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Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

With the mega success of the Dragon Ball franchise and its introduction to the US market, Atari capitalized on the growing fervor and introduced Dragon Ball Z: Budokai for the PS2 a year ago. While the game had its faults as a fighter, it was the first real decent translation of the Dragon Ball series into a US console system, after multiple versions released in Japan. Following up on that moderately successful hit, they decided to create a sequel as well as re-release the game for the GameCube. The sequel, simply titled Budokai 2, takes place farther in the show’s timeline, now following the growing Gohan and show the Buu saga.

Now if that last sentence makes absolutely no sense to you, then this is not the game for you. This game is made for the die-hard Dragon Ball (Z or GT) fan, and as such has little application to the more mainstream gamer. Like the previous installment, the gameplay is a basic fighter, with controls that are very simplistic and based around pushing buttons in very quick sequences that lead to high energy attacks, that often leave the gamer without control while the character finishes the move. The controls are based around a kick, a punch, energy and a block button. An energy meter is used to determine the amount of special moves that you can pull off. The controls are very stiff, and the longer combos require absolute timing to pull off. This game seems almost like it is designed for a the 8-12 year old gamer.

The designers have replaced the previous game’s story mode. In its place, you will find the Dragon World Mode, which takes the form of a board game and sends players from one location to another in search of dragon balls, pick-ups and capsules. Players take the role of Goku (along with character allies), snagging the aforementioned goodies and engaging in combat with opponents strewn about the landscape.

As in any board war game, the team’s attacks are conducted by moving into a foe’s space – at which point the proper fighting begins. The circumstances of these clashes are vaguely along the lines of those presented in the show’s timeline, which is a neat if inadequately explored idea. As characters lose battles, their strategic-level health bars are drained… so it’s possible to lose a character if things go poorly enough.

Throughout the missions, you pick up capsules, either by finding them or by defeating the various enemies. These capsules unlock moves, combos, characters and fighting locations, Each character has 7 spaces to use the capsules, and some capsules require more then one space. This means that each character can be completely customized, and each one can have moves that may not be necessarily be associated to them from the series.

The graphics of the game are almost perfect for recreating the feel of the series, with large characters drawn very characteristically and with each character often needing to power up in what can only be described as a Metamucil moment before pulling of the large energy moves which look impressive. While the game may lack depth, it at least does a very good job of sticking to its audience and recreating the show very well. The voices are also right on and definitely help the feel.

The game also offers a Tournament and standard Versus Mode, each of which make the multiplayer part of the game the best feature, as it is often with most fighters. The constant search for capsule which drives the single player game allows for players to create a truly unique fighter which they can bring over on their memory card and duke it out with someone else’s equally masterful behemoth.

Budokai 2 boasts adjustable difficulty levels for both the overall challenge and the enemy intelligence. Opponents use primarily basic moves on the easier settings, employing special skilled attacks rarely and almost never in succession. You’ll also notice they’re considerably slower and more guarded, and even then, they don’t utilize many defensive tactics. Obviously, everything is the opposite once you ramp up the difficulty, as the enemies become quicker, stronger and smarter. The normal setting should provide enough challenge for the average player, not simply because of your foes’ aptly timed special attacks, but also due to their agile defensive maneuvers.

While this game is good at reaching the hard core Dragon Ball fan, it does nothing to reach out to any other type of gamer. There is little originality, the controls are simplistic, and definitely suffer from the inability to use the right analog stick. The story is only decent if you followed the TV show. While this game would probably get a much higher rating if I was a devoted fan of the show, I have seen way too many episodes and know how to appreciate the show for what it is. Unfortunately, the game isn’t something that should be in anyone’s collection unless they have a room covered in Gohan and trunks pictures.

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Tags: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

Posted by Andrew on Jan 13th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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