Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 Wii review

29 April 2007

Leave A Comment

Posted by:Ferry Groenendijk

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for the Nintendo Wii (and PlayStation 2) you can perform acrobatic fighting moves and couple them with cool flying mechanics from the anime and manga. There are 2-player multiplayer battle modes for fans of the show to see who’s the strongest.

With over 120 Dragon Ball Z warriors, the game offers players an action-packed single-player mode complete with missions and side quests culminating in some of the most high energy boss confrontations ever. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 includes the complete series’ mythology from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball GT.

System: Wii, PS2
Genre: Fighter
Release dates: November 19th 2006 (USA), March 30th 2007 (EURO), April 5th 2007 (AUS)
Players: 1-2
Developer: Spike
Publisher: Atari
Origin: Japan

Combining action, fighting and light role-playing game elements, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 sends players into a rich story mode that spans the entire Dragon Ball, DBZ, and Dragon Ball GT series. The game takes the acrobatic and intense 3D flying and fighting dynamic made popular in the first game and takes it to a new level with over 120 playable characters, 16 vast and vibrant 3D destructible environments, and nine different game modes, including intense single and multiplayer battles.

Team up with Z-Warriors to complete exciting missions, ripped right from the TV show (the player can play with two warriors while in battle, and can switch warriors during the battle). The warriors include many that have never been seen in previous DBZ games, like Trunks (and Kid Trunks), Goku, Krillin, Vegeta, and Super 17. New characters appearing for the first time include Slug, Cui, Pan, Uub, and the powerful Cyborg Tao. There’s also an improved camera system, explosive environmental damage, and in-game transformations. It’s truely the complete DBZ mythology from Dragon Ball To Dragon Ball GT.

As for these transformations, they are a major part of gameplay. You can choose to begin in a transformed state if you prefer, however this can make things difficult if you don’t have a memorized set of transformations to switch to. Fusions can also be performed, but only in Tag and Free battles are they allowed. This has the side effect of turning some battles into truly epic affairs, as you are likely to extend battles whenever fusions enter the equation!

The main story mode, or “Dragon Adventure” mode, covers a wide swath of the Dragon Ball universe from the movies to Dragon Ball Z and GT. Depending on your performance in each battle, the story can and will change to match the outcome of your fighters. If you can collect enough wins in a given portion of the story, you can unlock new characters, powers, and scenes. Ultimate Battle Z mode uses the ladder type tournament system of fighting made popular by the fighting game Mortal Kombat. In this system, players fight one match after another as they climb the ladder of increasingly difficult foes. Each selectable ladder of bouts has a different condition or theme. Once a player completes a ladder, they can unlock other ladders as well as unlock new items.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 will offer fans the ultimate Dragon Ball experience as players will be able to mimic signature moves using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as they are performed in the Dragon Ball Z animated series, such as Goku’s Kamehameha, a devastating energy attack performed by moving both hands. When done in the heat of battle the result is a heart-pounding experience unlike any other. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 all DBZ skills and abilities are intact including: free flight, range, and melee attacks.

Watch the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 launch trailer.

The Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 main features are:

* Use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to recreate character super-moves;

* Over 100 DBZ warriors, including many that have never been seen before in a video game;

* In-game transformations players can trigger in real-time;

* Team up with up to two other Z-Warriors to complete exciting missions ripped right from the TV show;

* Post customizable character codes to the Internet (comes down to customizing their stats with various items);

* Nine different game modes, including single and multiplayer battles;

* Mini-games and tag-team fighting.

See some Wii controller Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 gameplay footage.

How much fun is Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 on a scale from 1 to 10?

FUN FACTOR – 8.0
What does Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 mean? The title roughly translates from Japanese to English as “Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament”. To that end the game gathers over 70 fighters (120 if you count alternate forms) in a competition for glory, fame, and prize money. Combining action, fighting, light role-playing game elements, and cel-shaded graphics that WILL make you feel like you are in the animated series controlling the action. Add in the expressive new style of Wii motion controlled gameplay and you’ve got a fan’s button-mashing dream, once you get past the learning curve. With a complete story re-telling single player mode that contains almost all the characters from the series and fun multiplayer battle options, that’s exactly what this Dragon Ball Z game is all about, fan service at its highest level. A must-have for fans of the series and martial arts. Fantastic fun!

Graphics – 8.0
The first thing you’ll notice about the game are the cel-shaded graphics that perfectly do the anime TV show justice. The character animations in-game and in cutscenes are present aplenty. The visual effects are bright and flashy making sure the game delivers in the action-filled battles. The battle arenas are interactive and destructible, many are new, but 11 are revisited from Budokai Tenkaichi 1.

Audio – 8.0
The voice acting is done by mostly the same actors who do the Funimation-dubbed English version of the anime series, it’s very true to the series. The soundtrack of 34 tracks isn’t that diverse, but what’s there fits the game’s theme very well and is quite catchy to the ears. All required fighting sound effects are present and accounted for.

Ingenuity – 8.0
In the game you can use the Wii Remote controller and nunchuk combination to get a feel for a more physical way of playing that puts you in the shoes of your favorite DBZ characters. As a fan I have to say it feels GREAT mimicking the show’s special moves! If you’re a newbie to the series, you must go through the training mode, since there’s definitely a sizeable learning curve of one to a few hours involved in getting the hang of the Wii controls. Character moves will be handled by the analog stick on the nunchuck, and punches and kicks pulled off by the buttons on the pointer device. The game will recognize movement of both handheld units and respond accordingly; thrusting the nunchuck downwards like a drumstick will perform the character’s dash move, for example. Most importantly, you’ll be able to pull off character-specific special attacks by holding the two units in certain positions to charge and fire them off. Some maneuvers require you to hold the controllers up high, some down low, and some tucked into your chest as if pulling off a Kamehameha!

Worried it might get tiresome after many hours moving your arms? Aside from taking a break every 30 minutes, alternatively you can just as easily use the GameCube controller or Wii Classic controller instead, using only button presses and analog sticks for player control, like the PS2 version. There are downsides however. Sadly some blast and dash moves are pretty much useless due to taking too lang to activate. The biggest omission is probably that it’s too difficult to get out of combos, meaning if you strike fast the opponent can’t recover at all, which makes the fight boring for both parties, not to mention frustrating when done to you. All the characters do have a unique feel of their own, even if all their strongest attacks have the same motions. The endresult should win many fighter fans over, since it’s so incredibly fast-paced and action-packed.

Replay Value – 8.5
Expect to be playing the huge single player story mode that covers all sagas for up to 20 hours. You’ll need to do this to unlock all the playable characters for multiplayer. There’s a lot of replay value with the various other gameplay modes. There’s the ultimate battle z arcade-style mode, world tournament, standard-style exhibition dueling, and plenty more to hold your attention. All in all with single- and multiplayer combined it’s a sizeable package that can keep DBZ fans entertained for months to come, or a year until the next game in the series will no doubt appear.