Akira Toriyama’s Dragonball Z franchise no longer require an introduction, so we’ll go straight to the introduction of Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai 2 (Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road in some regions) for the Playstation Portable.
As the title implies, Shin Budokai 2 is actually the second in a series of “Budokai”-style DBZ games on the PSP, but there’s no sense in reviewing the first one, because there’s nothing in it that isn’t included in Shin Budokai 2, which also included a ton of new content and several minor tweaks to the gameplay.
If you’ve played the Budokai games on the PS2, you’ll find Shin Budokai to be familiar ground. It’s basically a more streamlined version – combat is faster and controls are simpler. It’s easy to describe Shin Budokai as “Budokai-lite,” but it would be an unfair description because the PSP fighters brought a number of improvements to the table.
Like the PS2 fighters, Shin Budokai 2 lets you pick from a vast roster of characters from the Dragon Ball Z franchise (along with several variations of the same character e.g. SSJ3 Goku is separate from SSJ4 Goku, etc.). You then take your character and fight one on one matches with other characters on a vast 3D stage that lets you dash forward, backward, move to the foreground and background, as well as float/fly into the air. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Dragonball game.
Almost all of the characters in the game stay true to their anime/manga counterparts, which means characters who can transform are able to do so while in-game, which is a big plus because transformations are one of the selling points of the franchise. Characters can punch, kick, fire a ki blast, and have access to two special attacks each, as well as one super attack. Unlike the PS2 Budokai games, the super attacks in Shin Budokai 2 happen in real time, which is frankly a good thing as it no longer breaks the flow of matches while still looking impressive and worthy of the Dragonball name.
Basically, Shin Budokai 2 is as good a Dragonball fighting game will get on the PSP. The cel-shaded visuals are crisp, colorful, and will age better than non-cel shaded 3D engines. The audio is decent (but might get repetitive after a few weeks of playing the same character over and over), and the fast, smooth combat that doesn’t rely on minigames lend itself well to competitive play.
Additionally, there is a new character customization feature that allows you to slot cards on characters in order to boost various stats like health, defense, stamina, attack, etc. thus allowing you to custom tailor a character to your playstyle or build an uber powerful one patterned after the series (for instance, slotting defense, health, and ultimate blast boosting cards on Broly in order to give him one-hit supers, tanking ability, and tons of health.)
However, Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai 2 is by no means perfect. One niggling flaw is that your only option for solo play is the Arcade Mode, which has the game pitting random characters against you – there’s no option to pick an opponent nor a stage, so ‘Dream Matches’ that aren’t in the single player story mode won’t happen, except by chance. Or alternatively, you can use the Practice Mode to set up a fight if you really want to stage fights between specific characters.
At the end of the day, that one minor niggle isn’t enough of a dealbreaker. Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai 2 is still one of the best Dragonball fighting games regardless of system, and a must-buy if you’re a fan of the franchise and own a PSP.
