Some people may chalk my intense love of this game up to nostalgia... & while there may be a bit of truth to that... I am pleased to say that those people would be mostly wrong. If a game doesn't live up to what I remember it being then I actually rate it harsher than I would a mediocre/crappy game that I have no fond memories towards. The reason behind this being that if I once loved it & it isn't as good as I remember it being, then it obviously doesn't have the staying power to stand the test of time. That being said, this game firmly proves that it has that aforementioned staying power as it is every bit as good today as it was the first time I played it (hell... it may actually be more enjoyable now than it was way back then).

I am sure that many a person may label this game as a cash in to capitalize on the Dragon ball Z craze of the era... & while I suppose on a certain level it is just that, it is also something more. An actual GOOD licensed game from an era over saturated with horrible, mass produced turds disguised as children's video games. To say that this game is faithful to its source material would be an understatement... in fact, it is in a lot of ways TOO faithful to the Dragon ball Z franchise. The story is more or less a cut & paste job of the Trunks Saga-Cell Saga with a few completely unrelated side quests thrown in (I know the way I said that makes it sounds like it is a bad thing, but it most certainly is not. In reality I love the side quests as they bring something new to the table besides the story that we have heard a million times). The controls are perfectly reactive & not even the slightest bit stiff. The gameplay itself is borrows liberally from that of the Legend of Zelda series. The main difference is that the game features basically what would amount to over worlds in the Zelda series instead of the dungeons that are the core of the series (which *I know I'm in the minority here* are easily my least favorite parts of Zelda games). That isn't to say that the game doesn't have a few puzzles here & there... just nothing that will really rack your bran too much.  Another difference would be having 5 (6 really) different characters all with their own Ki abilities (including transformations) that would take the place of the solitary Link & his plethora of tools. As for the difficulty... If you are a pretty avid gamer, this game should pose no threat to you. It is at its heart a game designed for children.


So for me, this game is about as close to perfect as a DBZ Game will likely ever get & is probably the best GBA game that I've ever played. If you are a Dragon ball fan, or even a Zelda fan, this is most definitely worth looking into.

You introduced your review well - it's always good to put a game back in context - but there is room for improvement. The main one is about structure. Most reviews are divided into sections, usually the ones you evaluate (graphics, music, gameplay, etc.)

Graphics : X/10
*explain why you gave it such a grade*

You do have a point I love: comparing to other games. All you need is to elaborate more. My first review was similar to yours; I can now easily write 2000+ words, so don't give up