Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai 2 Review

You'd need the eagerness and devotion of a 12-year old simply to keep up with the barrage of Dragon Ball videogames that Bandai and Atari have poured onto shop shelves in recent years. Maintaining the sheer prolificacy that has ensured the success of the Dragon Ball brand for the past 20 years, Dimps, Bandai and Atari have once again teamed up forces for the inevitable sequel to last year's PSP debut.

Providing the customary arrangement of one-on-one fights in the Arcade mode, winning under certain conditions in the Z Trial, multiplayer (ad-hoc) action with the 2-player Network Battle and Practise modes to hone your skills, Shin Budokai 2 fails to offer anything significantly different to its predecessor. Instead, the appeal stems from the premise of an original plotline in the game's "Another World" story mode. Taking control primarily of Trunks, the story follows his attempt to stop Babidi and Dabura from resurrecting the Majin Buu, travelling back in time to convince the Dragon Ball fighters from the past to unite and protect the future. Amidst a large cast of characters, time travelling paradigms and What-If scenarios, the story mode will undoubtedly sit better with fans of the manga and anime, then those who don't know their differences between 2nd and 3rd grade Super Saiyans.

Employing the same branching structure that has become a staple element of Dragon Ball videogames, the seven-chapter narrative provides plenty of opportunities to examine "What-If" scenarios based upon various conditions in the game. The sequel sets itself out slightly differently with the introduction of the Field Play stage, where players have to battle in the skies above Earth and Namek under objectives such as protecting the cities from attack or defeating opponents within a certain limit. Often fighting alongside other characters, you'll have to keep an eye on their health as well as your own, recharging by hovering over a city whilst opponents replenish theirs by destroying them. The structure captures the feeling of an interactive episode of DBZ and provides a sense of purpose to the proceedings whilst the Field Play adds a sense of variety in between the fights; however, the inclusion of extra "bits" along with the endless narrative between characters, soon adds up and creates lengthy load times to endure in between the action. Despite an increase to 24 playable characters, the handheld line-up seems limited compared to recent DBZ home console offerings and the PSP's mighty Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. Although sufficient for those just looking for a fighter, there's undoubtedly going to be some complaints from hard to please fans demanding to know why their favourite character hasn't been included.

Beneath, the main bones of the game (this is a fighter after all) continue the button-bashing mayhem that has become a common occurrence of the franchise. Although there's a slight element of depth to the fighting system with its Aura Blast attacks and Transformations that will satisfy the slightly more fanatical DBZ fan, Shin Budokai 2 lies in the button-bashing realm of fighters, where anybody can pick it up, squash the Rush, Smash and Energy attack buttons together with all fingers and thumbs yet emerge victorious. Elegance and timing are replaced with an overblown fighting dynamic that rewards how quickly you can press the buttons and a general need to capture the exaggerated nature of Dragon Ball Z. The approach to charging KI energy, used for the game's more extreme techniques, fails to correspond to the fast pace of the fights, requiring players to retreat away and engage in a momentary bout of each character charging or squeezing in short busts when you're opponent is on the floor. Lacking the scope of Budokai Tenkachi 2 or the refinement and control of Budokai 3, the long-term appeal of Shin Budokai 2 is ultimately hindered by a shallow setup that fails to provide any genuine satisfaction for a fighter.

Completing a mission rewards the player with a choice of Booster Cards, which are used to augment a selection of attributes governing the fighter's abilities. Using a 3x3 grid to allocate the cards, the Booster Card system provides plenty of chances to customise each character you'll come across whilst requiring a governed approach to ensure cards are allocated fairly.