Stage 1: Impressions |
Stage 2: Analysis |
Stage 3: Evaluation |
When Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed the Wii Remote a year ago, there were a lot of questions people asked, but two in particular. The first was what was Nintendo thinking, and the second: how in heavens can you play a one-on-one fighter with something bizarre like that?
The audience asked, but Atari answered. What could have been an awful PlayStation 2 port turned out to be a highly innovative and exciting experience. Not only are the controls very intuitive for the Wii Remote, but Atari provides the ability to play classic-style through the classic Wii controllers and GameCube controllers. Not too shabby, especially with the rough player transition from one controller to the next at launch.
I admit that I have never liked a Dragon Ball Z game. I've watched the series through a few seasons, but no game has ever been able to really keep up with the speed set in the animated series. The games have often been poorly executed with signature characters using slow, boring movements and repetitive attacks that lack any real variety. The stages have often been flat without any real detail and the characters have been less than amazing.
Does this look flat and boring to you? I don't think so!
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 has proven to not only be the best of the series, but a hands-down great battle game. The movements are fun, the stages are huge, the attacks are relatively simple after a day's worth of learning curve and the voiceovers are excellent whether in English or Japanese. I'm a traitor to Japanese animation: I prefer dubbed English voices, myself.
The graphics are quite flawless, making every angle of the characters look even better than the animated series. Every detail is finely made with picture-perfect colors. Each stage clearly brings back close to every major battle in the series. Even a stage like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber couldn't be any closer to the cartoon's look and feel. Add in a touch of destructible environments and you've got yourself some amazing stages.
While the audio isn't the greatest, it seems very reminiscent of the series. There is some music remixing, but the game stays true to its god-awful soundtrack. While this may turn off gamers without much knowledge of the series, it can be beneficial to those who want a game that feels like the cartoon.
The game manages to go through a vast majority of the series through the adventure mode with the narrator navigating each battle smoothly. Considering that the animated series spends a good 20 minutes on every half-hour episode on two characters staring each other down and grunting, each season can take a day to go through. One of my very few qualms about this game is brought up through story mode.
Let's say you have your character beat the opponent to a bloody pulp with a flawless victory. If the story in the animated series says you were supposed to be defeated or nearly dead, even if you totally changed the game's outcome by your battle, your character will follow the story line. Sometimes you find yourself on a winning streak and beat several enemies with only one character, particularly those who
What are you talking about? I just creamed you!!
There are several ways the developers could have handled this problem: they could have upped the difficulty to a ridiculous level so your character gets severely wounded no matter how hard you try, or they could have included a cutscene after the battle to follow the story. It felt almost unfair that your character would do so well only to follow the story line and be killed when the story said so. Even a last-minute deadly attack from the series could have really helped the story along. For this reason, your fighting feels very detached from what actually happens.
Other than special attacks, the controller makes great use of some signature Dragon Ball Z abilities. My particular favorite is the air-launching kick, performed by a combo and then a swift jolt of the Wii remote in the air with the B button. Nothing is more satisfying than drop-kicking your opponent hundreds of feet into the air and dashing after them with another attack before they gain consciousness. Sure I may have mentioned this before, but it's good enough to mention twice.
As far as unlockables, expect plenty. Not only are there equipment items you can use for each character, but there is a method called Z Fusion that allows you to combine items to create unlockable traits or characters. For example, combining a certain item with Vegeta allows you to play a newly-unlocked character: Vegeta turned into a giant Saiyan ape. Expect a great deal of these items, as well as hidden dragon balls in many of the stages. You can win money in a tournament, or fight some side-quest baddies in the adventure mode for new items. The game rewards you in more ways than one, and it will take weeks or months to unlock everything.
Even with a great experience like this, however, it hasn't reached prestigious, grade-A material just yet. Because the battles are quite long - as well they should be for the amount of special attacks per character - there is a need to break from the action every so often. While grade-A games can be played for hours and hours on end with a variety of things to do, a game like this needs a few breaks from one-on-one battle mode. While games like Mortal Kombat: Armageddon have found solutions to this by implementing mini-games like racing and a unique story adventure battle mode unlike the regular gameplay, such quests are absent from this game. Yes, the tag-team battle is awesome in adventure mode, but there's something defining in doing more with the game. Too many consecutive hours of the game can feel boring, and another game is needed to keep the Tenkaichi 2 fresh. It's awesome to have in the library, but a game like this may not always be in your Wii like other major titles.
If you never believed in Dragon Ball Z games before, you will now.
In the end, this game is surprisingly solid. Tons of replay value, great lighting effects, large stages, and really awful Dragon Ball Z audio. Any fan of the series needs to pick this up immediately. For those interested in one-on-one fighters, Tenkaichi 2 provides a great alternative to the Mortal Kombat/Dead or Alive/Street Fighter franchises. Expect something very different, and keep an open mind to new experiences. If you absolutely must have old-school combat, this game may not appeal to you.
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Flawless stages right from the series.
Menu voices repetitive, annoying.
Wii Remote use quite nice.
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Stage 1: Impressions |
Stage 2: Analysis |
Stage 3: Evaluation |
