DragonBall Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2
Score: 88% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Atari Developer: Atari Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 (Multicard) Genre: Action/ Fighting/ Themed
Graphics & Sound: DragonBall Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2 is a 2D fighter like its predecessor, but it seems to use the graphical capabilities of the Nintendo DS to make the backgrounds and environment a bit more lively than the previous GBA version of this game. In general, the game looks good. Characters are large and easily identifiable. In most cases. each of the Z-fighters resembles the TV-series counterparts. The fighting areas also look like areas from the show. Everything from Planet Namek to the Cell Arena are spitting images of the show's settings. The game is on par music-wise as well. Familiar tunes like the DBZ Theme song are apparent as well as various other background music pieces that would feel right at place during a classic DBZ fight.
Gameplay: DragonBall Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2 has several gameplay modes. Like other DBZ games, you will be able to face opponents one-on-one against a computer or in a team. Like the previous version, Super Sonic Warriors 2 lets you play the stories of the different characters. In the last title, the Story mode took on a "What If" set up. What if a character other than Goku beat Frieza? In this game, each character has 10 or 12 different fights that they need to go through. These fights cover many of the major events of the saga, but thankfully leave out some of the lesser and more annoying battles that other games feature (like Nappa or the Cell Jr.'s). There are a total of 16 different stories, most of which have to be unlocked by beating specific battles in the available stories. Fights can be both one-on-one and team-based. If you have multiple people to use, then you can switch between the different characters at will. Not all of the team-members are full fighters with the range and abilities of the major characters like Gohan and Piccolo. For instance, Hercule acts more like a weapon or ability than another fighter. When you are in the middle of a fight and call upon him, he flies onto the screen (with a jet pack) and throws bombs at your enemy. Z-Battle Mode is your basic vs. mode where you can team up against a computer-controlled opponent, while Free Battle mode is the same but with teams.
Difficulty: In general, the fights against DragonBall Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2's A.I. aren't much of a challenge. The one-round bouts make the overall match quick and allow you to plow through most of the stories in a half-hour to 45 minutes. If it wasn't for the fact that this was a game designed for a handheld and meant to be played in short bursts, I would say that not much time would need to be put into this game. But since you will most likely be playing it in short 15 - 20 minutes stints (while in a car or on a bus), then the game will last quite a few sittings.
Game Mechanics: DragonBall Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2 uses a simple control scheme that will allow you to use many of each the characters' special abilities. A fires a ki blast, B is guard, X is your heavy attack while Y is the lighter, faster attack. The L button lets your character transform into their more powerful forms while the R button lets you charge ki energy at a rapid rate. Combinations of these buttons will allow you to perform stronger energy attacks. For instance, Goku and Gohan can release their kamehameha attack with the A and Y buttons. The touch screen is used to switch between team members by tapping their pictures on the lower screen. All in all, Super Sonic Warriors 2 is about the same as the previous game. There are enough differences to make it a game on its own, but like the Budokai series, the differences are little and it seems to be more of a tweak of the predecessor in hopes of ironing out some of the issues. Though SSW2 has fixed some issues, there are still just enough problems to make this a B game.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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