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Finally, somebody did what needed to be done. They took Dragonball Z and properly mixed it with RPG elements to make a simple and fun game. Granted, it was just the basic elements, not anything completely innovative or new, but anybody that's a big fan of the DBZ franchise should know that even with the most basic RPG elements possible, fans would love to spend their time just wandering around leveling up Gohan. Speaking of which, you can now play as Gohan, Vegeta, Goku, Piccolo, or Trunks, and they're all cool as hell! I wasn't necessarily impressed with this game in any large aspect, just extremely pleased that they finally made an overall decent DBZ game. It doesn't get old quickly, it doesn't get annoying, and it's just fun.
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Graphics and Sound
For a Gameboy, I can't complain. Although the only actual cartoons/cinematics there are in the game occur in the beginning intro, those are nice, and the game does just fine without any more. The visuals are all slightly improved over the first LoG, and this time they even managed to include depth perception! Some of the scenery shots are actually really nice in the game, and although they are few and far between, the rest of the game looks just fine so it's not like you're aching for relief by the time you do come by a nice view. The character dialogue boxes have pictures of whoever is talking, in nice resolution too, many little touches like this make you glad you're not playing the first LoG. All the animations are now a little more detailed AND smoother, nice combo there. The music is much appreciated as well. There's not a single annoying tune in the game with the exception of one that's intended to be annoying and your quest is to turn it off (damn the "eyes of the lion"). Everything from the intro music before you even start playing the game to your final climactic fight with Cell really helps you immerse yourself in the action. Thankfully, there's no battle sounds at all except a tiny blast and punch noise which are small enough to appreciate but without becoming annoying. I have to say it's just REALLY nice to be able to relax and play the game without anything ugly in your way, a big thanks goes out to Atari and Webfoot for restoring my ever-fading faith in DBZ games altogether.
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Story
Obviously, you’ll be following the plot outline from Dragonball Z, starting just after the death of Freiza and ending just after the death of Cell. A wonderful job was done here keeping the characters, events, and even dialogue true to the actual cartoons. It really helps to pull the player into the DBZ atmosphere created by the game. They’ve even included smaller events which could have easily been cut-out, such as a flashback scene involving Gohan and Trunks in a world where Cell has won, and the return of Freiza and his dad. Excellent work done here, nothing cool left out, and nothing too crappy put in, bravo.
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Gameplay
I love it. I love killing small guys, big guys, I even love leveling up, and I ESPECIALLY love taking a break to go Super Saiyan while I do it. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, you can finally go Super Saiyan WHENEVER YOU WANT!!! THANK YOU GOD!!! Boss giving you troubles? Too evenly matched with your opponent? About to die? Just getting annoyed with that ninja altogether? It's ok, turn that hair gold and it's a whole different fight! At your will and your will alone, your character can nearly double in speed, strength, and coolness. Not only that, which should be enough for a true DBZ enthusiast to cream over, but you get a buttload of signature attacks to have fun with! The list of the main ones: Vegeta's Big Bang attack, Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon and after fusing with Kami he can become Super Namek, Trunk's Sword Slash, the infamous Kamehameha wave with both Goku and Gohan, Gohan's Masenko-ha, and Goku has a "flurry punch" although I think it's really just him using Instant Transmission to move 3 feet closer to the opponent, then jacking him in the jaw....and last but not least... for that pesky little garden snake who won't stop taking away your hit points 3 or 4 at a time, THE SPIRIT BOMB! Indeed, there are many good times to be had. If you played the first LoG, you know that depth perception was a luxury you just weren't gonna get. You could plan a sneak attack, fire up a Kamehameha wave, watch it fly by the guard's face and he wouldn't even have a clue he almost got incinerated. Not this time, dammit, you can burn down anything from ninjas to wild boars to Cell to... a tree! It doesn't matter because it'll hit it! Last but not least whatsoever, your character no longer has to walk up-right-up-right-up-right to get to the northeast corner of the map! He can now face right or up but now walk in a techinically diagonal direction, which is a major improvment.
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Lasting Appeal
You bet. Unlike it's predecessor, or most DBZ games, you might actually WANT to play this game as much as possible! I could've reviewed it days ago, but I wanted to level up some more! Plus, I had no computer... but even if I did, I might have just walked around as Gohan in Super Saiyan mode wasting innocent animals in a futile effort to max him out long after the actual storyline had ended. There are 2 main sidequests in this game you are left to complete, finding all 7 lost Nameks, and finding all 25 lost Golden Capsules. On top of this, even to find some of these things, you have to break through places called character barriers, which are the only real innovative parts of this game. You walk down a tunnel, through a hidden area, and see a pile of rocks blockiung another tunnel and a green 35 on it, meaning you can only enter if you are playing as Piccolo and above 35. I'm still not done with this game, and apparently there's also 5 trophies to earn, one of each character. I've only got 3 despite the absolute beating I've given this game in the last week or so. If you've skipped the entire paragraph of rambling, start reading it right here: this game has an impressive amount of lasting appeal and I love it for that, I stalled fighting the final boss for days because I was afraid it would make me save again and I wouldn't be able to keep playing from that point. When I'm done reading this review I'm gonna play even more, and for even longer after that, for long periods of time.
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Overall
This game isn't amazing, but it's good clean DBZ fun. If you like DBZ you'll love how they so faithfully reproduced the entire storyline, at times word for word. If you're not a DBZ fan you'll probably be all like: "What the hell? Was that supposed to be a joke? This is crap!" But that'll be your own problem for buying a DBZ game in the first place when you didn't like the cartoon. If you wanted a DBZ game that has nothing to do with the cartoon storyline itself, I highly recommend the first LoG game, or perhaps even the DBZ Collectible Card game, which I hear is just swell. As a DBZ fan I'm just in love with this game, but even non-DBZ fans might be interested because it's a solid RPG with sidequests here and there, a great real-time fighting system, good music and visuals. The only major complaint I have is that it's not very long, but it's easily longer than the first, spanning from the Trunks Saga to the end of the Cell Games. I'd like to assume a third LoG is on it's way to finish up the rest of DBZ. If you're a DBZ fan, GO BUY THIS, IT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY.
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