Dragon Ball Z Sagas ISO

Videogames based on the Dragonball franchise has always been hit-and-miss in terms of quality. The main factors being

1. ) developers' lazy attempts to cash in on the series' popularity, and

2. ) Dragonball's explosive, fast-paced, and planet-busting fights are very difficult to reproduce faithfully on yesteryear's limited hardware.

With the console generation that includes the Gamecube, the 2nd reason is no longer acceptable as the hardware capabilities of the 3 major consoles are already mature enough to simulate faster-than-lightspeed brawls between spiky-haired individuals, along with energy beams and projectiles that are large enough to level mountains. This means Dragonball Z: Sagas is nothing but a lazy attempt by a game developer to cash in on the franchise. It's so awful that you'd feel like Bandai should be the one paying you when you play this lousy excuse for a beat-em-up.

Firstly, the controls are EXTREMELY sluggish to the point of uselessness. You have the ability to punch, kick, and throw a ki-blast but it wouldn't matter at all because the response time is so slow you'll end up just mashing the buttons and hoping that some sort of attack will come out in time to hit the enemies. Which reminds me - the enemies are boring, repetitive, and nothing more than palette swaps outside of the bosses.

The graphics are decent and recognizable enough but it's not enough to save the game. If you just want to look at pretty graphics then you may as well just watch the anime.

Get this game if you're a completist and just want to play every single game based on Dragon Ball Z, but if you want to have some fun, you should play something else.

While most DBZ games do end up poor fighting game titles, DBZ: Sagas does not fall into the norm. Not only is it fun to play, but it comes closer to the series than any game I have yet seen. Not only can you roam free in the environments, but they are destructible as well, further immersing you in the DBZ World. It is a must-play for any hardcore DBZ fan.

In the end, Dragon Ball Z: Sagas fails in all departments. It's nowhere near as fun or functional as the Budokai games, and completely fails in taking the series into a new direction.
Admittedly, the concept sounds fun. Assuming the role of your favorite DBZ character and running amok in free-form environments sounds like a damn good time. Unfortunately, improper execution detonates any fun Sagas potentially contained.