Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

I love the DBZ anime series and I'm happy to say DBZ Tenkaichi 2 is a great fighting game and is the best DBZ game I've played.The fighting allows you to be more tactical than in the Budokai games,for example,you can try to charge up a big energy attack and it will take a couple of seconds to do so,but it will inflict a great deal of damage if it hits your opponent,but when you're charging up the big energy attack for a couple of seconds you are vulnerable to your opponents attacks.When you transform into a Super Saiyan that's a level 2 Super Saiyan or higher,you will become extremely powerful but your speed will decrease greatly(just like in the TV show) so it's a gamble,that can pay off greatly or costy ou greatly(if you're badly losing a fight,transforming into a level 2 super saiyan could swing the fight in your favor,but if you transform too early,it could cost you the fight too).

The fighting is frantic and fast and timing and defence are crucial too and if you make a minor mistake or are a split second too slow to react,it will mean there's a good chance you'll be barraged with a powerful combo attack from your opponent.

The tournament battles aren't just held inside the ring now,they can be held in different environments,and you can now fight under water,on Namek(when Namek was still in good condition or right before Namek is about to explode),as well as on Kai's homeworld,in the future after the Androids have wiped out most of the population,in the countryside,desert canyons,tropical locations(Kame house where Master Roshi lives)snow/ice and it's fun how one minute you're fighting on land,and the next you're fighting underwater,or high in the air.

You can use the terrain,buildings and objects to hide behind to dodge powerful energy blasts or to launch surprise attacks on your opponent.

The tournaments include the traditional world tournament(which is still always fought inside ta ring),but there's Hercules world tournament(fought in a variety of locations),the Cell games which are fought in or around Cell's ring.There's the story mode that takes you through the entire DBZ and Dragonball GT series.There's over 120 characters to choose from the DBZ and DBGT universe(although some characters are just different versions of other characters,but they still have diverse fighting styles).The story mode will take over 20 hours to complete.

You can now use Hercule as a character and even though he is a terrible character,it still adds comical value(if you've watched the anime series,you'll know why)and you can even use Super Saiyan 4 characters.

The characters are colorful and smooth and have different costumes with a nice variety of detail(for example,you can make Gohan wear a torn up costume from a battle against Cell).If you're a DBZ fan,you will appreciate seeing the energy currents flowing through a level 2 or 3 Super Saiyan,and how Super Saiyans glow bright yellow and level 2 and 3 Super Saiyans glow a brighter yellow and Super Saiyan 4's have a very different appearance.

The environments are colorful and smooth and represent some environments in the show nicely.

The voice acting is mostly good,but the dialogue was wrong at times during story mode and Vegeta's voice didn't sound right.When you fight in Hercule's world tournament,when you're supposed to fight him in the championship match,he always chickens out and says ''oww my stomach hurts'' and it's so funny and reminds me of how he acts in the TV show.At the menus,the characters talk and show their personalities quite well.

Before each fight you'll hear the same fight announcer fom the TV show.

You can customize your characters stats from rewards you get when you do story mode,and you make make your characters stronger(so there's a bit of levelling up/RPG elements in the game too).

Overall it's the best DBZ game I've played.