Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii) Review
After a period of delay, it seems the latest and greatest Dragon Ball game ever has finally beached itself on Australian shores. Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi 2 has the numbers and the name, boasting over 100 playable characters from the original Dragon Ball to GT sagas, but does it have the substance to entertain anyone but hardcore fans of the series? Well yes; yes it does.
Do a Kamehameha!
As far as fighting games go, DBZ is fairly simple. Melee attacks are mapped the A
button and ki energy attacks to B with all other manoeuvres mapped to various motions of the Wii remote and nunchuck. These motions are surprisingly easy to use such as dashing, grabbing and ascension into flight controlled by the nunchuck. Best of all are the energy based signature moves the Dragon Ball series is most well known for. For many of the moves you can mimic the action of the character to perform a kamehameha wave or fire a few destructo disks at your opponent. The moves all have different requirements such as moving the in-game cursor out and back in onto a certain part of the screen or holding cursor steady while pulling back and thrusting forward.
In a new addition to keep this version of the game fresh, vanishing attacks have been added, allowing you to instantly appear behind an opponent to continue your assault after youve sent them flying across stage. The action is always fast paced, and you normally wont find yourself slacking off in a battle. Compared to other fighters, this game may seem a little bit simple on the surface, but to truly master the game and higher difficulty levels a player has to learn to how to use and time a variety of attack and defence techniques that can sometimes make the difference between death and victory. In this way DBZ isnt simplified for the sake of simplicity and still retains depth without relying on a short-lived wow factor of the motion controls. However, the motion controls do make the game incredibly more satisfying, and pulling off a special attack in a tight spot is ten times more satisfying with the Wii remote than some random combination of buttons.
Game modes are aplenty, with the developers cramming seemingly as much as they could into the one disc. The basic story and tournament returns along with multiplayer dueling and a ranking challenge in the form of Korins tower, with all modes containing a large number of destructible 3D arenas for you to wreck havoc upon. Also, a new system called evolution Z has been added which allows you to customize any character you have unlocked with specific stats and powers using items either bought from the shop or found in story mode. As the character equipping them wins battles, experience gained goes toward leveling up the items. An attack +1 becomes an attack +2 and so on and so forth. The system becomes a necessary part of the game, basically required to defeat stronger enemies in the story mode. The RPG style customization in this manner gives the game just that little bit more replay value in general as you try to create the ultimate character.
Cel-shaded is A-Ok
Perhaps its just a certain infatuation I had with the Wind Waker on the Gamecube, but Ive always found cel-shading to be a very effective graphics style in many games. This game is no exception. It doesnt matter that the Wii cant push the same raw power as perhaps the Xbox 360 or PS3, because the game still looks absolutely gorgeous. Character models are pretty well detailed and the style of the arenas makes the game akin to the anime in almost every possible way. In truth theres not really much left to want
Explosions abound
First things first, I guess Ill answer the question that will be on the minds of the Dragon Ball Z fans. Yes you can switch to Japanese voices if youre one of those people who really hate the English dub. Whichever way you go, all the voices from the series are in here, from intimidating battle one liners to dialogue in the story mode. Music can at times be quite average and some of the battle themes feel very out of place amongst the high speed action. As far as sound effects go though, the games a winner just to hear things go boom just like they did in the anime.
Surprisingly one of the best Wii titles so far
For fans of the anime or manga, Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi 2 is most definitely a must buy. If not, its still quite an enjoyable fighter that is likely to keep you entertained for a long time with some RPG elements. One thing that does disappoint is that while the game follows the story right through from the Saiyan saga, there seem to be a nonsensical amount of battles early on in the story but in later stages such as the GT saga, it seems to skip over the fact that Goku gets turned back to his child form. The story of course suffers the same way as the anime and manga with there being a time of peace before bad guy X appears with insane power level only to be miraculously defeated by the Z fighters. Considering the length of the story this becomes awfully repetitive as does killing one bad guy after the next with little variation in your objective except to win the battle. Excusing that the game is incredibly solid and does quite an excellent job of incorporating motion controls into a fighting game without being a gimmick. Anyone looking for some good beat-em-up action on the Wii should not hesitate at all to check this one out. Hell we even get a few more characters than the Americans for waiting.
