Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II

"A completely unbiased review from someone who knows absolutely NOTHING about Dragonball Z."

Yes, you heard right -- I've never seen an episode of DBZ in my life, I know nothing about the story and I've never played any of the games. So, basically, this review is in a way,unintentionally COMPLETELY unbiased, because I am forming all of my opinions from this one product, The Legacy of Goku II.

To begin with, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by what Atari did with this title, and while it's true that I know nothing about Dragonball Z, I DO know that good games based on the series have been quite lacking over the years. But Legacy of Goku II has managed to break the curse, and I for one was astounded by how fun that this action-RPG really turned to be. You start out as a young man named Gohan, who is awaiting the return of his father, Goku. Upon Goku's return home, we also have a twist in the story when a man by the name of Trunks comes from the future and tells Goku that the world is in some serious trouble due to a small group of androids, brought to life courtesy of Dr. Geros. The rest of the plot unfolds from there.
For this being my first experience with the plot of DBZ I'd have to say that I LOVED it. The minor twists and turns (for example, Vegeta being Trunks father), the rivalries amongst the group and a bunch of driven and determined characters really help make this plot into something special. I was always interested and waiting to find out what was going to happen next.

Another great quality of this game comes aesthetically -- the graphics are superb, and the nice cut-scenes (look in the beginning of the game, before the title screen) are absolutely incredible for someone who is used to 8-bit Gameboy, and most other Gameboy Advance graphics. Legacy of Goku II manages to be bright and colorful and extremely detailed -- these characteristics are best seen in the character models for Trunks and Piccolo. While it's true that all of the characters are a little ''squat'', meaning too short, this is a minor complaint as it happens in many of other games as well. This is definitely one of those Gameboy Advance games that needs to be played on the Gameboy Player, as it can be easily compared with many SNES and even Playstation quality RPG's.

The sound was quite good as well. The music definitely fit the atmosphere and was pleasant to the ear. The sound effects were also extremely fitting and pleasing, and minor events such as picking up a piece of health treat the gamer to a small munching sound. Great stuff. I was impressed.

The one area of this game that could use a little bit of improvement would have to be with the battles and the battling system. Constantly punching, and sometimes using one of your special powers (Super Saiyan, for example) can become a little cumbersome, and for some reason, it is always extremely easy to die even if you've leveled up higher than what is in your surroundings. However, as a whole I'd have to say that I really liked the battle system, regardless of the fact that it could be improved, and leveling up never really became a big chore. However, one thing people might have some problems with is the fact that you have to level up characters individually, because they always FIGHT individually. So, leveling up one of your group members to level 30 entails that you need to take the time to do the same with the rest. Once again, just a minor quibble.

Overall, I can make no complaints about this game, and I really liked it a lot more than I thought I would. In fact, playing this game makes me interested in the Dragonball Z series as whole, and I believe that this will not be my only outting in the DBZ playing field...let's just hope the rest of the games based off of this show start to catch up with this little gem of a title. It's pure fun through and through. To best sum it up, PLAY THIS!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/04