one of the best the series can handle
Story: 8/10
The single player mode of the game carries out the story quite well. You go through a series of battles in chronological order, that stay true to the series story and how the events unfold. Between all the battles there are cutscenes of characters talking and certain events that happen to unfold the events of the game. I was surprised by how well it was played out, and all the original voice actors reprise their roles for the game. (Maybe not for minor characters but im not sure)
Gameplay: 7/10
The core fighting of the game is most likely not something that hard core fighting gamers would enjoy, but gamers that are less serious about the fighting part of the game would most likely enjoy the fighting DBZ fan or not. However its not very complex but the characters do have all of their own moves. Each character has a standard energy attack, the most common being Kamehameha. Even though all of the other characters who don't have kamehameha have their own energy attack with a different name, its virtually the exact same thing, but just looks a bit different. However each character does have certain special moves that only they have, but alot of the special moves are very similar between characters. On the other hand some characters can upgrade their strength, in exchange for constant Ki meter drain. All of your special moves take up Ki, but you gain Ki from succesfully hitting an opponent with an attack, or you can charge it up yourself. Anyways for example, Goku can go Super Saiyan if he has a certain amount of Ki gauges, but the Ki gauges will constantly drain, and if he falls down while lower then the required amount he will return to normal. Most characters in the game can "power-up" at least once in this fashion.
Graphics: 8/10
These are definitely some of the nicer cell-shaded graphics I have seen recently. The cool thing is that the characters are cell-shaded to keep the anime feeling of the show in the game, but the backgrounds are all 3D and look pretty good, so everything fits together pretty nicely. There are however a couple graphical problems at some parts but arn't a huge ordeal. Such as Raditz, his hair goes through his armor, but its not really a big deal.
Sound: 7/10
The characters voice acting is done pretty good in the story mode, but the music in the fighting part of the game can get on the repetitive side. The characters also say things in the battles, but their isn't a huge variety in the things that they say. The punches and kicks all sound find but arn't over the top, but the special attacks and energy beams do sound nice.
Replay Value: 7/10
The story mode isn't super lengthy but it should keep you occupied for a couple hours. It is something you could beat in a day though. There are many things to gather though, such as capsules so you can customize your characters, however the customization isn't all really that important because the regular versions of the characters have most of their best attacks equipped by default. There are some neat things you can unlock such as a new single player mode with Hercule after you collect all 7 Dragon Balls. Hercules single player mode is pretty fun, challenging and pretty humorous,
Overall: 7.4
Overall it's a pretty good game. If you are a Dragon Ball Z fan then you will definetly want to pick up this game, if your not a huge DBZ fan but your interested in the fighting part of DBZ then this game is worth a look. You could try renting it, but now that its a greatest hits title you can pick it up for a cheap price. If you have the extra cash and want to complete your DBZ collection then go get it right away. If your interested but are still not quite sure go rent it first and then if you like it then you can buy it as a greatest hits for pretty cheap.