Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

"Yeah, not bad, but LOG2 was still better."

Buu's Fury is basically the third Legacy of Goku game for the Gameboy Advance. It has the same control scheme, follows through the cartoons while being sufficiently show accurate with a few sidequests and contains the same graphics, although they've been devolved a little since LOG 2. The game takes off from where the last ended, but it doesn't really meet the high standard set by it's predecessor.

GAMEPLAY: Gameplay is where the game has suffered the most. In previous Legacy of Goku games, the level up system hasn't played too much of a major role in the game, but here it IS the game. The unfortunate thing is, however, that you need to level up mass amounts, and when you fight other characters, they usually don't boost your experience a hell of a lot, but often, you will find yourself fighting like crazy, only to enter an area and find a level gate for a certain character at a high mark, for example, level 140. However, at this point, your character will be nowhere near this level, so you have to go and train like crazy until you are that level, and since certain gates can only be opened by certain characters, you find yourself with one character at a high level, while the other is stuck on a low level, as weak as hell, and you keep using the character you levelled up because he can do higher damage, and you can defeat the enemy easier. The game is also pretty short. I managed to beat it in 6 hours without dying, 7 when I completed the sidequests. And also, energy beams are weaker than punches and kicks. That's NOT the way it works in the cartoon, I'm afraid. But the negatives aside, the gameplay is very simple. Punch using A, Blast using B and cycle through energy attacks with L, as well as the new options menu initiated by pressing the select button. On top of the level up system, you have a new equip system in which you can equip items to the Z Fighters, and many items have specific effects on top of improving your stats. Some items need a certain level to be equipped, which is a good twist on the "equip new armour/weapons" concept in many other RPGs. Also, there are many characters from movies and the TV show, although I'm curious to know why they left Bojack and his crew of space pirates from the game, hen they included Janemba, a character from a movie that isn't anywhere near being translated. You character selection is decent too. You can choose from Goku, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, Vegeta, Gotenks and one other character, only obtainable when you collect all of the Hercule and Z-Fighter exhibits... each characters has their own techniques, which can all be levelled up, and when levelled up, increases in strength. There are many other good points, although there are many other bad factors in the game also. It can get very tedious and repetitive. 6/10

MUSIC AND SOUND : The music in Buu's Fury is quite good. You have your usual limited selection of tunes, but they're quite nice to listen to over and over again. One of the tracks is a remix from the History of Trunks movie, which was used in the movie in some occasions when a tragedy occurred. It has been remixed into a more upbeat type tune and I often found myself pounding enemies in sync with the music. There is another tune which has a more "tropical" feel to it. It makes sense when you are on Master Roshi's island, but it's a little bit strange hearing it when you're on an abandoned airship that's meant to have been hijacked. Otherwise, the music is good, despite being rather limited, and is played when appropriate, except for the tune of the Airship... as far as sound effects go, they're very well done. You can hear every hit, every blast and every other effect clearly and as accurately as they SHOULD be done. At least Atari went out of their way to make THIS aspect flawless. Sound is good, and the music is almost perfect apart from a few tweaks being needed here and there. 9/10

GRAPHICS: What did we ever do to deserve this? The game has really suffered in the way of graphics. In the FMV areas in which you are flying around, searching for towns, or maybe airships or submarines to fight enemies on, I was wondering how the hell a game that had such perfectly rendered graphics in it's crappy first outing could plummet in the space of two games! The normal walking sequences are fine, it's just the world maps that look horrible. Everything is blurry and hurts your eyes, and your character looks like a reject from a Sega Master System game. However, when you are in towns, cities or fighting areas, your characters look good in what I like to call "2 and a half D." Characters are well rendered, although slightly blurred, and blasts look good. Text boxes are done well, and the Hercule and Z Fighter Exhibits looks good in their individual places. Also, the portraits of the characters you look up on your scouter look really well done. Graphics are alright until you get out into FMV mode. Then they're a pain in the arse. 7/10

OVERALL: Overall, Buu's Fury is a step back from LOG 2. The music and sound is good, but too much Level door based gameplay and crappy FMV graphics really let it down. I wouldn't recommend it to someone playing the series for the first time. Go for LOG 2 Instead. 7/10.

ALTERNATIVES: Legacy of Goku 1, Legacy of Goku 2.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/04