It is that time again, for another Dragonball Z game to hit the market. As usual, there are two types of people that react in different ways when hearing this. Person A: “Holy crap! Dragonball Z! That rules dude! I’m going to make purchase without reading about it because it roxorz!” Person B: “Holy crap! Dragonball Z! Run away! Get it off, get it off!” Normally, Person B is correct, given the deluge of crap this show has produced in the gaming market. From the days of the NES to just last month, Dragonball Z can be considered the worst series of games to ever grace a console; it lived strictly on name alone. Then along came a DBZ title that was not only stomachable, but was actually quite fun. That game was Dragonball Z Budokai. It was a one on one fighter, pretty much the only genre that DBZ is any good at. Sure, it wasn’t sophisticated or even particularly attractive, but it at least made a DBZ game entertaining. So, this year, DBZ Budokai 2 comes around and hopes to improve on the formula that made the first entertaining.
Gameplay is pretty much like the previous title. For those who have not played Budokai, this is how it goes down. You get your kick, punch, block, and basic energy attacks. If you hit the punch and kick buttons right, you’ll pull off a minor combo, which is just a set of punches and kicks. Where this game differs from most fighters on the market is the way you pull off the big combos. Your typical fighter would have you input various directions on a pad and then hit an execute button. Budokai 2 takes that to a different level. Not only do you have to still input directions on the pad (though to a far lesser degree than other fighters), you also have to input the right combination of punches and kicks then execute with the energy attack button. Each of these attacks uses up a portion of your energy bar, which sits below the standard health bar. To regain energy, you must either hit your opponent with a standard attack, or power up by holding the block key and tapping back twice then holding the pad. Just a note for the new players, this is the only 3D fighter I have ever played where I’ve found the D-Pad to be superior in practice than the stick.
The big combos are broken down into four different types. (This will be of particular interest to fans of the first game.) First, you have your standard combo which you just let go and watch as it takes effect. The Kamehameha is a good example of a standard. The second kind is the stick twirler. I know, vets, you’re thinking “this guy must be talking about the power breaks where you need to twirl the stick to win.” Well, somewhat, that is a bit of a sub-category of this kind. Attacks like Ki Rain require you to rapidly spin the sticks to build up power. If you manage to get full power, then you open up a more advanced form of the attack on the unsuspecting foe. Some of them, like the Ghost Kamikaze Attack, will punish you for not filling the bar in the allotted time period by blowing up in your face. There is also the kind the enemy can fire back at you, like the Spirit Bomb. You need to fight the enemy like a power break by spinning your sticks the fastest, otherwise, the attack will be returned to you. The third type of combo is the matching kind. With this combo, you are instructed to input a single button. If the enemy matches this, he avoids the bulk of the attack damage, if not, then he takes it all. The final one is what I call the Dance Dance Revolution combo. This form of combo asks you to input a series of 5 buttons in a set time period. Miss, and you fail the move. An example of this type would be the Gotenks fusion. Miss the combo and you get stuck with the fat guy who wheezes every three steps.
A few of the gameplay flaws were translated from Budokai to part 2, and magnified in a few cases. The first flaw, though somewhat minor, comes in the form of flight. Flying isn’t anything special, just walking up above the ground. There are no special moves or different mechanics; you just move around up there as normal. Since flying is a rather pathetic way to play the game, then the inability to initiate it yourself may be a positive aspect. The big issue, though, is the complete lack of variety. Every fighter has pretty much the same moves. Apart from the huge, hidden moves, everyone has the same Same Ki rain attack, the same fly up high and bash them in the back move, and the same fast beat-the-crap-out-of-him-until-he-bleeds-from-various-orifices move (see Goku’s Dragon Fist for example).
The only actual variety is in the character selection, which includes all the fighters from the previous game (sans earlier transformations of Frieza and Cell) plus adds a few more like Dabura, three different versions of Majin Buu, Supreme Kai (I hate this name; Dai Kaio Shin-sama sounds so much better) and even Videl. I can’t understand why they would include a character like her, who can’t win a fight in the series against even minor Dragonball foes, but totally leave out characters like the other three members of the Ginyu force and, one of my personal favorites, Chiaoutzu.
The main source of improving your fighters comes in the form of a story mode. Beware, Dragonball Z fans, this is a butchering worse than anyone could do on purpose. You are given a sort of game board to move pieces, each representing a Dragonball character, around. You move around, dig up items, and move your character into enemy pieces to initiate battles. Some of the characters have voices, while others don’t. This pick-and-choose method of voice-overs and story continuation feels sloppy. You get to pick which allies follow along in each level, but the designers only had the presence of mind to include dialogue for one or two of them. The story itself is convoluted and doesn’t go anywhere. You are dumped down on a map, an enemy makes a threat, you beat him up…well, that is kind of like the actual series. It would have been a bit more interesting to get full character dialogue shots instead of talking heads. It is unfortunate that story mode is required to get all the characters. Getting Dragonballs from story mode is required to open up Babidi’s Spaceship (cool place, tough games here) so you can get all the Buu’s and their associated moves.
Graphically, Budokai 2 is a HUGE step up from the first game. If game developers need an example on how to do cel shading right, look no further. The game captures the show’s feel and style to perfection. It is 3D…but it is not. The models turn and move fluidly, but never once seem to be 3D in nature. It is rather masterful how it was done. Unfortunately, the backgrounds don’t work too well with this. The designers went with a cel shading on top of a real polygonal background, and the two styles clash horribly. Characters stick out of the screen badly, like the CG effects in Titan A.E. They are obviously from two different worlds and have no business together; a full cel shaded background would have worked much better. The lighting effects on attacks seem to have the cel shaded feel, but still cast a light from them. Very good work overall on the visuals, but the strange mix of backgrounds and characters detracts quite a bit from the score.
The sounds were taken right out of the show and work remarkably well. Voices, however, need a TON of work. The actors from the show were used here, and that is not really a good thing. The actors range from very good, like the voice behind Vegeta, to gut-wrenchingly bad, like Goten, Android 16, Fat and Skinny Buu, and Supreme Kai. Ultimately, the bad voices grabbed the sound rating and yanked it down good and hard. Vegeta, Piccolo and Krillin can’t make up for the other VA’s that make your ears bleed.
The replay is rather high here. One must go through the story mode is required to go through a few times to get all the abilities. There is also the tournament mode which offers cash to buy other abilities and unlock characters, and there is Babidi’s ship, which is very cool, that is needed to get yet other characters and skills. Then you can enjoy a 1-on-1 bout with a friend and even play with them through the tourney. The tournaments can also be set up with a multitude of friends playing different characters as well.
Overall, Budokai 2 is a step backwards from the previous title. There were fewer voice-overs, a worse story (if that was ever possible), and a more limited fighting system. The visuals were far superior and a few of the mini-games helped keep the game afloat, but it is taking on water fast. Fans, go ahead, anyone else, rent first.
