Dragon Ball Z: Sagas

Written by D'Marcus Beatty  on February 08, 2005

First Impressions: Muscled, glowing men punch either other across the galaxy again.

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Dragon Ball Z, as a franchise, has been doing pretty well for itself lately, especially in the videogame medium. With the Legacy of Goku titles doing well on the Game Boy Advance and the Budokai series doing great on the PS2 and the Gamecube, Goku and his oversized friends have rarely had more exposure. Despite relatively low scores on the Budokai titles, these fighters continue to sell like hotcakes to fans of the smash-hit anime. Atari apparently (and wisely) plans to continue to capitalize on its success by taking the franchise beyond the simple one-on-one brawler with its next DBZ game, subtitled simply Sagas.

If Budokai had one major shortcoming, it would be scope. Budokai was a very faithful recreation of the epic, earth-shattering (literally) battles that made Dragon Ball Z so energetic and appealing. But despite the number of characters and the inclusion of numerous DBZ chapters, Budokai never allowed simple things that the fans clamored for, such as the ability to fly at will or directly influence in the storyline. The story consisted of cut-scenes that seemed to be placeholders between fights. Sagas will rectify that complaint, taking gamers and fans directly into the stories of DBZ.

Sagas will span the Dragon Ball Z storyline from the Saiyan Saga to the Cell games and allow players to control Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks and of course, Goku. Depending on what is transpiring, there are only certain characters that can be chosen at any period of time. The game doesn't allow you to recreate DBZ history, only replay it. As such, you probably won't be able to play as Vegeta during the Saiyan Saga, since he was the major villain during that storyline.

Sagas is going to be more like the Legacy of Goku titles than the Budokai in terms of gameplay. The stages are large, free-roaming environments that have destructible elements in them and a pre-set goal, such as collecting Dragon Balls. Each hero will roam the levels while fighting and defeating the enemies that attack him on these stages while completing the objective. Most of these foes are the standard disposable henchmen, such as the Saibamen and the Cell Jrs. However, there is a boss battle at the close of each world, complete with an appropriate power-level scan.

Much like Budokai and the cartoon, powerful moves will send enemies flying through the air. When they collide with an object, they either smash through it or into it. Players can expect a lot of explosions and over the top effects.

One thing that is a mainstay of the anime series is evolution. The characters actually get stronger as they progress. To stay true to this, Sagas offers УZ coinsФ which can be used to purchase more moves. Eventually characters will be able to teleport behind foes, slow down time, or even scream loudly as your character changes to a Super Saiyan.

The graphics in Sagas seems more in line with the original Budokai, with blocky, 3-D characters instead of the cel-shading that the TV series is now known for. However, the animation is great, and Atari's earlier efforts assure that we can expect excellent and faithful voice-acting and effects.

Sagas also offers two-player cooperative gaming as well as a host of unlockables. For the two player co-op, players will perform cooperative attacks, such as knocking a foe into the air for an alley-oop attack. This is an interesting addition, but, if the game is as faithful to the show as it claims, may not be available for all fights. As for the unlockables, there is going to be a mode that allows you to play through the game again as any character that you choose. In this mode there are over 10 characters that are available to use, which should offer some intriguing replay as well as giving anime fans the chance to rewrite the DBZ saga as they see fit.