Introduction: Almost everyone knows the anime-manga Japanese series of Dragonball. For those who don't, it is the story of Goku, a mysterious man whom arrived on Earth from another planet when he was only a child. Dragonball is divided into three series: Dragonball, Dragonball Z and GT. This game covers all the sagas of the Z series, with nearly all the fighting characters including Goku, his friends, enemies, and hidden characters. It has got an original fighting system with long battles and with many original moves, but this isn't enough to bulid a nice beat em' up game. Why? Continue reading to understand.

Review: After the well animated introduction video, you get into the game. The graphics are rather good, with 3D backgrounds and manga-style characters in 2D (this is one of the few fighting games which uses 3D ambients and 2D sprites). The controls are easy to use and functional and there are so many spectacular moves that you will be very excited to learn them all. There are 22 characters, plus 5 hidden ones. The music is nice and the Japanese voiceovers are really cool. So what lacks to this game? It lacks a story, an ending, and a decent replay value. You would say that this is a beat em' up and that it doesn't need a particular story. But this is a Dragonball game and here you find only the DB characters and nothing more. Consequently, it become a game for only Dragonball lovers and not fighting fans. That's a pity because it would have been a nice game thanks to its graphics, sound, and fun gameplay.

Conclusion: If you love Dragonball only for its characters and their techniques, this game is for you. If you have many friends that like to play fighting games together with you, prepare for long battles and lots of fun. If you like Dragonball for its story or, more generally, you like to have some kind of "purpose" when you play something, well, look else where to satisfy your fighting appetite.

Ratings: (scale of 0.0 - 5.0)