stormwolf17's Full Review: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenk.2 - PS2 for PlayStatio...
HORRENDOUS!!
Let me start off by saying, I did, indeed enjoy this game..Up to a certain point. You see, the game gives you the option to play 1 on 1 against the computer or your friends in battles Street Fighter/Mortal Combat style, using the different characters of the DragonBall Z Japanime series, or play through the entire series, using the characters of the game to follow the episodes(I.E. beat so many challenges and open a new challenge).
Monotony
Unfortunately this becomes a bit tedious, as after fighting and getting the hang of it, you fall into a pattern of doing the same thing several times, before you complete a challenge. I.E. You may face the same enemy, using the same character, several times before you complete that challenge. For instance, you might have to fight Brolly 2-3 times with Gohan before you finish that challenge.... That's not including the times you have to fight him with Vegeta and Trunks....
Control
I must admit, with the Nintendo Wii's wireless, motion detecting controllers(main controller and the nunchuk), the playing of the game gets to be pretty fun, in that terms. You use the main controller to point the direction you want to be going, while you can use the nunchuk to do speed moves by pressing the analog stick and making a motion in the direction you're pressing your analog stick. Furthermore, in order to pull off some of the character's special moves, you actually have to do the hand motions that the character's would do in the series.
For instance, to do the Kamehameha(sp?), you have to pull your hands back and then launch them forward(there are 2 buttons, one on each controller) that you have to press as well.. However, for the most part, it's the hand motions to do those special attacks.
This is a good thing and a bad thing, because it sometimes does make it harder for you to pull off the special moves... However, it does give a sense of accomplishment when you actually do it. If it would register your movements or allow you to pull off the moves a little faster, it might even make it a better game play..
Special Moves
In order to do special moves, you have to meet certain criteria. In the game, there's what's called blast stocks and in order to pull off a basic special move, called a blast 1 attack, you have to have at least 1 blast stock built up...
Going up to a level 2 blast attack, you have to have Ki stored up... Ki is another thing that you get through the course of a fight... The level of your ki dictates how many fire-ball type moves you can do and/or can make your character move faster and hit harder...I.E.. when a character's ki is charged up to the max, that character can carry out longer, harder attacks, letting you land up to 80+ punches before your ki drains down enough to slow you down.
In Game Transformations
One of the staples of Dragonball Z, is some of the characters transformations. I.E. Goku(One of the main character's of Dragonball Z) belongs to a race called Saiyans.. When saiyans reach a certain level of power, they can make a transformation and become what's called a Super Saiyan. Super Saiyans are more powerful, faster and stronger then most of the races and even their regular Saiyan brethren.
When following the story-line, you reach a point where you attain the ability to go Super-Saiyan with character's Vegeta, Gohan, Goku, Trunks..etc..etc.
What does this mean? It's basically an instant power-up and it shows the change when you go into super-saiyan mode. I.E. All Saiyans have dark hair, however, when they go Super-Saiyan their hair turns GOLD!
Camera Angle
Now this is one part of the game that irks me. I've seen other places and other reviews that claim they upgraded the camera views for this game, however, if they're improved, I'd hate to see how they were before. The game gives you a view of your character for the most part from behind, full view...It also gives you a full view of the opponent.. However, if the character is above you or below you, it becomes very hard to attain sight of the enemy again. Another annoyance, though petty it may seem, is if you're back against a wall and you cut out of the picture almost entirely and it becomes a little harder to point your character in the right direction and get him to move, because you don't know exactly where the walls are(especially when near corners).
Where this game lost me...
Through all the challenges that seem feasable, the game likes to try and hand you challenges that are pretty near impossible.. For those of you that follow the show, one such challenge is facing an android with HERCULE(WTF??)..For those that don't follow the show.. Hercule is a VERY weak character and android is a VERY STRONG character. In other words, Hercule's punches do very little damage, while the android's attacks very nearly demolish you fairly easily...
There is one perk to the game...
That is the fact that if you hit your enemy hard enough, you can destroy your surrounding environment. Not only that, but if you hit your opponent through a wall, it counts as 2 hits of damage... 1 hit for your punch or kick that sent him through that wall and 1 hit for him actually hitting the wall.
The following paragraph, italicized for reference, is to be IGNORED. I made a mistake, as I confused Dragonball Z Budokai 2, released for the game-cube as Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 release for the Nintendo Wii. Please note that though Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 was, however, released for the PS2.. Other places this game died?
Well, in all honesty, it probably loses some of its face when you consider the fact that this game is available for the Gamecube as well. What significance does that hold? Well, Nintendo Wii is compatible with the Gamecube games and can use Gamecube controllers... So instead of buying this game for the wii, you can buy it for the game-cube and get a game-cube controller, then play it on your wii.. Therefore, in some effects, it was actually a repetative effort, the only difference being in that the version made for the Wii, you can use the controllers that come with the wii...
In Conclusion
This game has some fun aspects to it, also some terrible ones.... The terrible ones, in my opinion, outweigh the fun aspects too much. If I could go back now, I DO NOT think I would buy this game again... In fact, I'm wishing that I could take mine back right now and exchange it for another game...I DO NOT recommend this game to anybody, as anything other then a once, maybe twice, rental...
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