Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II

"The legacy redeemed itself"

The Legacy of Goku trilogy started off with a very sour note, as the first game suffered from severe problems and ended up being a crappy game. Thankfully, the developer realized that and re-worked nearly the entire aspects of the game to create a much better sequel. Picking up right after the events in the previous game, Legacy of Goku II covered the second major story arc in the Dragon Ball Z universe; the Androids and Cell saga. An accurate portrayal of the very popular manga/cartoon shows as well as being an enjoyable Action/RPG on its own, this game has successfully rejuvenated the initially much-maligned franchise.

Gameplay

LoG II uses a similar Action/RPG mechanic as its predecessor's (the focus is in direct combat, with several RPG elements in the gameplay), with notable improvements in many areas. Character stats now consisted of Strength (affect melee attacks), Power (affect Ki/special projectile attacks), and Endurance; all of which can be increased via level-ups and stat-boosting capsules. Flight is no longer a factor in combat (thus, flight bar was scrapped; now you can only fly in world map and certain transmissional spots), and there's no automatic regeneration of Ki bar anymore, so projectile attacks need to be conserved. Enemies will relentlessly hunt you once you enter their zone, but you can increase your odds against them by grabbing health and Ki restoratives hidden inside destructible boulders. Lastly, you record your progress on strategically placed save points, also used to switch character.

You will alternate between five playable characters, who are (in order of availability): child prodigy Gohan, Namekian warrior Piccolo, Saiyan prince Vegeta, future warrior Trunks, and of course, the legendary Goku. Each of them have several signature attacks, and they also differ in the way their stats are distributed (for example, Piccolo will have comparatively high Power but low Strength) The coolest feature in combat is the ability to transform into a more powerful form (Super Saiyan, or Super Namek in Piccolo's case), which will grant more speed and destructive power for a limited time. You can modify the character's stats further by using various stat-boosting capsules, so it's quite possible to have a diverse party of fighters.

While the primary focus is to follow the scenario and wipe enemies off the screen, combat isn't the only thing to do in the game. LoG II also put a heavy emphasis on the exploration aspect, by providing numerous vast and expansive areas that can be accessed in a world map. There are plenty of branching paths to scourge for, and some barriers will restrict further access-they can only be broken by a specific character that has fulfilled certain level requirement (for example, if you encounter a door with a blue ‘30' letter on it, it means that you can break it by using Vegeta in at least Lv 30) To encourage some major exploration to be done, there are optional objectives that require a really thorough search all around the world (such as the task to find 25 scattered Golden Capsules) It means that you're going to re-visit and explore some places several times, which is pretty fun to do, especially after you acquire the detailed map of each area.

The game follows the events in the original story very closely, and it also add some things on its own. Thus, LoG 2 will provide a lengthy playthrough (around 15-20 hours), especially if you take the extra time to level up every character and complete every quests. By addressing and fixing most of the mistakes in the first Legacy of Goku, this game achieved a tremendous improvement in both quality and quantity...however, it didn't necessarily makes for a truly great Action/RPG. Not quite.

There are still some more room for improvement, such as in terms of combat. Although much more challenging and balanced than it used to be, the combat set-up still feels somewhat shallow, despite the decent amount of playable characters and signature moves. Often times, you're relegated to mindlessly punch/shoot your way past enemies; it doesn't really matter which character you're playing, or which moves you're using-since only a few that are really useful. Then, you can only restore character's health and Ki by achieving a level-up or finding curative items. It's annoying and in my opinion, it would be much more effective to implement healing spot, which is often used together with saving points in other RPGs. Finally, beside the exploration and combat, LoG II only had fetch-quests and a few simple puzzles as a weak attempt to diversify the gameplay.

Storyline

The gist of the plot is about time travel, and it's a direct continuation from the previous game. After Frieza was defeated, our heroes had to prepare for another fight that will decide the faith of the world. Apparently, a couple of malevolent and powerful Androids are going to wreak some havoc; and Trunks, the sole surviving warrior in the future world that had been destroyed by these Androids, made a desperate trip to the present time line and forewarn the Earth warriors about the impending danger. However, the plot thickens as events didn't play out as it should be, and an even more dangerous enemy than the Androids eventually presented itself...

As mentioned before, the game's plot sticks very closely with the source material, which makes for a really authentic experience. The plot outline and progression are exactly the same as in the manga/comic series, even down to the dialogues and character's comments. It also alternates point of views to cover everything that happened, and features some familiar localities (such as Kami's Lookout, Gingertown, and Capsule Corporation) with satisfying accuracy and ingenuity. Admittedly, it will have much less impact for anyone who isn't well-acquainted with the Dragon Ball Z series, and will possibly confuse some people (especially all those time-traveling stuffs...); but I still think they did a remarkable job in presenting the story.

Graphic & Sound

While you can't realistically expect this game to have all those glorious flash and fire shows that is commonplace in the series, LoG II still provided some decent visual to look at. Each area is quite lush and easy on the eye, scaling and rotation effect are put to good use as you fly around the world map, and the character art, particularly the sprite design, is nice. I thought that they could do better with some character portraits, though; for example, Goku's portrait is quite ugly and way off from what he originally looks. As for the music, they opted to use tracks from the dubbed television show instead of the original Japanese animation, and it's somewhat disappointing. Most of the sound in the game is pretty forgettable, although it has its share of catchy tunes and none of them is particularly bad.

Replay Value

With five playable characters who can be raised all the way to Lv 50 (compare this to the first Legacy of Goku, which only had one character with a level cap of 20) and a lot of optional quests, it will be quite a long while before you're completely finished with the game. The Scouter device is also another nice addition, as you can check and record the data of every allies and enemies with it. Completing the database about everyone in the game is another fun objective to fulfill, and the Scouter also has another very useful function as a detailed map, which can show you the locations you haven't visited yet.

However, although the exploring and collecting is fun, there's lack of depth in combat and little variety in overall gameplay. Once everything's explored and found, the only thing left to do is to raise the characters into maximum level in order to break all the barriers. And you probably wouldn't bother, as it involves a tedious process of level-grinding and the reward for that isn't satisfying enough, at least to me. Therefore, I think that the game is still missing the extra hooks for a repeated playthroughs, let alone a long-term addiction.

Recap

The Good Points:

(+) Five playable characters with a respective set of signature moves
(+) Expansive map with a lot of reason to explore
(+) Very faithful to the source material
(+) Lots of optional quests and objectives
(+) Very nice graphic

The Bad Points:

(-) Combat can be tedious and doesn't require much thought
(-) Shaky collision detection
(-) Could have used some more variety

Conclusion

Despite coming short in a few key components, Legacy of Goku II is an absolute masterpiece compared to its predecessor. This is a good example in how drastic improvements can still be made over a failed product, as long as the developer team is willing to acknowledge all the mistakes and re-work everything to be better. Here's hoping that they can still churn out more good things for the final game in the trilogy.

Legacy of Goku II won't disappoint fans, and should provide some enjoyment for casual gamer as well.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/09

Game Release: Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II (US, 06/17/03)