Dragon Ball Z Budokai Is An Alright Game That Is Let Down By A Energy Blast Of Flaws And More Leaks Than Cell.
This is the first of the Budokais that came out for the PS2.. It came out in the year 2002 and it had to be right around Christmas time (cause that's when I got the game.) The game got mixed rreviews....the critics hated the game mechanics but the fans were completely delighted to play as their favorite DBZ character on the PS2. How do I feel about this game? Well Im going to tell you right now.
The game's story is actually pretty good and they did a really great job on how it flows..The story starts off with Goku's brother Raditz coming to the planet and kidnapping Gohan. Immediatly after Piccolo shows up and wants to form an alliance with Goku to get rid of the nuisance that disgraced him earlier in the show. The story then continues on through the Frieza Saga and then through the Cell Games.The only thing that really got on my nerves is the way they did some of the sequences. It is obvious that Atari had no idea what they were doing in this department and that's okay because it's their first try.. But honestly..Everything feels rushed since all of the sequences don't last over a minute and since DBZ is a very long series....they should have made them longer. Also they completely ignored Trunks in having you play as him. He was very important in the Android Saga and they just included him for a split second in the FMV sequences....Other than that they did a really good job on this area of the game.
Gameplay : Okay I know that this score is a little harsh for a fan but I can't help it. You have these modes to play through: Story Mode, Duel Mode(Versus Mode basically), World Tournament (pick a character and battle until they are defeated or there is a ringout), Training Mode (self explanatory), Edit Skills (via the new capsule system you can put skills on your character. For example if you wanted Goku to turn Super Saiyan you have to get the capsule and then equip it here) and then theres the Options mode where you can change the game's settings. The fighting is where they dropped the ball. Everything just feels so sluggish while you're fighting. Square is punch, Triangle is kick, Circle is energy blast, and X is Guard. You can also chain moves into combos and finsih with a energy blast. For Ex You can also do energy punches by pressing and holding R1. For example, if you press punch (X4) and then press energy Vegeta will do a Galick Gun. They have a capsule system in this game so after you complete a mission in story mode you will get a capsule or you can go to the world Tournament mode and win matches so you can get money. Then you go to Mr. Popo's shop and there you can buy capsules with the money that you earned. That's not all..You can collect the seven Dragon Balls and make a wish for a breakthrough capsule. this one capsule will let you use all the moves of ONE character and it is randomly done (there's only three at a time.) Overall, it wasn't a horrible attempt at gameplay mechanisms (I've seen worse) but it wasn't a very good attempt either.
Graphics : The graphics colorful but other than that I have nothing good to say about them. I'm not a huge fan of action figures and that's EXACTLY what all the characters look like in this game. The backgrounds look boring enough and there's always an invisible wall in the way of everything.. well except on a couple of the stages where you can knock them off the stage but you're character quickly follows. The battle auras just look fake to me and the Super Saiyan aura looks almost nothing like it looks in the show.. All of the characters faces look exactly like they should but other than that the graphics are just lacking to me.
Sound : The background music I don't really care about in a fighting game (just racing and RPG's mainly) so I didn't care about this one. From what I heard (or payed attention to) the music sounds alright. The character sounds are dead on but what I don't get is why do they have pointless phrases. For example when Vegeta hits you he'll say "Beat it punk" or when Frieza uses the death ball he'll say "Scram!" I hated that! All of the characters to me had something like that to say and it just annoyed the heck out of me. It was like the sound developers went out and asked people what was the most annoying sound phrase that got on their nerves and put it in this game. The voice acting in the game is alright but not extraudinary or anything. They always seem to stop short in the FMV sequences (like they were scared to go the extra mile or something.)
I got everything in this game. All the characters, beat the hidden mode, all the breathtroughs and moves for all the characters and it took me about 2 months . So I guess it has alright replay value for a DBZ fan
At the time it was probably an alright DBZ game soo.....just skip this or rent it if you have to play every single DBZ game.