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Dragon Ball Z is a phenomenon. The franchise has swept both Japan and America during the course of the last several years and publisher Atari has capitalized on that truth. In 2003, it released the second installment of the popular fighting series Dragon Ball Z Budokai for PlayStation 2 and in late 2004 GameCube owners received an improved port of the title.
Like its predecessor, the GameCube version of Budokai 2 is at its core a 3D fighter set to the backdrop of the DBZ universe. But the game actually delivers a surprisingly deep, albeit sometimes flawed, set of additional options that are sure to entice fans of the series the world over.
Once again developed by the programmers at Dimps, Budokai 2 is in many ways the ideal sequel. Not only does it incorporate many of the same elements that powered the original, but it's also made plenty of necessary upgrades as well. And though Budokai 2 is still faced with some hurdles to overcome before it can truly become the complete fighting game it's supposed to be, we're pleased to report that at least an effort is being made to make it so.
Dimps has made commendable strides this year in terms of increasing the number of features over the original Budokai while maintaining ones that it deemed most important. On the whole, most of the options from last year have made it back into this installment: with Versus (Dueling), World Tournament, Training, and Practice Mode serving as more than enough to please casual players looking for a quick fix. Skill Edit is back as well, and for the unfamiliar, allows users to customize each fighter exactly to their liking; so while one player may enjoy using the default version of Goku, his brother may prefer taking all his inherent skills away and replacing them with abilities like the Viral Heart Disease (which slowly saps health away from an opponent) or double Kamehamehas (which combine two Kamehamehas for more powerful strikes). This mode is a must for more experienced and hardcore players.
Full Review
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Published - Atari
Developed - Dimps
Genre - Fighting
Number of Players - 2
Release Date - December 14, 2004
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