Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Written by James Dauer  on May 30, 2007

Review: Do you really need to see the same story again? Why not?

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Ah, Dragon Ball Z, we meet again. DBZ is one of those things that you either extremely love or extremely hate and there are no in betweens. Either way, no one can deny the fact that DBZ transitions well to video games. A few years back, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi attempted to take the fighting-game formula established by previous DBZ Budokai games and flip it around. Instead of giving players a side view of the fight, they placed the camera right behind the back of the fighters, giving the game a much more complex series of controls. For better or worse, the game performed well, but the difficulty of the controls gave the game one seriously steep learning curve. With DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2, I'm sorry to say, the complexity of the controls has increased, but for the problems it may cause new players, the game has certainly been improved overall.

Most of the general controls remain the same between Tenkaichi 1 and 2. Players can still charge up using the L2 button, shoot using the triangle button, block with circle, etc. Also, all of the variations of jumping and dashing are back. For anyone who mastered the first game, moving into the sequel shouldn't be much of a problem, but for those who are experiencing the series for the first time, expect to spend at least an hour or two in the giant training mode.

Super moves can be used based on how many Ki gauges are filled, just like in the original. Each character gets a handful of moves that are used in the show such as Goku's Kamehameha Wave and Spirit Bomb, or Vegita's Final Flash. Of course with great power comes greatЕ destruction. Watch as the world around the fighters falls apart thanks to a well timed spirit bomb.

Tenkaichi 2 does have a few welcome additions that the original was lacking. For instance, players can now transform mid-battle between Saiyan levels. This is one omission that angered many fans of the first Tenkaichi. I will say that it definitely makes the fights more interesting, and it just feels right in the game. Tenkaichi 2 also lets players tag-team during fights, much like the УCapcom vs.Ф games. Usually tag-team matches force weak players against strong opponents, to keep things fair.

The Z-item system from the original is back. Players will receive Z-items from shops and missions. Certain Z-items can be equipped, giving characters stat boosts. Some Z-items need to be combined with other Z-items to unlock characters and arenas or simply to create more powerful equipable items. If you've played the original there really aren't many surprises here.



The real meat of the game is in the Dragon Adventure mode, or as most games would call it- the story mode. It's essentially a cross between the Z Battle Gate mode from the original Tenkaichi and the story mode from Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3. Players choose which chapter and mission to play, then are dumped out into an overworld map. From here, players can fly around the world and enter the main fight, towns, shops, or sub-missions. As missions are passed, players will gain EXP and other prizes such as Z-items. To be honest the overworld map just felt out of place in what is essentially supposed to be a fighting game, slowing the pacing down quite a bit. Otherwise, it's a very long mode offering story elements from the Dragon Ball Z and GT series and movies, and if you haven't already played the story modes in the other games, you'll have plenty to get excited about here. But of course if you're already familiar with the story, there isn't much new that hasn't already been seen before. Luckily, players can skip any scenes they have already seen or just don't feel like sitting through.

The only real gripe I had with the adventure mode is that the overly obnoxious Сstay alive for x seconds' battles are back from the original Tenkaichi. In these fights, players are supposed to avoid the overpowered enemy onslaught for a given period of time- something that is much, much, much easier said than done, at least while playing the game on medium difficulty or higher. These fights led to many frustrating moments in the first one, and they are just as likely to anger players this time around as well.

The Ultimate Battle mode returns for this sequel. Basically, you pick a course (set of enemies) and fight through them until you win. There isn't much of a penalty for losing, so you can retry as many times as you need. The only caveat is that once begun, you must play through the entire course, or else forfeit and lose points. Each win grants EXP points to the player's character, giving them more strength as the game progresses. That's about all there is to it. I thought it was a little reminiscent of Mortal Kombat, the way enemies are stacked up in a totem. That's about where the similarities end.

Tournament mode is the same as any other game in the series. Fight through a series of battles and come out on top to win Zennie, but just beware of getting that ever obnoxious ring-out (that is, obnoxious if you're the one going out of bounds).

Duel mode lets players take on either computer controlled characters or other human players. It's your basic 2-player mode, and unless you're playing with multiple people all the time, you probably won't find yourself using it much. If you do play with 2 players, just know that the game uses split-screen, and it isn't pretty since it cuts your field of vision down.

Training is where you'll be spending most of your time in Tenkaichi 2, regardless of whether or not you've played the original. Going through the training takes the better part of an hour and a half, but it will definitely pay off in the end. I can not emphasize enough, if you do not practice, you can't expect to win.

Those people who are patient enough to play through the entire game can expect to unlock over 120 characters, and several different arenas. Tenkaichi 2 definitely gives fans more of what they want. The standard characters like Goku and Piccolo are here along with some odd choices like Yajirobe and Goku's grandpa Gohan. Characters will be showing up from all of the Dragon Ball series and some of the films.

Visually the game uses the same cel-shading as every other Dragon Ball Budokai game before it. It does look a good bit nicer than the original Tenkaichi featuring some good blur effects while flying around the map-screen, and just all around colorful graphics. The opening movie is also really well done, much like the first Tenkaichi. The only real gripe I can think of is that the PS2 version of the game does not feature progressive scan, which means colors may looked washed out or ghosting may occur on HD sets.

Audio isn't anything different than what we've come to expect from a DBZ game. The game uses the same voice actors as the show, and features the ability to choose between Japanese and English voices. Sound effects are all clear, and all taken from the show. The music is same-old same-old. It's not bad, but it's nothing horribly spectacular- it just works for the series.