HOME

Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 - Another Road

Published By: Morgan Bates On: 22/06/2007 20:00
Rating: PG Difficulty: Medium Learning Curve: 5 Min

THE SCOREBOARD

7.5
Good

Gameplay	7.0	"Takes you down a new story arc."
Graphics	6.0
Sound	7.0
Value	8.0

By Morgan Bates

Trunks has long been one of the most popular characters in the Dragon Ball franchise - even having a movie dedicated to his back-story – and now Namco Bandai have brought us Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 - Another Road, with a story mode centering around his time line.

Another Road’s self-titled story mode takes you down a new story arc, exploring what happened after Trunks returns to his own time after the Z fighters defeated Cell. In the time line this game assumes a virus has killed Goku and the androids defeated the other strongest Z fighters, leaving Trunks to fight Cell alone. Years after Trunks defeats Cell, the world martial arts tournament is beginning again. This is where the game picks up and the Buu Saga begins in Trunks’ time line.

Given the new story arc, developers Dimps have been able to include multiple endings into the story - some of which put you in control of the villains to kill Trunks – and it helps flesh out the story and replayability. Each chapter has multiple paths to choose from; some will have fewer battles than others, but those battles will be harder. Fulfilling the mission goals leads on to the next chapter, while not doing so leads to one of the many endings.

Once you enter a mission, you are greeted with an over-world where villains from the series such as Frieza (who should be long dead since he died in the pre-Cell Saga) and the androids are attacking the towns. Saving the towns is a good idea as they recharge Trunks’ health, and missions often rely on keeping the health of towns above a certain percentage.

Flying into a villain will lead to a battle screen. Anyone who has played a Budokai game will be in familiar territory here. You’ll be able to use only a few combos, with the only strategic element being the decision of when to charge your KI, as enemies can attack while you’re charging. In the same way, you can get a few cheap shots in while they are charging. Each character has their unique Ki attacks, and holding down the circle button will create a stronger attack. Unfortunately, this is more often than not unless as the enemy usually dodges or interrupts you mid-charge. If you lose a battle, you will return to the world map and lose a Senzu bean. Once you run out of the Senzu beans, you’re dead.

After each mission, you collect a power-up card. These cards improve your character’s stats, making their Ki charge faster or improving their charge attacks. However, the number of card slots available is limited for each fighter, so choosing the cards wisely is necessary. Over the course of the story mode you will using Trunks’ time machine to travel back to meet the other heroes from the series. They help in missions by fighting enemies and giving them some good cards makes them less reliant on your help, leaving you free to take out the main target.

Visually the PSP pulls off some nice cell-shaded in-game graphics, with two-dimensional avatars representing the characters in dialog. In contrast, the over world graphics look bland, with low-resolution textures covering the world.

In the end, how much you’ll like this depends on your love for the Dragon Ball Z series and your thirst for another Dragon Ball Z fighting game. If you don’t have the original Shin Budokai and want a Dragon Ball Z fighter on your PSP, it’s worth a look.