Dragon ball Z Shin Budokai: Another road is, for the hardcore Dragon Ball Z fans, a fun game with many flaws to overlook
User Rating: 7.3 | Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road PSP
Dragon Ball Z had never had a good story telling (although, to be frank, I don’t mind the traditional tales, being still a hardcore fan of the series. It’s no different than games like Dynasty warriors, in which the story is always the same, but fans still buy the game), but this one is unique. It involves future Trunk’s life after he defeated Cell and restored peace in his world. Majin Buu was about to be revived, and it was up to the Z warriors to defeat this pink blob and bring peace to the future. Fans of the series would be disappointed at how the Z warriors made the same stupid mistakes they did in the past, making them look stupider than they appear. Newcomers will have this word in their heads “huh?”, as the story doesn’t exactly make complete sense, even for the most hardcore fans. It was a good idea though, just needed to be processed a little bit more. This new Dragon Ball Z fighting game involves the similar fighting style as its predecessor, Shin Budokai. It does, however, come with small and noticeable twists, especially if you’ve been playing all of the series’ games. For example, the camera angle gives you a much different feeling from the original. It no longer feels like you’re playing the predecessor’s style of game play (budokai 1,2,3, super dragon ball Z, and Shin Budokai), rather, it’s a first person view in a way of saying, because the camera mainly focuses on your character, without making any trouble with the beautiful environment, and the characters your pit to fight against. I find that very impressive. New moves have been added, including the dragon special that Goku was so famous for in Budokai 3. I’m glad that was reintroduced. The sound is traditional, yet, as always, perfect for the craziness that happens all the time in the fights. Furthermore, if you get tired of the sound of the actors (which will become a nuisance over a long period of playing), then you can simply switch it to Japanese. It’s the same as the English, so it’s not like you won’t miss a thing, and it’s a change from the eventually annoying voices you have to hear. You might even find the sounds funny, especially for the people that are not fans. I still remembered how silly I found Goku sounding when I heard him in Japanese. The most damaging part of this game, as everyone may agree, is the loading time. The loading times are extremely long, and I was disappointed the creators did not come with a new way of waiting while the game loads; it’s still the same symbol as Shin Budokai, except with a slight difference. Because it takes a longer time, the creators though a new symbol should be created, and you obtain it after successfully bumping the symbol by pressing the analog stick and R consecutively 16 times. This new symbol quickly evaporates, and it becomes annoying to wait for the game to continue. The nuisance of the loading becomes apparent the most in the story mode, another road. Another road is a relatively fun game, where you have to protect the cities, yourself, and your allies from your foes, who will overwhelm you if you’re not careful. The foes give a challenging match, so it’s uncommon to come out of a story mode unscratched, if not rare. Missions are hard, the bosses are tough, and, alas, if you fail them, you must begin a new game, and with the loading time, I believe everyone can agree it’s not worth going back to finish up a mission when there’s still a lot to uncover. The new card power up is a new impressive feat on this game. Instead of equipping capsules, like it’s predecessor, this game involves arranging cards in a certain way to power up your character. It’s not only fun and a good customization of your character, it’s original and significantly improved money spending from it’s predecessor, Shin Budokai, in which the money was only good for profile cards, which, given the nature and the rating of the game, many, if not most, teens will not find it fun to make these little cards that the player customized themselves and trade with a fellow friend. If it wasn’t for the loading time, I would say this is a good game for everyone to buy. If you can withstand long loads and love fighting games, especially Dragon Ball Z, then this game is for you, otherwise, buy Power Stone collection, which gives you a similar feel.
