Combining action, fighting and light role-playing game (RPG) elements, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 will send players into a rich story mode that spans the entire Dragon Ball, DBZ, and Dragon Ball GT series. The game takes the acrobatic and intense 3D flying and fighting dynamic made popular in last year's hit and takes it to a whole new level with over 100 playable characters, 15 vast and vibrant 3D destructible environments, and nine different game modes, including intense single and multiplayer battles.
Into the Word of Dragon Ball
For anyone not familiar with the Dragon Ball Z games up until this point, it's really very simple. Players control each of the heroes and villains of the anime series, often fighting in an adventure mode that parallels the story arch of the show in some way. The game is all about quick combos, massive in-air battles, and super attacks that make other anime fighting games look like a trip to the McDonalds Play Place. For Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, the main story mode is seriously massive, paralleling the entire Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT series, allowing you to reenact every battle, every plot point, and every surprise from the world of Dragon Ball. This opens up a ton of depth into the game, as the main Dragon Adventure is comprised of hundreds of battles, each complete with voiceovers and in-game cut-scenes before and after each bout. Think last year's Z Battle Gate, but bigger.
The only major gripe with the newly expanded Dragon Adventure is that since the story is set in stone, a success condition doesn't always transition into how the story unfolds. In one of the opening battles, for instance, we fought as Goku trying to defeat Vegeta. The goal was simply to last the length of the battle without dying (as the story has Goku's friends come to his aid), but we defeated Vegeta instead. Despite kicking the crap out of our competitor, the story cut to Goku defeated. Obviously this is needed for story reasons, but it does make the main story mode feel a bit disconnected. Even still, an entire adventure mode that follows the whole Dragon Ball Z lineage and is pretty impressive, and the battles stay fun throughout.
Doing Battle
Where the game really shows its overall depth, however, is in the battle system. While not a ton of aspects have changed from the previous Budokai Tenkaichi game, there's just more overall to experience. The sheer amount of fighters, for example, is insane, having 70 total characters from the series and all of their alternate forms, totaling over 120 "playable characters". Of course there's a certain amount of stat-padding going on with those numbers, as it includes Goku, Super Saiyan Goku, SS Level 2, and SS Level 3, but when you break down all the multiple forms of Vegeta, Frieza, Ghoan, Cell, and all the other monumental fighters it's really a pretty amazing combination, and a considerable jump from last year's already packed product.
Aside from the sheer numbers, there are also a few new ways to do battle as well. Topping off the main fighting engine are new vanish attacks and counters, which allow players to chase or evade mid-combo, adding even more speed to the already hectic fights. There are also 16 areas to fight, taking the previous fields from Tenkaichi and adding to it. And while there isn't an online function for the game, the Evolution Z mode (which lets you buy, sell, and equip every fighter with items and stat boosters) allows for a password generator, letting players trade codes to fight each other's created fighters from one system to another. It may not be as in-depth as online, but it's a cool feature nonetheless. Thrown in a new Tag Battle mode that allows for five-on-five tag fighting and you've got a game that, while very similar to its predecessors, still has a ton of fresh gameplay crammed into it. Compared to the original Tenkaichi this one is faster, slicker, and features more fighters doing battle in larger arenas. Can't complain about that.
Even still, the main speed and amount of strategy from the previous games hasn't really changed, leaving Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi as a game that really only lasts as long as its basic mechanic. There are only two main fighting buttons - one for close range and the other for distance attacks - and aside from mashing the two of them together in different combinations the game can get a little thin in strategy. Sure the added moves and existing blocks and counters add a bit of depth, and the in-game transformations and super attacks are definitely a blast to pull off, but the game still amounts to a button-mashing mass of DBZ fan service. There's no way we'd recommend the game to a gamer that has no interest in the DBZ franchise, but at the same time we'd warn die-hard fans that there's no way you should miss Budokai Tenkaichi if you're a longtime fanatic.
