Another great step forward for the Budokai series, but still not perfect.
In terms of graphics and sound, DBZ:BT 2 is pretty much spot on. The characters have been touched up a bit and look as good as ever. Particularly as they take damage, each character begins to suffer graphical indications of the damage they have suffered, mostly in the form of torn and damaged clothing. Their fighting stance also becomes more labored. These visual cues make the game more focused on the combat. You don't have to take quick glances at the health bars because you can determine how things are going just by looking at the characters.
The stages are more impressive then ever. Most incorperate even more destructable then before. Not to mention that the stages are larger then ever which adds even more importance to mobility and movement to the fights.
There are minor issues where some of the graphics looks silly such as during an Instant Transmission Kamehameha. Goku's face at one point sports a remarkably silly looking grimace. I'd go so far as to venture the guess that its a piece of placeholder artwork that never got changed. Some of the voice acting also leaves much to be desires.
As for the actual gameplay, its as fun as ever. There are even more characters added to the roster, including many from the DBZ movies such as Slug, Bojak, Tapion, Turles, and so on. Even some of the henchmen have been added to the line up including Freiza's Henchman Cui, Cooler's Henchman Saiza, and Bojak's henchgirl Zangya. Sadly, none of Turles' henchmen made the cut.
With the added number of characters comes the return of the transformation. This allows charcters to power up to stronger forms. All of the evil saiyans have their Oozaru forms (great apes forms). Of course, the super saiyans and fusions are all there as well. Even Videl gets a transformation in the shape of the Great Saiyaman Mark 2 where she dones a familiar looking though decidedly more feminine Saiyaman costume.
I have but two complaints on transformations. The first is that they all are surrounded by the same cheezy "transformation" effect which makes them feel a little too similar. These transformation animations could have used a touch more detail. Actually seeing Frieza change forms instead of suddenly shift would have been more pleasing. Second, the SSJ4 forms are seperated into their own characters again. This leaves Goku only able to transform up to SSJ3. It seems a questionable move to split the fourth form off from the base character. Minor issues aside, its good to see transformations return to the series.
Several new features have been added that make combat far more interesting. Several of the Ki attacks are now chareable. This allows players to fire a quick weak blast or take the time to charge a full power blast. In addtion to this upgrade to ki attacks, all the rapid fire energy attacks are far deadlier then before. In DBZ:BT, these moves were mostly a waste of energy. Now, they are far more accurate and deal just as much damage as a single blast move. Additionally, these rapid fire attacks are much harder to dodge and avoid. They make for excellent long range barrages.
Another new feature is the switch mechanism. In certain fights, you will have up to 5 characters available and fight against up to 5 characters. The switch mechanism allows to swap out the current character for one of the other fighters on your team. Further, if one fighter is defeated, the next fighter on your team will step into the battle. While an interesting addition, it leaves you hoping that the next step in the series will see mutliple fighters on screen at once.
DBZ:BT 2 holds several gameplay modes just as with its previous incarnation. An adventure mode, a ladder match, and tournaments are all familiar and welcome modes of play. The adventure mode marks the return of the world map, though it serves more as a novelty. Most of the locations that are visitable between key battles often hold no significant worth.
As a final segment of comment, the character development has taken a minor change. Besides being able to simply equip z-evolution items, your characters can actually gain experience on most of those items. After gaining so many xp the item will level up and increase in power. Attack +1 leveling up to Attack +2 for example. The equiped items increase your characters total level by a like amount. Attack +2 added 2 levels for example. While a significant improvement, it leaves me yearning for the days of Final Bout. Final Bout actually hid all the numbers from the player and gave them only a single number, Battle Power, that reprisented a characters strength. I really miss that mechanic of Battle Power or Power Level in DBZ games.
Anyway, DBZ:BT2 is obviously a must have for any dbz fan. Even for fans of the combat genre, it proves a worthly purchase simply for its unique combat system.