Sparking NEO Impressions:

[Tsukento]

Btw, since when does Great Saiyaman and Videl fight a completely human Tao Pai Pai in the Boo saga?

I think it's ridiculous that in some stages you have to beat someone in order to clear a stage, but no matter what you do, the heroes end up being beaten up in the next cut scene. Namely Trunks and Vegeta vs. Zangya and Bojack. You defeat the two, yet in the cut scene, they're both utterly beaten instead.

[Thanos6]

Reminds me of Hyper Dimension...no matter how well you did with Piccolo or Vegeta in the story mode, only Goku was allowed to actually affect the story...

[Pedro The Hutt]

Btw, since when does Great Saiyaman and Videl fight a completely human Tao Pai Pai in the Boo saga?

I think it's ridiculous that in some stages you have to beat someone in order to clear a stage, but no matter what you do, the heroes end up being beaten up in the next cut scene. Namely Trunks and Vegeta vs. Zangya and Bojack. You defeat the two, yet in the cut scene, they're both utterly beaten instead.

Wouldn't be the first time that's happened in the history of gaming, and it probably won't be the last time either. That said, I'd much rather have this than fights that you are obliged to lose. To the point that the CPU opponent will either have outrageous amounts of HP and/or such overpowered strenth or even cheater AI to ensure you lose no matter how hard you try. At least, even if your character drops dead in the cutscene, you can at least say that you won that fight in-game. =D

[Castor Troy]

I've been playing it a lot this week and have made it to Movie 9.

It just doesn't click for me like the original sparking did. As much as I love having the original japanese music, the placement of it is terrible (Mind Power Ki during the SSJ2 Gohan scene?! ). I can't begin to fathom how many times a few certain songs keep playing every 2-3 fights or so before I get completely sick of them.

I was cringing during the Movie 8 scenario seeing how lazy the developers were by having it take place on earth.... and why did I have to fight Android #17 3 times in Trunks's scenario?

There are a few slight improvements like the mission objectives. No more "use a kaio ken to win the battle or else you lose no matter what". So far all I've gotten were "Beat the opponent" and "Survive until time runs out" which makes it a lot easier since I can barely read japanese anymore.

The entire game just feels like "This stuff was cool in last game, but it's tiresome now". Well, I plopped down $68 for this game, so I might as well finish it...

[sangofe]

This is a dumb question but...anyone knows how you equip the Dragon Radar?

[Aoi]

"Sparking! NEO" is pretty awesome. In my opinion, it's the best Dragonball game yet. One of my personal favorite players is Vegeta-Baby. He's awesome, if a little slow. Anyway, I just thank God that I'm not playing the American version... God, that music sucks.

Your opinion. If the music's the only reason you're gonna buy the Japanese release, and considering it's in some inferior midi file form to the new music that some of the members here have been praising (for the NA release), then all the power to ya'. At least with the NA release, we won't have any language barriers to worry about and still have the option for the Japanese VAs. True, we have to wait an extra month for it, but at least we'll get everything the game has to offer and get the full understanding experience that the Japanese fans are getting with their release. Heck, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the NA release gonna contain the Japanese music in the Japanese VA option? If so, there goes your reason for getting the Japanese release.

Hello, I have a question: Does the american version of the game have the option to have the japanese voices and music (as you said)? That would be a fantastic thing.

[VegettoEX]

The American release of the game has an option to select either FUNimation's English voice cast OR the original Japanese voice cast.

However, the American release ONLY contains a new music track; there is no option to select the original Japanese music track.

At least, that's what I'm led to believe. I only own the Japanese version .

[Mr.Piccolo]

The American release of the game has an option to select either FUNimation's English voice cast OR the original Japanese voice cast.

However, the American release ONLY contains a new music track; there is no option to select the original Japanese music track.

At least, that's what I'm led to believe. I only own the Japanese version .

Wow, thats the same crap they fed us last time. Is it ever too late to cancel a pre-order ...

-rick

[kvon]

The American release of the game has an option to select either FUNimation's English voice cast OR the original Japanese voice cast.

However, the American release ONLY contains a new music track; there is no option to select the original Japanese music track.

At least, that's what I'm led to believe. I only own the Japanese version .

That reminds me of IGN's faulty report. Bastards! I was having such high hopes, too!

I'm still curious why the Japanese the new music for their advertisement, but not in their version of the game. Wait, there's no new music in the Japanese version, right?

Edit

Wow, thats the same crap they fed us last time. Is it ever too late to cancel a pre-order Confused...

At least it's not recycled music. Some of them sound terrific whilst some of them sound down right annoying. Some of the Bruce Faulconer-ish tracks work really well for some atmospheric effects. (Sorry, Faulconer-haters. )

[Aoi]

The American release of the game has an option to select either FUNimation's English voice cast OR the original Japanese voice cast.

However, the American release ONLY contains a new music track; there is no option to select the original Japanese music track.

At least, that's what I'm led to believe. I only own the Japanese version .

thank you VegettoEX, but how can you play the Japanese version with a north american playstation 2?

[Saiyan]

That's the thing. He has a Japanese one to play all of his Japanese DBZ games on. I'm...somewhat jealous.

[Aoi]

hehe thats good (I have 1 friend in USA who is ready to sell his soul to play the new Saint Seiya game, but it only can be played in a Japan Playstation 2)

[Detective X]

Wow, I love this game. My roommate picked it up tonight and we've been playing it nonstop.

First off, you can choose Japanese voices if you like, but you're stuck with the new music. The new music really isn't bad at all, and it does kind of grow on you.

The game plays quite a bit differently than the first game. The basics are still the same, but there are some new combos and things you can do that really add another layer of depth to this game.

I've only been playing it for a few hours, so I'll leave a "full" review for later.

Keep in mind, I hated the first Tenkaichi. The improvements in this game are vast enough to make me love it *almost* as much as Budokai 3.

[Aoi]

Yeah Sparking Neo is a great game. I also thought the Budokai 3 game was very good mostly because I have been wating since 1997 to play as Super SAiyan 4 Gogeta

[_Jrinu_]

I guess I'll go ahead ind give my first impression.

I got the game last night, and I've only gotten to play through the Saiya-jin arc, and the movie 3 story, and here's how I feel:

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I'm rather dissappointed by the way the story mode woks. I think I'd rather have it work the way it did in the last game, because this feels like an extra annoyance that I don't really want to do. (almost like the Gummi ship in Kingdom Hearts)

Anybody else feel this way?

The fighting is still fun, I am enjoying the new Battlefields, as well as the new characters, and the the new attacks.

I'll post a more detailed impression once I get deeper into the game.

[Rory]

First off, you can choose Japanese voices if you like, but you're stuck with the new music.

It seems people love ignoring my posts.

[Majin Buu]

Wow, I love this game. My roommate picked it up tonight and we've been playing it nonstop.

First off, you can choose Japanese voices if you like, but you're stuck with the new music. The new music really isn't bad at all, and it does kind of grow on you.

Yeah it does grow on you.

More impressions from me now that I've played the game more

Yeah, story mode feels like only a slight improvement. In addition to the somewhat lazy location selections (why couldn't the Bardock story be on the Freeza like planet stage?), the cutscenes could still use some work, even the more cinimatic ones feel kind of stiff and the sound effects don't feel right.

So they dropped the ball on story mode again for the most part as far as presentation is concerned.

But the gameplay is definately improved. You have more options avaliable during battle and especially during sparking mode as opposed to the previous game where the only reason to go into sparking mode was to fire you ultimate. There have been many times where I didn't even use my ultimate when I was in sparking mode because there was other things to do that I could only do in sparking mode.

I'll add more once I get more characters.

[Sebastian (SB)]

Hey guys! Wrote this over at Gamespot.

Sparking! NEO is the holy grail of Dragon Ball games for the PS2.

Graphics: The graphics remains the same from the previous Sparking!. Some nice effects have been added to give it a more slick presentation. Some of the new environments look more smooth than the previous games' rugged stages. The character models have the same defined look from the previous game & I still feel it leaves for less smooth animations that Dragon Ball Z (Budokai) 3 had. However, much of the slick presentation that's integrated in the gameplay makes up for that. Overall, the graphics are solid, but I still think there's room for improvement.

Gameplay: The gameplay remains the same from the previous game with some nice additions that add for more depth to it. You also got your different Blast attacks. Some Blast attacks are actually combos, that engage to a nice cutscene rather than a signature ki blast. These nice little additions to the blasts add for fun & depth to the game. What I liked about the Blasts is that some of them are specific moves that characters had done in the anime & manga. For example, Super Saiyan Son Goku can do the "Angry Kamehameha" he did to Freeza, Base Form Son Goku can do the "Kaio-ken Attack" he did to Nappa, Vegeta (Scouter) can do the "Final Gyarikku (Galick) Cannon" he did to Zarbon (or Dodoria?) & The" Final Explosion" he did to Kiwi (Cui), & Ultimate Gohan can do the "Crazy Rush" he did to Majin Buu. The rush attacks are back. The energy struggles are back. You can do a pursue in the game, like in Dragon Ball Z 3. The AI can still be a real bitch if you let your'e guard down, but makes for challenge & purpose to fight the random enemies to level up your character in Dragon Adventure mode & go back proceed with the story. All in All, the gameplay is still flawed, but there's a lot that has been added to it that'll make you wanna go back & play with your friends.

Sound: The sound is solid. A lot of good electric guitar riffs that you'd expect from a Dragon Ball Z game. Unfortunately, the original Japanese score hasn't been added to the game to get the full experience, however the Japanese voices are selectable, & the new music makes for a good (some may argue even better) subsitute. Overall, the new music is refreshing, but it would've been nice to have the original music selectable as well for loyal purists like myself.

Controls: The controls are still a mesh as they were from the previous game, but after a while it's easy to get use. You got your basic hard attack, light attack/ki blast, block, & dash buttons (L2 to charge ki). There's not much to it, but a lot of button mashing & pressing different buttons at the same time altogether, which can get hectic (especially with level 2 & 3 AI). I actually ended up feeling some pain in my hands after playing the game. I still think there's much to worked on here as well, but it's not really as bad as the first game, especially with the Training Guide.

Final Thoughts: Well this game has everything that Dragon Ball Z 3 had & even more. I personally enjoyed it throughly & found myself playing it more & more. The Dragon Adventure mode cutscenes were nice, but lacked any facial expressions (beyond mouths moving). The in-game text interaction were horrible. I would like in future games to get a new story. It's getting rather tiring to play through the Dragon Ball anthology over & over. The what-if stories were nice. I liked the one with Raditz the best. Overall this is a nice homage & farewell (& hello to next-gen) to the Dragon Ball games in the PS2. If there's any Dragon Ball game to get, it's probably this one.

Overall score: 8.6
*Note: I gave Budokai 3 an 8.5*

[JAKEMAN]

Personally I love the game for what it is, a fighting game. My one tidbit I would have to moan about is the fact you couldnt be Cyborg Tao PaiPai, and where were the mini games that were promised . I really enjoyed the "Secret Storylines" my favourite has to be the Fated Rivals one, the one line that makes it worth it is "And so because of Goku and Vegeta's great strength they destroyed Babidi and his space so Buu was never revived". That line just cracked me up when the announcer said it.

So I would give this game a 8/10

[Humpski]

My first reaction was like alright this is gonna be awesome!

1 hour later - Holy crap, there's too many damn controls to remember!
2 days later - I still don't get it, am I getting too old to comprehend games nowadays?

Now I think I've got the hang of it.
This game has a high learning curve, for me at least. I never played the first one.

Oh and I don't like how Chi Chi insults you if you try to pick the Japanese voices. 0_o;