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- DBZ Returns to Toonami
• Beginning January 5th, DBZ will return to Toonami, filling to 6 o'clock slot. Meanwhile, DB and DBGT will share the 6:30 slot - DB will air Monday-Thursday and DBGT will air Friday.

-Latz

• (39 Comments)
• Posted: Friday, December 12 2003 » Zero
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- Budokai 2 Review
• I've finally played enough to get a stable opinion of Budokai 2. I know alot of hype was made about this game. And when I walked out of my local GameStop with "the greatest DBZ fighting game of all time" in my hand, I wondered if it was really worthwhile...

Story - 3
As most of you know, the first Budokai had "story mode" which basically allowed the player to follow a set of battles similar to those in the series. There were also clips of recreated cpisodes, which was a nice feature. Now, "dragon mode" has replaced "story mode" and it is definitely an interesting concept. Unfortunately, I found it to be a bit simple. It was like playing a board game...eventually it became a 'bored' game. I forced myself to beat it though, and I admit that I enjoyed it in some areas. Using the fused characters and playing against the concept characters were cool (ex: the form Buu took when absorbing Cell). But, I found it lacking a great deal of depth, thus the poor score.

Sound/Graphics - 8
I really liked the 3D concept used in the original Budokai, but the cel-shading is really nice. I think it's a very nice change. The newsmaps are really cool too, although I wish they had included some of the old ones. The opening is great too, I might add. And the energy attacks finally look appealing. Meanwhile, I was a bit surprised at the characters voices...what's up with Goten? Lol. And most of the battle sound clips were carried over from the original...why does perfect Cell sound like some 30 year old perv? Anyways, the sound improved in some ways and failed in others.

Gameplay - 7
Not bad. I could notice some improvements, but overall it remained the same. The strategy in "dragon mode" was anything but challenging, the fighting remained almost identical to the original, which wasn't that bad, and the whole capsule thing was changed only slightly. Meanwhile, some of the more positive things about this game were the wider variety of characters, higher super saiyan levels (although I miss seeing the 'ascended' level), and the ability to launch energy waves without stringing physical attacks together (using the old half circle followed by hitting the energy button will let you fire a kamehameha wave from a mile away) I'm not saying the gameplay is bad, but I expected a bit more from it. Sadly it hardly surpassed its predecessor.

Miscellaneous - N/A
The load time has been reduced, which is nice...especially if those extra 3-5 seconds are more than you can spare : \

Fun Factor: 7
This is a toughy. Since I'm a veteran of the original Budokai, I have to admit that the sequel got boring after only a few days. There weren't many surprises. But, I think newcomers will enjoy it much more.

Overall, the game is slightly better than the original. Although, each has its strengths and weaknesses, shared or not. If you weren't a big fan of the first Budokai, don't bother with this one. But, loyal fans should definitely pick up a copy...unless you get bored easily (in which case u should just rent it for a weekend).

-Latz

• (14 Comments)
• Posted: Tuesday, December 09 2003 » Zero
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- I'm Finally Back!
• Well, my last post said that I was going to be away for a while. Then, I said that I was back, only I technically wasn't, heh. Now I'm back though...I'll go into detail about my leave and what happened later. I would have posted with an update on humor or information, but I didn't have the ftp info. It's cool to see you guys again, and I apologize for being inactive for so long.

fRaNk or Kou, please send me the ftp information through email, skye@dbgtn.com, or through my AIM address - SHaN XL.

• (5 Comments)
• Posted: Monday, December 08 2003 » Skye
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