I only have 3 games (excluding Wii Sports) so far.
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, of course. Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2.
Not going to bother reviewing Trauma Center & Zelda because they're both good games and there's more than enough reviews about them--So I'm going to review DBZ BT2.
Length: 9/10 The game has a very expansive storymode that'll take the average gamer several days to beat. And on top of that, there's "Ranking Challenge" modes and "Tournament" modes as well. It's bound to keep you busy.
Replayability: 8/10 With the several modes of play and fun factor the game provides, you'll more than likely go back again and again to play this one.
Multiplayer: 8/10 You and a second player can relive the epic battles of the entire "Dragon Ball" universe in 16+ Expansive battlefields and more.
Extended Review:
Now before I get into this I would like to establish the fact that I'm not a "Diehard DBZ Fanboy" who goes around in online games naming characters "SSJ4 GokuSephirothCloud X" and the like. I was entertained by the series--but I don't worship it, despite knowing a good deal about it. So I don't want to hear anything about "Fanboyism" because I get enough of that shit over here. My roommate is a Rurouni Kenshin / BLEACH fanboy who despises Dragon Ball, the Dragon Quest RPG Series, and Chrono Trigger because he "hates Akira Toriyama's character animation style". I turned him on to Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu), and more recently "Hokuto No Ken" (Fist of the North Star).
I'm well aware of the fact that the Dragon Ball series has been turned into video games several times... A 2-D Fighter in the Japanese Arcades... A half-assed RPG on the Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (SNES), and Gameboy Advance... A 3-D Fighter on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation 1... And a series of fighting games on PS2 and Gamecube.
But DBZ BT2 stands out and prooves to be the most memorable and well-made one to date.
The expansive storyline basically covers from the start of "Dragon Ball Z" with the apperance of "Raditz" (Goku's evil older brother) to the end of "Dragon Ball GT" with Goku & Vegeta's final showdown with Omega Shenron. Not only that--It includes all 13+ Anime OVAs and Theatrical Movies and puts them (Or tries to) in Canonical Order. I haven't even watched the entire series, so some of these Sagas and storyline arcs are new to me! An example being playing through the two "Cooler" movies right after you complete the "Frieza Saga" storyline, or doing the "Lord Slug" movie and the "Tree Of Might" movie after the "Saiyan Saga" storyline.
Production values wise, alot of work was put into this game, because there is a SHITLOAD of voice acting. Funimation hired all the original voice actors from when "Saban" was originally dubbing the series to when they picked it up. Not only that, if you go to options, you can switch it to the original Japanese language voices--using the same voice actors from the original Japanese dub... except for the guy who did Master Roshi's voice, because he was old and died.
The game boasts a HUGE roster of characters, and even has an "Encyclopedia" for you to look up everyone's background information. It even has a few new characters as well. There's about 140+ Characters or so to play as... because the character roster not only covers characters from Dragon Ball Z, GT, and the Movies/OVAs, but also has a few characters from the original DB... Kid Goku, Grandpa Gohan, General Tao...
Like I said, it covers the OVAs too... With people like Lord Slug, Cooler, Brolly, Bojack, Janemba, Android #13, Super Android #17, etc...
The control scheme actually adapted quite well to the Nintendo Wii!
Although most DBZ Games at their absolute core are known for being more or less "Button Mashers" when it comes to the Fighting Game Aspect, the developers tried to overcome that hurdle--even if by a small margin.
Originally, just about all the DBZ games before the "Tenkaichi" series were played from strictly a 2-D Camera Standpoint from the character's sides, facing each other... A la "Street Fighter", or any other traditional fighting game.
In this game, the environments & battlefields are fully 3-D and expansive, and instead the camera is slung over the shoulder or behind the character in a 3rd-Person Perspective. You can actually lose-sight of your opponent and must use a Dragon Radar to track their movements.
Like all Dragon Ball games, your battlefield can be deconstructed during mid-battle to an insane degree. If you've watched the Anime, at some point, you've seen one of the common occurences in the series. A character gets kicked/punched so hard that he/she flies straight off in a line... crashes through a building, or rock pillar and comes out the other side.... Or in a similar instance, the same thing happens, and the person who initially landed the blow will Instantly teleport to wherever the person is hurtling toward... stop right in front of them and CATCH them with another rocket-flying kick or punch to send them flying; this time in another direction...
Well, you can do that in this game too! Use it to add insult to injury to your friends and make your fights a little more epic.
If you want to do Ki Blasts or other moves like Piccolo's "Special Beam Cannon", you must hold Z + B, move the Wii remote up towards your forehead and then back down to the center of the screen to launch a beam (imitating how Piccolo used the move in the series) ... Or for Goku's Kamehameha Wave, hold Z + B, pull the Wii remote BACKWARDS behind you and thrust it straight forward (similar to Ryu's "Hadouken" from Street Fighter) ... If you want to fly... Tilt the Nunchuck up or down... left or right... to ascend and descend while using the analog stick for direction--The Nunchuck is ALSO motion-sensitive, so that is a plus.
And if you don't have two Wii Remotes, that's no problem either. This game is also compatible with Nintendo Gamecube Controllers too. You can even Mix and Match! One person uses a Wii Remote and the other uses a Cube controller.
Also, characters in the game can actually be customized and equipped with your own unique items--so you can build your own top fighter to play with your friends... And if you want to import your character to another Wii, there's even a "Password" system you can use to retrieve your fighter's "Data".
Whether or not you like Dragon Ball Z, this game is at the VERY LEAST worth renting... if not, buying it. It's a very addictive game.
