- Fantastic improvement over first
LoG game in all areas
- 20+ hours of play featuring multiple quests and side quests
- Great character interface for checking levels, quests, etc.
- DBZ license is used faithfully: all your favorite chars
following a classic storyline from the series
- Combat system is oversimplified
(don¹t expect to make too many tactical
decisions ala Golden Sun)
- Graphics, while adequate are not groundbreaking or
breathtaking
- Some of the short puzzles and quests are really mundane (dare
we say "cheezy"?)
- DBZ license is used faithfully: all your favorite chars
following a classic storyline from the series
Those of you who are fans of the ubiquitous Dragon Ball Z anime series
may get the reference; those of you who don’t, but dig fighting anime,
full of posturing, grunting, power leveling, and flying aliens, might
really like television’s DBZ. If you fit all of the above criteria, and
also have a GBA, you are sure to enjoy the latest
DBZ title from Webfoot and Atari, Dragon
Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II.
This is a straight sequel to Atari’s first effort, and it has the same
engine. The controls and interface are pretty much the same, however,
every facet of the previous game has been improved upon: it looks
better, sounds better, plays better, and is much longer. Indeed, this
game covers the
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entire Trunks Saga (If you don’t know what that is, time to set your VCR
to tape hours of Cartoon Network) and will give gamers well over 20
hours of gameplay spanning three “episodes,” and that’s not including
the rewarding side-quests.
LoG II is an action RPG, and the two attacks, melee and range (with
special versions of melee and range as your character progresses) may be
a little mundane, but the pace of the story and the quickness with which
your characters “level” their abilities complements the simplicity of
your actions. The gameplay is actually quite fun and addictive as you
progress through various baddies and bust levels to bust barriers. One
of the primary constructs of the game are the colored and numbered
barriers which unlock the new areas. You need to have the right level
and right character to break through the barrier. For example, Goku is
the character you need to play to break through the green barriers,
Gohan won’t work in those situations. In addition to Goku and Gohan,
Trunks, Vegeta, and Piccolo are other characters you get to control
throughout the game. This spices the gameplay up nicely, and once you
are far enough along you can switch between them however you like.
In addition to controlling multiple characters this time, there are
numerous quests to be had. Keeping track of all these quests and
characters can be tricky, and the personal journal which each character
has in game may be one of the nicest features in LoG II. It makes all
the little fetch tasks you find yourself doing in the course of the game
easy to manage (One of these tasks includes fetching an “open faced Club
Sandwich” for a local hero!) Still, with multiple characters to manage
and many interesting locations, including a very cool “world screen”
which really captures the feel of the supersonic flying from the TV
series, Goku II is anything but mundane.
Indeed, the 3D world map which the game
switches to as you fly to different locales is very cool to look at,
even on the small screen. And though the graphics have not improved
drastically from the first game, character models and background are all
acceptable as far as GBA RPG’s go. The dialogue boxes are particularly
sharp this time, and since there is a LOT of text to read in this game,
that’s a good thing. In addition, it is the faces in the dialogue boxes
that are really going to make fans of the series feel like they are
playing a DBZ game. (It is in these little dialogue boxes that the gamer
can fully appreciate the true glory that is Dragon Ball Z – the Anime
Hair!)
The music may be the best feature of this game (And this is a pretty
decent game.) The developers did a fantastic job of recreating the
series compositions for the small speakers of the GBA. But to be honest,
I didn’t realize how good a job they did on the music until I switched
from my little SP to my Gamecube’s GBA Player – great stuff.
There is a lot more here for the gamer than the piddly 5 hours of
gameplay LoG I offered. Action/RPG players are going to get a lot more
enjoyment from LoG II. Fans of the anime series should really be
ecstatic. LoG II does a fine job of recreating roughly 40 episodes of
DBZ and makes you feel a part of the story. Hardcore DBZ famitsu and
casual fans alike should get plenty of enjoyment from LoG II.
