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Dragonball Z Budokai in Review
Reported by Dragonsend - 05:18 PM on April 13, 2007 Dragonball Z Budokai Console: Playstation 2, X-box, Gamecube Publisher: Infogrames (Atari) Developer: Funimation Productions, LTD Genre: Fighting Live Enabled: No Players: 1-2 Rating: Teen Dragonball Z Budokai is a must have for any DBZ fan. Live the adventure as you get to play through the Saiyan, Namekian, and Android Sagas in this games awesome story mode as well as battle with 23 different characters in Tournament mode.  STORY: The story of Dragonball Z Budokai closely follows the story of the action cartoon Dragonball Z based on a concept by Akira Toriyama. You have all the characters such as Vegeta, Raditz, Frieza, the Ginyu Squad and more to deal with just as the story is told in the anime show. Also you’ll hear the original voices from the anime in the game as well. You’ll get to play the story in three sagas. You start off from the arrival on Raditz on Earth in the Saiyan Saga and play on through to the Namekian Saga where you find Frieza is after the Dragonballs. Then you get to go through the Android Saga and play on through to Cell’s demise in the Cell Games. Remember there are two sides to every story. After you finish going through the story mode once you might want to go back to the main menu and go through it again as there will be new chapters to play. They’ll be marked as new. These new chapters allow you to play through some of the same story but from another characters point of view. Example: Try chapter 3 of the Saiyan Saga to hear what Piccolo has to say before using his Special Beam Cannon to kill Raditz as Goku is holding him. It’s a bit different from your first encounter. I found the story mode of this game to be superb. If you’ve missed some of Dragonball Z the anime then this game is assured to fill in some of those gaps for you. Don’t forget to play the Legend of Hercule as well. You’ll unlock this mini game story mode after you acquire and defeat the Adept Tournament Mode. Just as Hercule is the comedy relief in the show so is this mini game. It is quite entertaining as you play as Hercule to complete the legend that he saved the world. GAMEPLAY: By default the options for the game are set on easy when you begin story mode. This allows you to breeze through most of the first saga. However, as you learn to fight just because it’s “easy” doesn’t make the game without its challenges. Prepare to be knocked through mountains and see the special moves of the villains you encounter. The games load times are relatively quick for each chapter in story mode. This is a plus as you don’t have to spend a lot of your time waiting. This also helps make the game play smooth. I suggest having a memory card with this game as it will be needed to save your acquired skills and use a custom character. Skills can be earned all throughout the story mode by defeating each challenger in the chapters you play. The fact that you can create custom characters is a plus. Though it takes a while to get the skills you may want to use to customize Goku, Vegeta, or your favorite character, I believe in the end you’ll find this option a good one. The Tournament mode is where you’ll be allowed to earn zenie to buy skills. After you’ve won some zenie be sure to check out edit skills and go to buy skills. There you’ll find Mr. Popo who will sell you all kinds of capsules. He’ll even sell you Dragonballs if you’re lucky. Just make sure to have lots of zenie for those. Also you’ll need to visit Mr. Popo to buy the adept and advanced tournament capsules. He’ll let you buy adept after your victorious in the novice tournament and after victorious in adept you’ll be able to buy advanced. Tournament mode is the hardest mode to beat because you fight in the arena. It’s easy to get knocked out of the arena. The advantage is it’s just as easy to knock your opponent out to win the bout. The best advice I can give you for this mode is learn to dodge! Practice makes perfect! If you really want to learn how to use a character then practice mode is the best way. There you can see what damaged is delivered and best of all see what buttons you push when you push them. This is most helpful in getting the rhythm for the use of special moves and becoming the superb fighter with your favorite characters. GRAPHICS: This game looks great. The backgrounds and characters are all in 3D. Textures for characters and backgrounds seemed to have smoothness to them adding to the feel of playing the game. It was surprising to see such good graphics in a DBZ based game. There are several worlds you’ll find to fight in tournament mode including the lookout and the arena, all of which are very well rendered and seem to have a great likeness to those drawing you’ll see in the show. Character graphics are very detailed and give a great portrayal of the characters likeness. You even get to choose from two sets of clothes in the tournament mode. Hit block when choosing for your regular fighting outfit and hit punch or your kai button when choosing a character to see their alternate outfit. Backgrounds from the sky to mountains, from rocks to water, from trees to crowds in the distance (arena) are very well rendered. If you’re lucky enough to be knocked to some hidden areas within other areas you’ll even see crystal clear waterfalls. CONTROLS: I’ll give you a hint I learned the hard way. I’ve found the best way to learn this fighting system is to practice and figure out just what your character will do and with what combination of buttons. At first I thought the controls were buggy as if I hit punch six times he only throws five punches. I thought what is happening! It’s because you can only throw what the computer is programmed for. If your character can only throw a combination of four punches in a row then don’t waste your time trying to throw more. Also if your character isn’t programmed to throw two kicks and three punches, he simply won’t. You’ll notice this more with your Kai (E) button. Example: Vegeta’s Final Flash: PPKKE if I were to hit PPPKKE then the E button wouldn’t be acknowledged. Best Advice: Practice and learn your characters combos. Most of the controls are similar when it comes to punches and kicks but you’ll find variations with different characters. SOUND: Since the voice actors for this game are the same as for the anime it really gives you the feel that your in the story. This was a great aspect to include in this game to make it all the more for the DBZ fan and it really brings it home for me. The music is decent as well. You’ll hear the guitar riffs and similar music as in the show giving it all the intensity of actually being there. The sounds of battle also add to the games intensity. From punches to being thrown through a mountain the feeling is there in the sound. In battle you even get to taunt your opponent by saying one of your characters best known phrases. All in all the sound is realistic and very well done. In certain areas if you listen you can hear running water if you’re near a waterfall. Also if you get punched through the air and into a mountain you’ll hear the whizzing noise and power of that punch. OVERALL: The game is definitely a must have for the DBZ fans of the world. I found it to be great and fun to play. If you just want a good fighting game however then you might not like this one as it’s more about the story of DBZ but all in all I’d have to recommend it to anyone into the anime. Story: 10.0 Game play: 7.9 Controls: 6.0 Graphics: 7.0 Sound: 9.0 Overall: 7.8 MORE Reviews NEWS & UPDATES
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