Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is the latest in a long line of DBZ fighters that tries to bring everyone and every battle together in one game. This is also the first fighter to appear on the Nintendo Wii, so I was very curious how well the system would handle the genre and how the game compared to the PS2 version that I reviewed a little while back.

From a visual standpoint, this version has smoother lines and a sharper picture than on the PS2. I found that, while the models and locations in the PS2 version looked good, the ones rendered on the Wii had more clarity and pop to them. Of course, all of the characters look just like they do in the show, right down to the different types of clothing they wore in different sagas (Gohan’s dress style especially changed between seasons). Locations are larger than they were in previous DBZ games and because of that, the feel of the game and the fights seems much grander than before.

As is always the case in DBZ fighters, and Budokai games specifically, the audio uses the same voice actors from the series and the sound effects seem to come straight off of the TV show as well. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dragon Ball Z game without the theme music.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 touts itself as being, "The most explosive fighting game ever!" and with the number of explosive balls of light and fast-paced action this game has to offer, if it doesn't meet that goal, then it comes pretty damn close.

This game features every fighter from the DBZ story (right up to the recently released Wrath of Dragons movie) and all of the sagas and movies in chronological order (well... they attempt to fit the movies in there, but fans of the show know that they really don't synch up right). In this game, you will fight typical foes like Radditz, Nappa, Cell, the Androids, Frieza and Buu, as well as all of the incarnations of Cooler, Lord Slug, and Broly. You even get to fight as Goku and Radditz's long dead father, Bardock. Put simply, this game has everyone.

The fights themselves are mostly the same as before. Two fighters will face off in a confined arena and unleash devastating signature attacks against one another. Some of the more noticeable differences are the size of the battle locations and the tag-team feature built into some of the story missions. These tag-team events let you fight as a character until he or she has been sent to the next dimension or until you actively switch between characters; then your next fighter joins the fray. An example of how this is used would be when Goku and Piccolo go up against Radditz. You start off as Goku and by the time he dies, Radditz has been weakened enough for Piccolo to take him out. For those readers not familiar with the show, Goku sacrificed himself in this battle so that Piccolo could stop the Saiyan warrior.

Most of your time is spent in the Dragon Adventure mode where you play out the various storylines. Here, characters fly over the world from location to location looking for fights, and of course, Dragon Balls. The main story events are marked as red dots on the map while you are flying around, and these are where you need to go to advance the storyline so you can unlock items, powers and characters. But there are also non-required missions you can go on that will also unlock various goodies. These missions are fights against other DBZ characters (Tien, Yamcha, Chioatzu, the Androids, etc.) and are typically really tough (unless you hold off a while and level your characters).

Budokai Tenkaichi 2 also has the standard Tournament mode, where you get to go up against computer or human opponents in a series of tiered battles (gamers familiar with pretty much any DBZ console game will recognize this mode). And, of course, there is the quick fight or Dueling mode, where you get to try your hand against an unlocked opponent of your choosing at any of the opened locations.

Other modes are Ultimate Battle Z, where your character fights a series of rivals in order to unlock really rare items and Ultimate Training (one of the longest and most in-depth training modes to date). The Item Shop and Evolution Z menu options are used to buy items and apply them to your characters in order to customize the fighter just how you want.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2's Story mode can get a little annoying at times, but in retrospect seems to be well balanced overall. Fights follow the events of the show. If you are controlling a character that is supposed to win a fight (i.e. Gohan versus Cell), then the Stage Clear condition states simply "Win". But if your character doesn't actually stand a chance (like the first time Piccolo faces Radditz), then your instructions are to simply stay alive until the clock runs out. Mind you, these fights are typically your really low level character against their really high level one, so there isn't really any chance of actually winning the fight. So I guess overall, it seemed like the changes in difficulty were consistent to the difficulty the characters from the show faced as they fought each new opponent, lost, trained and re-matched.

Pulling off some of the more advanced moves with the Wii-mote turned out to be difficult. Well, for the first dozen or so fights anyway. Since this game uses the various functions of the remote to tell if you have left the screen, with shaking your Nunchuck a certain number of times and hitting the correct buttons in order to execute your character's major attacks, it really was a pain in the beginning. But after a good bit of time, I finally got used to the change and, though it didn't feel as second nature as a gamepad, it was workable … but that's for the next section.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is where things get a little odd. For the most part, I have been very receptive with the different ways developers have used the Wii-mote's motion sensing features, but the many combinations of twitching, shaking and sliding of the Wii-mote and its Nunchuck got to be quite a hassle. At first, the need to do a series of motions in order to activate special attacks seemed overwhelming, but I thought it would get better the more I played. And while I did get better at my timing and keeping track of which movements I needed to do in order to use these more powerful attacks, it just never felt as quick and intuitive as it would had I had a gamepad in my hands.

For instance, in order to perform a character's ultimate attack, you may have to shake the Nunchuck twice and then push the Wii-mote towards the screen. Or you might have to tap some buttons, then move the cursor off the screen and then back onto the screen. Of course, you are trying to do this in the middle of a fairly action-packed and fast-paced fight, so remembering and pulling off these combos is tough to do. For those like me who really like the Wii-mote and the possibilities it offers, but find the way it is being used in Tenkaichi 2 daunting, the game lets you use the Classic Controller attachment instead of the Nunchuck to fight with. Unfortunately, at this time, that accessory is really hard to come by (at least around here) and I wasn't able to test the game out with this other control scheme, but from what I have been able to gather, it seems a lot like the standard controls you would find in the PS2 version.

My recommendation: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is a fun game for the diehard fans out there who want the next biggest and baddest game in the series, but unless you really want a challenge in order to pull off more than standard punches and kicks either get the PS2 version or hold off until you can get a Classic Controller.