But where Budokai 2 loses its ability to fly is in its new board-game-style singleplayer game. Reducing the story to talking heads turns the once-engaging plot into a drab, formulaic mess. Budokai 2 wisely keeps the fighting gameplay the same (barring some neato fusions and countering tweaks), but at the same time, it drops the cool anime-style cinema sequences that I enjoyed so much last time around. The first Budokai was proof that it’s possible to make a decent DBZ game. This is a game for fans of Dragon Ball Z, but not necessarily for fighting games fans. Just like the fusions, every aspect in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 comes together into one, nicely presented package that will be the delight of fans, but might also leave curious onlookers scratching their heads.

Learning how to time your fusions could be the key to victory, as the fusions are fairly overpowered characters compared to the rest of the roster. As the name implies, fusions merge two characters together into a third, more powerful form.

One new mechanic added to Budokai 2 is fusions. In a market where games like Tekken redefine how a fighting game should feel, it’s hard to make excuses for Budokai 2’s unexciting combat, especially for non-fans of the series. While the special attacks look fantastic, the rest of the fights feel uninspired by comparison. As for the fighting system, there’s still a lot of work to be done for the game to achieve its full potential.Ĭharacters feel too similar between each other, with some of them being pretty much reskins of other fighters. Visuals look amazing for its time, with the cel-shaded style making the characters look very similar to their anime counterparts. Each character has unique combat animations for their signature attacks, even though each character controls more or less the same in battle. The game features over 30 characters, each of them with additional costumes and variations. Punches and explosions galoreįans will be pleased to see that many of their favorite characters have made it into Budokai 2’s roster. Luckily, the fights in Budokai 2 are as exciting and bombastic as the ones that fans of the anime are used to.

If you’ve ever played a Mario Party game before, then you know what happens when you’re stuck looking at a virtual board for too long: eventually, it gets dreadfully boring.

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