Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Guilty pleasure"

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 can easily be summed up in this sentence - a DBZ fan's dream of smashing together nearly every conceivable character and setting them head to head against each other, but in a way that only they can appreciate. It's hard coming up with a true review of this game since it is essentially a MAJOR fan service game with some possible dealbreaker flaws. Nonetheless, for the DBZ fan's inner child, it's nothing more than amazing and an exciting fighter.

120 - that's the number of playable characters in this game. If there's one thing for this game to be remembered for, its the massive character roster. Practically every major Dragon Ball Z character has been included, even ones from the 13 movies. Added to that, are characters from the original Dragon Ball, and then the spin-off of DBZ, Dragon Ball GT. Each character has a predetermined set of skills, which are called Blast 1, Blast 2, and Ultimate Blast. They are all activated using a very interesting, and very Wii-like method.

Speaking of, the controls for this game are evil and unforgiving to the first time player. Even vets from BT1 will have major trouble adjusting to the less than intuitive control scheme, which involves a combination of odd combination button presses and waving the Nunchuck and Wiimote in a certain fashion. Attacking and such is pretty simple - mashing the A button results in physical attacks, and pressing the B button results in a satisfying, and power-up-able (yes I made that up) energy blasts. Movement seems easy - until you find that AI is flying circles around you, because the conventional analog control isn't enough. Weaving together combos is a tough endeavor - and one not very worth it, due to how the game places a huge emphasis on the Blast attacks.

The Blast attacks are predetermined skills that every character can perform by doing a certain action, and meeting a certain ki energy requirement. Unleash one of these attacks (especially Blast 2 and Ultimate Blasts) and your enemy will take major damage. Problem being (mostly for newcomers) is that executing these attacks requires (just wait, it sounds just as bad as you think it does) pressing the Z button on the Nunchuck, the B button on the Wiimote, and waving the Nunchuck and Wiimote in a certain fashion. Thank goodness there are only 6 different ways to unleash one of those bad boys. Yikes.

Essentially, the battle boils down whoever can power up and perform Blast 2's successfully, since Ultimate Blast attacks require you to be in full power mode, which is essentially an overdrive mode. Blast 1 attacks are generally useless, or give you unnoticeable status upgrades - even the AI hardly uses them, that says a lot. The AI in this game is thankfully quite challenging at times - for beginners and advanced players alike.

As for character differentiation - thankfully, different forms of each character act subtly different, with a few noticeable exceptions. There are giant characters like the Great Apes which handle much slower than their regulat Saiyan forms, and require a different approach. Most transformations don't do much in the area of increasing a fighter's power, but rather change the moveset and changes the speed of the fighter's combo engine. As a testament to "at least __ form is stronger", higher Super Saiyan forms and tougher enemies can stun giant character like the Great Apes - and sometimes, their combo engine goes into overdrive (Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta comes to mind). All transformations are done with the 1 button - once the Blast Gauge (yet another gauge to watch) has filled up to the required point. For good or bad, you can also choose which form you want to start a battle in.

The story mode of Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is pretty darn lengthy - both for good and bad reasons. Nearly every possible scuffle, fight, and showdown is included, all separated by in-game rendered cutscenes. This is nice, but becomes a crutch when you realize that you have to fight characters like Frieza literally like 10 times. Nonetheless, the story mode does a good job collectively, but as I sat there going through it, I cringed as the game left out huge plot points. This further brings me to the point that this game is good mainly for a DBZ fan - the story mode will do an okay job and going over everything, but skipping major points must make someone confused, right?

Besides the main story mode (and obligatory duel and tournament modes) there is an Ultimate Battle mode, which consists of a series of tough challenges. The Duel mode is what you'd expect - all 1 one 1 battles mixed with a bit of tag team. The Tournament mode is actually a bit more fleshed out - 3 different ones are available, but they're designed oddly. You'd think that every battle, your health is replenished - it's not so. Basically makes it so that without health upgrades, you stand little chance against the tougher Advanced and Master levels of the tournament mode.

Enter Z Items, the game's leveling system. The Z Item system simply consists of upgrade items to a character's health, ki, attack, defense, speed, Blast 1, Blast 2, and Ultimate Blast. There are also other rarer items that have interesting effects, like reducing the ki cost of Blast 2's etc. The items themselves actually level up by fighting in the story mode, or by fighting in the Ultimate Battle mode. You can of course buy these items in the Item Shop, but by using the currency found in the story mode and earned in tournaments.

All in all, the game can be considered a success in the terms of a DBZ fan service game, but otherwise just a fair game otherwise. It is simply not accessible to those without an interest in Dragon Ball Z, due to the heavy learning curve attributed to the controls, and thick nods to the series' veterans. It's a step up from the previous game - but those who disliked Tenkaichi 1, will hate Tenkaichi 2 with a passion.