Fast-paced fighting game primarily aimed at fans of the series or anyone who truly enjoys a technical fighter.
So what exactly am I doing playing this particular Dragon Ball game? A few magic words convinced me to give it a try: "developed by the Street Fighter II team". I love SFII, it was my first fighting game experience ever, so I had some hope for this DBZ game.
Super Dragon Ball Z counts with the help of producer Noritaka Funamizu's studio, turning the Dragon Ball franchise of games into a whole different fighting experience.
Super DBZ is a 3D fighting game that mixes the styles seen in Street Fighter II and Soul Calibur. The combo and moves system is complex enough for "hardcore" fighters to enjoy, but still accessible to those who are just hopping into the genre.
The game offers a parade of characters and environments pulled out from Akira Toriyama's manga. You will be able to play as Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Ultimate Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Trunks, Frieza, Cell, Chi-Chi, Android 16, Android 17, Android 18, Videl, Majin Boo, Majin Vegeta, King Picocolo and Cyborg Frieza, a character exclusively created for this title.
Each character has different attributes. Some are faster, others are more powerful, some are slower but hit harder, and they all have their own special attacks, unique fighting style and moves. For example, Goku is a well-rounded character and balanced for either close-range or long-range attacks, Cell has several ki attacks, and Frieza can be the most annoying thing in the whole universe by teleporting around and using ki attacks that actually change trajectory while coming at you.
Aside from the pre-set characters (some of them are unlocked through game progression) you can also create a Character Card. This is basically a user profile/avatar, which is picked from one of the existing characters, give it whatever name you want and pick some custom colors. Having your own character lets you accumulate Battle Points, which you them redeem to enhance your attributes. By fighting, you also win Experience Points are used to train your character and obtain new and more powerful moves. You will also win Dragon Balls, and if you collect all seven, you can ask the dragon Shenron to grant you a wish. Wishes include the unlocking of new characters, new outfits, new moves and more.
The gameplay is exceptionally fast and hectic. The controls are just like in standard arcade fighting games: normal attack, strong attack, throw, block and jump. But you really need to master those moves and combos to do well. There are three game modes to play through. In Arcade, you play a series of seven battles against opponents of increasing difficulty. Survival Mode is basically the same, but you have to go through all the battles with a single health bar. Last but not least, you can challenge a friend in Versus Mode. I wouldn't call Training a game mode, since it's just a practice setting, and trust me, you will want to use it. That is, if you haven’t played any DBZ game before.
I really have a hard time going anywhere past Frieza. I get so frustrated by his cheesy ways of teleporting and beating me up with a ton of stuff in a matter of seconds, that all I want to do right after is pop in Soul Calibur III and kick everyone's ass in there. Because I can, and because I know how to. And that's the bottom line of Super DBZ, you HAVE to know how to use at least one character and memorize all of his/her moves.
Graphically, the game is nicely done. The cel-shaded characters and 3D destructible environments are colorful and faithful to the DBZ manga books. The fights look like they were pulled out from any random episode of the cartoon, and you can fight either on the ground or airborne.
The sound isn't too impressive, or maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to it while getting my ass kicked all over the screen, but it does the job. The voices were done by the same actors who did the voice-overs in the anime series, and the music and sound effects are also DBZ trademarks. It all wraps the game up nicely.
Super Dragon Ball Z is a fast-paced fighting game that is primarily aimed at fans of the series or anyone who truly enjoys a technical fighter. Unfortunately, and this is not to say that Super DBZ is a bad game, but even this title ends up suffering from the repetitiveness of the cartoon. Review text part of Grrlgamer.com. Full text and screenshots at:
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