Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku

"The Legacy (of bad DBZ games) Continues..."

The Dirt:

Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku received a lot of attention in magazines and websites, due to the license. However, anyone familiar with the earlier, Japanese made, DBZ games are aware of the stigma attached to them: DBZ games usually suck.

Truth be told, how DO you translate the anime into a GOOD game? Since it is all about the fights, fighting games were the first ones, giving us the Butoden DBZ Super Famicom games. Kinda blah, but tolerable to fans. Then with the jump to the 32 bit consoles. That brought us Ultimate Battle 22 (Ultimate Battle 27 when you enter a cheat). Decent character sprites on lame 3d backgrounds, and blah gameplay yet again. Then we had the first US-released Dragon Ball game--Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout. A VERY unconventional fighting game that tried to replicate the style of fighting found in the anime--again, a bad game, although if you find a copy cheap--BUY IT! It's so rare and prized by collectors you could sell it for a nice profit.

With DBZ a hit in the US (and dead in Japan, pretty much), we have our first AMERICAN-MADE DBZ game. Yet they managed to fail just as bad as their Japanese counterparts.

This isn't a fighting game--unconventional or no--but an action RPG.

The Z ain't for Zelda, kiddies.

The perspective, and even the graphics, makes one recall of the classic Zelda games--although such a premise would seem more fitting if Trunks starred in it, already making use of a sword. Anyway, you control, of course, Goku, in an overhead perspective where you complete quests and level up as you fight through the start of the DBZ series up until the end of the Frieza Saga. Let's break it down.

Graphics: 4

In the plus column, you have cool-looking albeit pixelly video clips and full-screen static shots in between normal gameplay and for the ending. You have brightly colored landscapes, and the insides of houses look pretty good...

BUT, you have 1st-generation SNES graphics, pitiful animation (2 or 3 frames per sprite--the only ones with more is Frieza and Vegeta, which only have a few more since they transform), and dull-looking enemies. Sure, some cool effects exist, but generally the cons outweigh the pros.

Sound/Music: 3

People have ragged on the sound, and for good reason: it's all bad, with the exception of the cool, somber-sounding music you hear when you first get on Namek. Thankfully, there is no ''Rock the Dragon,'' but none of the Japanese tunes either. Sound effects are mostly bleeps and bloops. Although Goku does say ''KAMEHAMEHA!''

Story: 1

Butchered from the anime, parts completely missing or mentioned in passing. While the anime wasn't too strong on story anyway, as it is it only resembles the anime vaguely. Any sequences Goku wasn't in the anime for are omitted and then some. You don't even get to play as anyone else but Goku, when taking over with other characters would have made for more variety and diversity.

Gameplay: 2

Do yourself a favor, skip this game, and pick up Zelda: Link to the Past for SNES or one of the GBC Zelda games (which play on the GBA, of course). Goku, who could whip superstrong villians before hitting puberty, starts by fighting snakes, squirrels (who actually don't attack you-- but you can blast anyway), and big crabs are your first enemies. Venture far away and prepare to get mauled to death by wolves in a hit or two. Man, Goku's a wuss in this game. Your attacks are--a punch and a ki blast? Well, later on you get the useless Solar Flare and the Kamehameha (which in this game is taught to him by King Kai--despite that in the anime he learned the SPIRIT BOMB/GENKI DAMA and actually learned the Kamehameha in the original Dragon Ball. Maybe he should have had the Kamehameha and the ki blast, and learned other attacks from there as those two got stronger. Well..still wouldn't have helped.

Because fighting through the game is ALL about the Ki Blast (or Kamehameha, if you're in the mood for a little more flash). You can't move or shoot diagonally, and Goku is slow as all hell (even though in the anime he could move faster than the eye could follow by the time he took on the Ginyus). Letting enemies close enough to engage them hand to hand (chuckle) is suicide, as they can kill you in a couple of hits until you level up, and even then it's pointless to punch them.

Naturally, there are items...a few, that is. Herbs restore 1/4 energy (max 6--and they're EVERYWHERE), and Senzu beans restore all energy. Max of 3 on those. They do what they do--nothing groundbreaking.

Oh...Goku has one more trick at his disposal--flight. But needs flight charges--which he burns out so fast it looks like the last digit on a gas pump when squeezed. You don't take damage while flying and need to fly to get to certain areas. And when Goku is walking for his life (not running, natch) away from an enemy, flying is the only way to get distance between you. So EVERY enemy you engage...even bosses, mind you, must be beaten in this hit-and-run manner.

Alone.

So while Piccolo helped fight Raditz in the anime, all he does is kill you when you grab Raditz. Thanks, Pic.

Oh, and every enemy has pretty much the same attacks, a physical attack, and for humanoid enemies--a ki blast. Just like yours. Vegeta has a stunning BLUE ki blast instead of the regular red/yellow/orangish one, and what could be considered a Gallic Gun, but that's pretty much it.
Near the end, a mini-dungeon is a cool little brainteaser, and the best part of the game--but after that, it's more hit-and-run boss battles until you fight Freiza. Then he transforms, and so on--until he kills Krillin and triggers Goku to go Super Saiyan. Now you have golden hair--and are just as strong as you were before. Hmph...no high speed, no invincibility, and still can't fly all you like. Win that last battle and it's end game, cinema sequence, blah. Probably will take you over 3 hours your first try.

Replay Value: 1

You've beaten the game? Then that's all their is. No other play modes, no hidden secrets, no access to Roshi's porn collection...

Basically, a pretty bad game, but hardcore fans might have fun for a couple hours, although it isn't ''worth-30-bucks'' fun. More like ''borrow from a friend'' fun. The DBZ franchise draws in kids from probably 8 years old and is loved by older ones up to even late teens. This is best for the 8-10 year olds, but the tedious leveling up process will probably bore them before they get to the end. The max amount of levels you can get to is 25. And the pitiful length of this game makes the short-but-sweet Super Mario RPG seem epic.

Wait for it to hit the bargain bin or hope to have a rental place that rents out handheld games, kiddies.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/02, Updated 05/19/02