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IGN Review of Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
I loved the Dragon Ball Z animated series when I was a kid. It had ridiculous battles, tons of super-powerful moves, and a host of characters who were always getting just a little bit stronger. Say what you will, but I actually enjoyed the light-hearted, far-too-campy drama of the series.
It's a shame that Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 incorporates basically none of the drama from the series. The latest Dragon Ball fighting game from publisher Namco Bandai, and it, sadly, just isn't very good.
Raging Blast 2 is similar to a lot of other fighting games, with a few twists so it fits into the Dragon Ball universe. You maneuver your favorite characters from the Dragon Ball series, battling in gigantic environments wherein you can fly around and pull off some of the signature moves from the TV show. The spectacle of the series is here in full force: characters scream as they charge up, pull off absurdly powerful moves, and even transform into various fan-favorite forms.
A decent number of modes are available, but none held my attention for very long. You can recreate individual characters' famous fights from the series, or you can just play random battles against players online either in one versus one showdowns, or in World Tournament mode against up to 16 players. Granted, it's not a bad thing to have a bunch of modes to play, it's just that they all involve using Raging Blast 2's frustrating combat mechanics.
The fighting just isn't well done. It's overly complicated, with characters having an array of attacks, special moves, unique moves, aerial maneuvers, grabs, and more. It's easy enough to pick up the controller and mash your way through fights, but it has a significant learning curve for learning more complex combos. In general, it was simply more rewarding to block and button mash, bumbling my way through my opponents. Button mashing shouldn't be so effective, but the characters feel sluggish in between combos, making it easy for attack spammers to take out people who are trying to pull off the awesome moves. You know, the reason for playing Raging Blast 2 to begin with.
Playing against the AI alleviates some of the frustration of the overly complex and lethargic fighting, but this is only interesting for a few rounds. The characters feel too similar, with some playing almost like the exact same fighter with a slightly altered appearance. I know they wanted to include a huge roster of characters -- and they do -- but what's the point if so many of them feel basically the same? I'll take ten unique, balanced characters over 50 mediocre ones any day.
It wouldn't be such a big deal to me that the environments are so bad looking and the character so same-ish if Raging Blast 2 didn't force me to experience them for hours and hours just to unlock the full roster. A nice amount of characters are available at the start, but if you want to unlock the gigantic list of series favorites then you better be ready to spend hours and hours playing various modes. The argument could be made that you'll be getting motivation to play it and get your money's worth, and in a better game it might not bug me as much, but in Raging Blast 2 it's simply more tedious than it's worth.
©2010-11-02, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
It's a shame that Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 incorporates basically none of the drama from the series. The latest Dragon Ball fighting game from publisher Namco Bandai, and it, sadly, just isn't very good.
Raging Blast 2 is similar to a lot of other fighting games, with a few twists so it fits into the Dragon Ball universe. You maneuver your favorite characters from the Dragon Ball series, battling in gigantic environments wherein you can fly around and pull off some of the signature moves from the TV show. The spectacle of the series is here in full force: characters scream as they charge up, pull off absurdly powerful moves, and even transform into various fan-favorite forms.
A decent number of modes are available, but none held my attention for very long. You can recreate individual characters' famous fights from the series, or you can just play random battles against players online either in one versus one showdowns, or in World Tournament mode against up to 16 players. Granted, it's not a bad thing to have a bunch of modes to play, it's just that they all involve using Raging Blast 2's frustrating combat mechanics.
The fighting just isn't well done. It's overly complicated, with characters having an array of attacks, special moves, unique moves, aerial maneuvers, grabs, and more. It's easy enough to pick up the controller and mash your way through fights, but it has a significant learning curve for learning more complex combos. In general, it was simply more rewarding to block and button mash, bumbling my way through my opponents. Button mashing shouldn't be so effective, but the characters feel sluggish in between combos, making it easy for attack spammers to take out people who are trying to pull off the awesome moves. You know, the reason for playing Raging Blast 2 to begin with.
Playing against the AI alleviates some of the frustration of the overly complex and lethargic fighting, but this is only interesting for a few rounds. The characters feel too similar, with some playing almost like the exact same fighter with a slightly altered appearance. I know they wanted to include a huge roster of characters -- and they do -- but what's the point if so many of them feel basically the same? I'll take ten unique, balanced characters over 50 mediocre ones any day.
It wouldn't be such a big deal to me that the environments are so bad looking and the character so same-ish if Raging Blast 2 didn't force me to experience them for hours and hours just to unlock the full roster. A nice amount of characters are available at the start, but if you want to unlock the gigantic list of series favorites then you better be ready to spend hours and hours playing various modes. The argument could be made that you'll be getting motivation to play it and get your money's worth, and in a better game it might not bug me as much, but in Raging Blast 2 it's simply more tedious than it's worth.
©2010-11-02, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved