"I didn't think a series could improve so much in one game"

I have no idea what possessed me to go out and buy LoG II after the horrible disappointment of the first installment of the series. I remember last year tearing open the game box on the way home and immediately popping in the game. Being so excited that I was finally going to play a Dragon Ball Z game. Let’s just say I beat the game before dinnertime. Yes, I beat Legacy of Goku in a short 2 hours. I played the game again the next day hoping that I zoomed through the game missing a good five hours somewhere, but I beat the game in the same amount of time.

I really have no clue what possessed me to buy Legacy of Goku II, lets just say I had the “light” and a light indeed it was! I don’t think I’ve played as good of a GBA game since o wait, Pokemon Sapphire, that was better, nevermind! Ignore that comment about Pokemon Sapphire; see this game still owns, and is worthy of a nomination for “come back series” even though there is no award for it. I popped in legacy of Goku II in the car ride home and what did I feel, nothing at all different, but the thing that’s different is after playing for two hours I was nowhere close to being done.

The developers at whoever made this game, Atari, or something like that really did go all out to improve the series for the better. Sure the graphics may be slightly worse overall (better in action, but horrible in the world map), but the length, sound, quality, gameplay, replay value, and fun factor have greatly increased. Sure this game is harder, but Legacy of Goku one had to be one of the easiest, shortest, most pathetic games I’ve ever played. I hope they really do invent the award
For comeback game series just for Legacy of Goku II.

Gameplay [40/50]: Here is part one of the major improvements in LoG II. In the first game you basically were Goku going around beating up baddies for two hours in a relatively easy game to most gamers. In LoG II you choose from five characters (Goku, Trunks, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Gohan) with a massive game of 20+ hours at lease. Remember how linear the first game was those who played the first game? It had basically no side quests! Well in LoG II there is many side quests. Whether it’s getting a radar thing, or getting all 25 golden capsules there is a lot to do here.

The battling has not improved much sadly though. Each character fights with melee punches and a couple special moves like the kamahameha blast and the special beam cannon. However the best thing is the super sayain abilities; yes, with the sayain blood (Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks and Goku) characters you can turn super sayain. Another nifty new feature is the leveling up, there is a lot of leveling up in this game and unlike in the first one it has to do a lot with the game. In LoG I leveling up simply rose your HP and KIA, but in LoG II it raises things like endurance too.

The thing I really don’t like though is the fact that they took away flying. Flying was the cheap was to get out of battling in DBZ: LoG I that I actually liked, but in LoG II they have no flying except on the world map and the occasional flying pad. Another thing that was a disappointment was the fact that things like snakes can still kill you. I see how they have to have enemies like that to lengthen the game, but it doesn’t really fit into the whole DBZ ultra powerful thing.

Story [8/10]: (note the story score is bases off it compared to the TV show). The story is ok. It basically is an extension to the first game. After the Frieza saga ends this game picks up with Trunks visiting to the past to warn the Z-Fighters of these androids. An even bigger threat (which I will not name) will arise though, and shake the entire world in its might, and it’s up to you to stop it! For those of you who are familiar with the TV show it follows it pretty good. The only thing I really hated about the story was the whole Garlic Jr. enemy thing. I don’t see how his black water mist permanently effected animals if it didn’t to humans. There is an occasional flaw like when they first saw Hercule, but it mostly follows the story to the dot with some extensions.

Controls [10/10]: This category should be an easy ten for any game. LoG II has a little bit different from the standard controls, like A is your primary attack instead of B, but basically it’s pretty good. There is no real problem except the B and A thing, but you grow used to it eventually. Overall there is nice controls with a flaw or two, but it’s not too bad because the GBA has simple controls so a flaw doesn’t hurt as much as on the complicated next-gen console controllers.

Graphics [7/10]: The graphics are okay. The only real problem I have with them is the hideous hideous hideous world map screen, luckily you don’t spend too much time on the world map. Other than the world map the characters look pretty accurate to their TV show counterparts and the backgrounds are good, but not great. I guess they had to dumb down something a bit to make the game a lot bigger and the graphics are what they dumbed down.

Sound [8/10]: I’m not one to judge sound that hard so I gave it a pretty good score. I don’t listen to video game music often and from what I’ve heard (only like 10-20 minutes) the music is okay. There is nice cries and occasional sound effect blasts, but its not too great. I do like how they added the theme song when you turn on the game though.

Playtime/ Replayability [9/10]: I mentioned this briefly earlier on in Gameplay, but the game lasts 20+ hours overall. There is plenty of sidequests to keep you busy for at lease a little while and playing again will probably almost as fun as playing the first time.

Overall [81/100]: Overall LoG II is a major improvement from the disappointing first. It focused more on gameplay and quality then on selling a bazillion copies and having uber graphics.

Buy or Rent? If you like DBZ definitely pick this game up and if you don’t maybe borrow it from a friend or rent it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/03, Updated 07/31/03