Racketboy

You are probably already wondering why we are featuring a new Dragonball Z game for the PS2. The primary reason is the fact that the key people responsible for the arcade fighting masterpiece Street Fighter 2 are working on Super DBZ’s development team and that this latest Dragon Ball Z game would play and feel more like the fighters of the bygone Street Fighter era. Super DBZ not only sticks to the theme of the old school 2D fighters, but it also brings an entirely new and refreshing take on the 3D fighter genre.

Now to be honest I am not a big fan of the Dragon Ball Z franchise. I have never viewed any of the Dragon Ball Z cartoons, and the previous versions of the Dragon Ball Z video game franchise had not left a lasting impression on me to warrant purchasing any of the titles after having rented them at my local video rental store, but I thought I would give this puppy a try.

Gameplay: 8
It’s been quite sometime since I’ve touched the series, yet upon loading the game I had a sense of dejavu . I quickly selected a random character and defeated my first opponent, Goku, in what seemed to be the same amount of time it took for the game to load initially on my hard drive equipped PS2. Fighting games should be quick and seamless throughout. For shorter load times I would recommend playing this game on a slim PS2 or one that is not equipped with the hard drive since it slows down the action somewhat. To win my first battle with Goku I randomly pounded buttons on the controller and repeated what seemed to work best. I know, I know shame on me but who ever reads the instruction manual anyway? If you have played a DBZ game before this one immediately you will notice that there is no story line. Because of this most gamers will agree that the $39.99 price point may be a bit high due to the lack of extra content and that a $29.99 price point might be more attractive since the game is a straight forward fighting port like Capcom’s Street Fighter Anniversary Collection or Capcom’s Fighting Evolution for example which was well worth its release date price tag of $29.99. This game would be far more attractive at that pricing level since it is still your basic fighter. The lack of storyline is not necessarily a bad thing however since I expected a fast paced fighter from the onset knowing that the chief creator of this game Noritaka Funamizu would hold true to his roots.

The modes in the game are: Original, Z Survivor, Versus, Customize, Training and Dragon Summoning. As I pointed out earlier there is no Story Mode which will be disappointing to some, considering it is based on an Anime series. You fight seven battles (random opponents) and make your way to Cell. Z Survivor is rather interesting, you fight 9 battles (random opponents) and, at the end of each battle, there is a screen that contains seven options, like boosting your attack. Oh yes, it’s called “Z Survivor” for a reason; you must survive these battles without your health being restored. The roulette also contains a health recovery. The roulette gets faster and faster after every battle. Versus is your usual basic mode where you choose a character, stage and fight your friend. Customize is the place to create your Character Card. This is will keep you attached to the game because you can develop your chosen character. The Character Card also contains a unique Skill Tree for each character, where you can give your character extra moves or even enhances his stats. Another exciting feature of the Character Card is; you can inherit moves from other characters, which can result in endless combinations for your Character Card. Your Character Card also contains costumes for your character; you can select a possible seven costumes for each 18 characters. Training is your usual place to train. They have made the training a little more interesting as you can set what way you want the stage to be set, whether or not you want to include pillars and, the way your opponent responds to certain attacks or, sits there like a punching bag. Lastly, you have Dragon Summoning; where you collect all seven Dragon Balls and summon Shenron to grant your wish. The wishes are much more detailed, so detailed that there are two different types of wishes; A Normal Set of wishes and an Enhanced Set of wishes.

Control: 8
The control scheme is pretty straightforward and can be quickly mastered for those who have played any of the Street Fighter titles. The difficulty of the game can be quite hard at times but in my opinion it enhances the replay value of the game and is a welcome addition. This is not one of those titles that will cause even the most seasoned gamer to throw their controller against the wall in frustration, but it will give your fingers a vigorous workout if you decide to play it with a joystick should you decide to master all of the possible button combinations. The control pad also works well with this title since the programmers anticipated that an overwhelming percentage of gamers would be using the pad as their weapon of choice. However this fighter has some old school charm and I just had to master it with the stick for that true arcade experience. There are 18 characters that are all very unique and contain their own set of moves and combos. The levels are quite big and detailed. In each level, there’s a secret, either something special you can look at, or use to your advantage. I’ll leave it at that so there are no spoilers in my review.

Graphics: 9
Super Dragon Ball Z takes a different graphical route than the last 3 Budokai games and Tenkaichi, and opts for a style of cell shading that is closer to the Manga series and gives more of an illusion of an old-school 2D game. This stylized look works very nicely for SDBZ, all the way up to the way the opening menu is organized much like a page right out of Manga. I just finished Dragon Quest 8 before playing this game and noticed very similar styles in the graphics department.

Sound/Music: 8
The sounds are just like the Manga series and even include the “POW!” when you hit your opponent. The sound is set to Japanese voices but there are English sub-titles. The native sounds of the characters work well, however a few voices in the game can be annoying at times. The music for the stages is quite fast-paced to get the adrenaline pumping during battle sessions, but the game also contains some nice little tunes that you might find yourself repeating in your head throughout the day making you want to go back to this game. All of the music choices within the game seem to make sense and fit the theme the designers wanted to portray.

Replay Value: 6
This is a game that can be enjoyed for short bouts as well as long sessions in front of the TV, although unless you are a diehard Dragon Ball Z aficionado playing this game alone for extended periods of time can get real old real fast. I am an only child and throughout my life I have been fine with that. After playing this game for close to five hours by myself I now wish I had a local fighting partner to battle against. A brother, sister, or buddy will enhance the replay value of this game. Better yet an online feature should have been incorporated in to this game. The lack of online play and story line almost makes me think that this game was rushed or that there were budget constraints.

Overall: 8
Unless you are a big fan of the series, I would recommend renting the game first before buying it, since there isn’t a lot of variety in the game, especially with the lack of a story mode and or non human opponent. Super Dragon Ball Z is a vast improvement over previous DBZ games. In my opinion however it is not good enough to justify the $39.99 price point when there are a lot of other games on my want list. I’d wait until this game comes down a bit in price if you want to hold out for a new copy. (Keep in mind that I pretty much never pay the initial retail price for a game) While Dragon Ball Z may not enjoy the fan base that other popular fighters may possess it is nonetheless a worthwhile edition to the Dragon Ball Z series. If by chance no more Dragon Ball Z fighters were to be made this game would be a respectable ending to the series. If the Street Fighter team continues to contribute to this series I have a feeling that the best is yet to come.