Super Dragon Ball Z review (PlayStation 2)

Since this is Dragon Ball Z, there are plenty of giant energy attacks being tossed around, as well as characters being knocked through walls and buildings. Plus, you can tap the jump button twice to make your character simply hang in the air, though the flying in Super Dragon Ball Z doesn't seem particularly well thought out. A limited angle of attack means that when one character is standing underneath another, neither one is really able to attack the other. Leaving the ground and meeting another character for some aerial combat feels kind of clunky, and the characters look more like they're just standing in the air rather than actually flying. In another authentic Dragon Ball Z touch, certain characters, specifically the Saiyans, are able to transform into more powerful versions of themselves mid-fight, which drains their special power meter, but gives them a big performance boost for a short time. Despite the variety of fighters--which includes ruthless alien warriors, murderous androids, demon kings, sword-wielding teens from the future, and put-upon housewives--the fighters have mostly comparable abilities, and everything balances out pretty well. Though 18 playable characters is certainly a respectable number for a fighting game, it actually feels limited here, partially because the game makes some rather odd character choices. The inclusion of Chi-Chi and the original King Piccolo is a boldly refreshing move, but multiple versions of Gohan and Vegeta at the expense of fan favorites like Goten, Kid Trunks, or Broly just doesn't seem right.

The characters that are included, though, look good when they're in action, partially because of the unique art style, which is modeled after Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z comic books. The environments--which hit all the expected DBZ locales like the World Tournament arena, Kami's lookout, the alien planet Namek, and of course, those expansive desert wastelands where so many Kamehameha waves have been thrown--feature a lot of detail that appears hand drawn, which goes a long way toward making the game look like a comic book that has come to life. The fighters are still cel-shaded, but they too have some of the hand-drawn touches on them. The character models look good, especially once they jump into action, with lots of fiery energy effects splashing around the screen, and little text bubbles with non-words like "zwang!" and "whomp!" appearing briefly to accompany an especially hard hit.

While the graphics might take their cues from the manga, the US voice cast for the Dragon Ball Z anime still shows up to provide the pipes for all the characters, and they put in a workmanlike effort that gets the job done. You can expect plenty of other trademark Dragon Ball Z music and sound effects as well, and it all fits together pretty well, though the prefight quips get repetitive quickly, especially if you're playing with a character card. Save for the occasional awkwardness of the flying elements and navigating the 3D environments, everything looks pretty natural, though there's also a certain rigidity to the presentation. The game rarely switches from the standard sideview of the action, and when it does, it's not as cinematic as it could be. Energy attacks can certainly pack a punch, but they're not particularly visceral, and you never get the sense that you're dealing with a genuinely overwhelming amount of power, which, quite frankly, is what draws a lot of fans to Dragon Ball Z in the first place.

The standing question about Super Dragon Ball Z is who, exactly, is it meant for? Though it conforms to a lot of traditional fighting game conventions, it's simply not deep or varied enough to really satisfy those that consider themselves hardcore fighting game fans. By conforming to these conventions, Super Dragon Ball Z loses a lot of the enthusiastic, over-the-top energy that has made the Budokai series such a fan favorite. Still, it's good enough at what it does that people from either camp should be able to find something to enjoy here, but both will find it to be a compromise at best.