DragonBall Z Super Sonic Warriors 2 - Got it

[Izlude]

It doesnt offically come out until tomarrow (at most retailers), but I grabbed it a day early today at my not quite so local GameStop. I was pretty excited to get my hands on this game since Bukuu Tougeki/Super Sonic Warriors on the GBA left such a strong impression on me, as I'd expect no less from the development team of Guilty Gear.

So how does the sequal live up? -
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Graphics - Graphically, its not the greatest. Most of the returning characters from the first game have the same sprites, with some new frames of animation, and some have been re-designed a little (Such as Adult Gohan wearing the purple gi). Ethier way, it looks like DBZ, so the sprites get the job done quite well. The new 3D visuals are pretty good, far beyond Legends on the PSone I'd say. Overall - 4/5

Sound - Since this is the US version of the game, all the characters have their english speaking counterparts providing the voices. One of my main problems with the english version of the first game, Super Sonic Warriors, was the sound quality of the voice clips used. Some characters had more priority over others, for example, Goku would be very loud, but others like Piccolo are very low and difficult to hear clearly. The Japanese version however didn't have this problem.

Super Sonic Warriors 2 manages to up the quality a good notch this time around, so its like favorites arent played when it comes to voice clips. Next, there is the music, most of it is actually kinda forgettable to be honest (As with the first game, outside of the Head Chala opening in the Japanese version), although there are still a few nifty tunes. Still, I would of liked a better soundtrack, at least one comparable to the SNES/PSone era of DBZ games with their memorable themes. Finally, there are the in-game sound effects, they all sound pretty good and solid to me, all of them straight from the show for the most part. Overall - 3/5

Controls - Again, as with the first game, the controls are quite simple to pick up and get into, so this is an easy game for anything to get into and play. To pull of some of the most intense combinations and eliminate your oppenents quickly though, you'll really need a fast pair of thumbs, not just for mashing your attack/block buttons, but to tap the touch screen and switch/summon your teamates. It's a bit akward at first having to touch that screen, but you eventually get used to it, or you could just fight alone with no team mates at all. Overall - 4/5

Gameplay - Super Sonic Warriors 2 pretty much adds on to the modes we are all used to. The Story mode is HUGE, from Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, Buu and on top of that, Specials (Bardock) and Movie storylines (Kooler, Brolly), and thats just based on what I knew prior to buying the game. I'm sure there's a whole lot more awaiting as I dig further into it. On top of that, there are your casual VS. mode (Compete againest the CPU or other players using the wireless connectivity), Survival, unlockable characters, etc.

As for the fighting itself, it's a lot like before, but much more refined, and much much better hit detection too. It also feels a lot faster and smoother than before. You can easily tag your characters in and out, summon a team-mate to attack or heal you, you can also do team-up attacks where you and one of your team-mates both perform one powerful attack. There also real power struggles! Can't have a decent DBZ game without them!

As for each character, they more or less feel about the same as they did before, although some tend to feel that they have faster or slower delays between attacks compared to some, which can put you at an advantage or disadvantage on offense and defense. It seems to depend on who is fighting who, some characters seem to fare better in melee againest certain characters than others because of the differences of delays between then and the size of their hit detection boxes. Some characters especially seem to have special moves that were particularly designed to pretty much clearly dominate some oppenents, while others may be able to get around them with their own specials if timed right and vice versa. There isnt one overpowered character in this game, or at least so I've found yet. I remember in the first Super Sonic Warriors, Krillin was just plain EVIL! Thankfully he's been toned down a notch.

Anyways, as for the CPU in this game, it can be downright brutal or just really dumb, depending on what difficulty your playing on, but they will usually block every melee attack you throw at them and try to counter you in some way, and of course, when your stunned, they waste no time blowing you away with Ki blasts (Cheap bastards). I havent had the chance to play againest any human players (I don't know anybody else in my area that has this game yet, I'll have to do some convincing...), but the first Super Sonic Warriors was exceptionally fun playing other players, so I wouldnt expect any less out of this game.

The only real downer is there arent quite as many playable characters as I hoped there would be out of the box, as you gotta work to unlock all of them, which can be a pain. It was a pain doing it in the first Super Sonic Warriors as well, but, thats also something every modern fighting game does these days *cough*Soul Calibur 3*cough*. Overall - 4/5

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And that's pretty much all I have to say for now at the moment, my opinions may change as I progress through the story mode and open up more characters, as for the most part I've been checking out the fighting and seeing how rough the CPU can get with me. I also need to play againest another player to see how well this game stacks from a competitive point of view. It is definitly a nice step up from the first Super Sonic Warriors game, especially in the visuals department, outside of the sprites, which were already quite good looking to begin with, and it's nice to have some more flexability in battle, although not quite on the level of Budokai Tenkaichi, its still does a good job being a portable game.

Anyways, if you own a DS and looking for some good portable DBZ fun until Atari releases their next crapfest...erm..masterpiece GT game (On the GBA), give this one a look, its well worth it for any DBZ fan, especially if you really enjoyed the first Super Sonic Warriors game.

Hopefully this won't be the last time we see Arc System Works develop a 2D DBZ fighter on the DS, or any system. They've done a great job at capturing the look, feel, action and story of the DBZ series, and on a portable system no less.

[Dominator]

Arc System Works, did they do any work on the Guilty Gear series? If so, then it's no surprise that any 2D game of theirs is good.

[desirecampbell]

Arc System Works, did they do any work on the Guilty Gear series? If so, then it's no surprise that any 2D game of theirs is good.

I can't find any good info on them - but here's a list fron GameSpy (though it doesn't mention SSW2)

Publisher

Dreamcast
Tanaka Torahiko no Uru Toraryuu Shogi

PC
Guilty Gear X

PlayStation
Exector

Developer

Arcade
Guilty Gear Isuka
Guilty Gear XX

Dreamcast
Guilty Gear X
Prismaticallization
Tanaka Torahiko no Uru Toraryuu Shogi

Game Boy Advance
Guilty Gear X

PC
Guilty Gear X
Guilty Gear XX # Reload: The Midnight Carnival

PlayStation
Prismaticallization

PlayStation 2
Guilty Gear Isuka
Guilty Gear X
Guilty Gear X Plus
Guilty Gear X2
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload

PlayStation 3
BB

Xbox
Guilty Gear Isuka
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload

Xbox 360
Versus Tactical Action [working title]

[Izlude]

Here's a Wikipedia entry on Arc System Works, Bukuu Tougeki and Bukuu Ressen are both credited under them - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_System ... stem_Works

[Hao_Kaiser]

Does this have download play on it, or will both me and my brother have to get it?

Anyways, it's nice to know that it doesn't suck, and is at least close to how good the first one was.

[Chaos Saiyajin]

Lucky! I don't get my copy until Christmas! From what you've said so far, it sounds really good.

Since this is the US version of the game, all the characters have their english speaking counterparts providing the voices.

Do the English VAs only shout out the attack names or do they voice the character while they talk during the story mode?

I remember in the first Super Sonic Warriors, Krillin was just plain EVIL!

Yeah, I remember this as well. Why do they make the weakest characters hardest to beat?

Anyways, if you own a DS and looking for some good portable DBZ fun until Atari releases their next crapfest...erm..masterpiece GT game (On the GBA),

God, this makes me want this game even more! Thanks for reviewing it, Izlude!

[Mugenmidget]

Does this have download play on it, or will both me and my brother have to get it?

No download play.

I'm going to have to trick some friend of mine into buying it.