system how the game handles level ups.

Besides leveling up, you can do sidequests. Those on the other hand, arn't set up as good. The main sidequests I can think of, are getting 25 golden capsules and finding stranded Namek's scattered all around the world. As well as beating Kooler, an optional boss. The capsules and Namek's arn't really hidden, and you can get pretty much all of them just by playing through the game normally. Considering they are out in the open most of the time, or in obvious places. Which kinda bites, because when you beat the game you want to have something else to do with it other than replay it.

One thing that kinda ticked me off, was the fact that there isn't any way to fill all your characters health/energy by means of an inn. You instead have to resort to busting open rocks hoping for food/energy power ups. No inns, beds, resting chambers, etc... None of that, just busting open rocks or getting a level up.

Sound:

The sound takes a extraordinary improvement over the first one. From the satisfying sound of your punches making contact with the enemy, all the way to the perfect choice of music the game presents you in each situation. One thing about the music that I liked, was how it seemed as if they ripped some of it (or maybe remixed) from the actual anime. None of that random typical RPG garbage from the first LoG. Also, another plus about the music is how it doesn't get annoying over time. They could have done better with the energy blast sound effects though, but I hardly used them so I don't think it was much of a problem.

Graphics:

I loved the way they handled the graphics in this game. It brings me back to the Golden age of the SNES. The forests for example, are very detailed. You can even pick out individual blades of grass blowing in the wind. And indoors, the layouts are cleaner and better put together. Long gone are the prerendered pixilated backgrounds from LoG1. The characters on the other hand, could have been scaled differently. Because if you haven't seen the Anime you wouldn't be able to tell that Krillin was a short guy. Because in the game he is about as tall as Goku. Which shouldn't be the case, but it's easy to ignore that fact.

Speaking of the characters in the game, their portraits are well drawn. With the exception of Chi Chi, Andriod 18, and how Gohan looks at the start of the game. But other than them, everyone else looks exactly how they did in the Anime. Another nitpick that irked me, was in the Cell Games, Gohan is still wearing his Sayin Armor. But in the Anime, he was wearing some dark colored fighters clothing instead. Gah, I hate the way the Sayin Armor looks.

They also did a nice job for the world map you get to fly around in. It reminds me of Mode 7 (FF6's world map while in an airship).

Overall:

Honestly, it was a nostalgia trip with me for the most part. Since years ago I remember watching the anime. That also mixed in with a good beat-em-up system. Makes this a great game to be able to take with you anywhere. And it's still a good game to play at the house. All in all, this game gets a well deserving 7 out of 10. With 5 being average, making this a worthy game to play.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06