Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

"One of the shortest and easiest games I have ever played. Good thing it was fun."

I beat this game in 6 hours. I'm not kidding.

Plot: 5/10

What do you expect? It's Dragonball Z. Just like the other two Legacy of Goku games, you can expect the same retread of the classic DBZ formula. First you fight this really strong guy. But then there's another, more powerful guy that you have to defeat next. And then after him there's an even more powerful guy after that. Everyone dies like 3 or 4 times but is wished back, and then Goku saves the universe at the very end. Hooray for being a good guy. Really, you don't pick up a copy of a DBZ game expecting some kind of amazing story, in fact buying a DBZ game usually means you already know the story by heart.

Graphics: 6/10

Cute, but nothing that the GBA hasn't already shown us before. Hell, graphics here weren't even really any better than LoG2's. In fact, I'm certain they reused 90% of the sprites and tiles.

Gameplay: 7/10

Vastly improved over the previous two Legacy of Goku games, first and foremost, is the level-up system. Now you get to allocate stat points as you see fit instead of getting random ups every level. This appeals to me because I don't really use Ki attacks much, and giving me the choice to pour all my development into raw strength greatly increases my attack output. The only thing holding me back was the fact that you aren't allowed to boost any given stat to a higher numerical value than your current level.

Menu navigation is still tricky. I had forgotten how to use my Scouter since the last game, and it took me nearly 80% of Buu's Fury to find it again. Just like the last two games, you can expect to have to apply some extreme effort to co-ordinating your fingers; at any given moment during a battle you're pressing roughly a million billion buttons a second in rapid succession. Toggle this ability, deactivate that ability, aim this ability. It's a real nightmare, especially for guys like Goku with a ton of moves to choose from or guys like Gohan that have a needlessly complex aiming system. But other than the overly complex ability-selecting system, combat is still just as straightforward as ever: Punch the other guy until he explodes. Repeat for next guy until guys run out.

Dungeons are fairly straightforward and rather boring. Fight the same four guys over and over again in room after generic-looking room. Next dungeon you'll have a different tileset and the guys you fight will be palette-swapped.

Puzzles amount to walking through dozens of rooms only to find that the door in front of you is locked, and the key you need for it was a dozen rooms back. There's one puzzle that forces you to retrace your footsteps no less than three times through the same two dozen rooms just to get the keys you need. I would have rather had Legacy of Goku 2's annoying puzzles than Buu's Fury's downright boring puzzles.

If only it weren't so friggn' easy, I might have had a chance to enjoy it more.

Difficulty: 1/10

There is none. First of all, I beat this game in 6 hours. That should already give you a clue. Second, Buu's Fury uses the classic level doors to make sure that you always have high enough levels to win. But what I think finally nails the lid shut on this one is the incredibly weak enemies. In LoG 2, I found myself needing enemies to drop food platters to make sure my health stayed up. But Buu's Fury? I got by on level-ups alone. I'm not sure if it was the enemies being too weak or the levels being too frequent or some hellish combination of both, but even though Buu's Fury features a brand new healing item inventory, I found myself not using any items at all. Ever. Partially because enemies rarely if ever made so much as a scratch on my health bar, but most because I always killed them in one hit so they didn't even get a chance.

Even though there's a new Equipment feature in BF, you could probably get by completely naked if you so chose. I found myself not bothering to keep track of level requirements for equipment because by the end of every dungeon I was already 20 or 30 levels up and ready to wear whatever I wanted.

Far too easy. Incredibly dumbed down, even after an already easy game like LoG2.

Fun Factor: 10/10

I dunno what to say. It's just really fun.

Overall: 6/10

Pick it up if you're bored or are a fan of the series, otherwise you might as well leave it. You're not missing much. Although dirty softare pirate types will probably just download a ROM, they're actually not getting much even if it is free. It was a fun 6 hours. Maybe I'll try some of the sidequests later.

The Good

It's fun. Really fun.

The Bad

Rehashed graphics, rehashed gameplay, same mistakes and few improvements.

The Ugly

I beat it in 6 hours. 6 hours.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/04