This is a review on the original DragonBall Z Budokai game, I will give as much information about it as I can, and I would like to have any suggestions to improve this review, will be really appreciated.

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What are Saiyans?
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Goku is a Saiyan (another planets race), he was sent from Planet Vegeta to Planet Earth, so when he becomes older, he will be able to destroy Earth. When there is a full moon, and the Saiyans have their tail, they will go all Oozaroo and transform into this giant ape creature. This only happens when there is a full moon.

The Saiyans are a different race, they look like humans but they have some advantages. Like true Saiyans hair does not grow, and when the moon is full, if they look at it, they go Oozaro and turn into a giant ape monster. If you want more info on the Saiyans, check out my Bardok review, which will give you all the info you need. Goku (the main character) is a Saiyan, and he is very powerful. There is a legend that when you get powerful enough; you will turn into a Super Saiyan. When your hair turns gold and your power goes past the limit.

Goku's father was called Bardok, and he was a Saiyan of many talents. He created this ball of light, which can when you focus it, you can throw it in the air and make it seam like it is a full moon, so they can turn into their giant ape creatures when needed too.

Bardok has his on feature called Bardok: The Father of Goku, which is about when Freeza (this evil person from this weird planet that wants to take over the universe) takes control of the Saiyans, so he wants them to do his dirty work. Bardok goes to this distant planet with his gang of fighters. Before they go, his gang goes before him as Bardok has hurt himself in a previous battle. His gang of fighters gets destroyed by Freeza's henchman. His henchman is called Dodria. Dodria is a pink spotted alien; he ambushes Bardok's mates, and kills them. When Bardok gets there, his best friend's life was hanging on a thread, and he was able to tell Bardok that Dodria killed them before he passed away.

Bardok found this alien, 1 left on the planet he was on. This planet race was talented with being able to see into the future, and they gave Bardok this power too. Bardok could see that Freeza was going to destroy all of the Saiyans, and take over their planet. He saw his son Goku as a kid, and when he becomes a man, and his happy family, and when he becomes a Super Saiyan (this is a transformation only Saiyans can do, or half Saiyans). Bardok tries to stop Freeza, but fails, and all the Saiyans get destroyed but a few.

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What are the DragonBalls?
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The Dragonballs are 7 magical spheres that when they all are collected, you can make a wish within the dragons power, there is a command you have to say like, *Dragon I summon you* well that type of thing. If Piccolo or Kami (Nameks that use to be one, but they got too evil so they separated) dies, then the Dragonballs will be destroyed, as they are the guardians of earth and they made the Dragonballs for this planet. Nameks have the power to create the Dragonballs, like the Dragonballs on Namek, they are much bigger, and you can make 3 wishes, but they are not as powerful as the ones on Earth.

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Dragon Universe
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The story line of DragonBall Z Budokai is the first set of saga's from the DragonBall Z TV series. You first fight in the Saiyan Saga, which you will have loads of battles, and cut scenes to show you more of the Dragon Universe. After you have done the Saiyan saga, you will go onto the Freeza Saga, which enables you with new characters to play with in Duel Mode, and also more maps to battle in. Once you have defeated Freeza, you will be in the Cell Games Saga, where you will fight Cell and save the world from destruction. There are other sagas in the TV series revolving around them, but the game does not have them in it.

Once you have completed each saga in Dragon Universe, you will have other missions that you can do, which will be unlocked in the sagas, and you will be able to get secret characters while doing so. When you have done them, then you have completed Dragon Universe. You should have nearly every character at your disposal.

But you have not completely finished the game, there is still the matter of getting those other secret characters, and also collecting all the items, which can be bought at the item shop or found in Dragon Universe Mode.

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Duel
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Duel is where you will be able to fight it out with the computer or your friends. You will be able to play with all of the characters that you have unlocked, if you have not unlocked any yet, and then you will only have the 5 starting characters available at this time.

There will be many maps that you will be able to choose to have a battle with a friend of computer. Once you have chosen your character and map, the game will load, but be ready to fight, as when the game has loaded you will be in instant action.

Also before you choose you map, if you have edited the skills for a warrior, you can change the warrior you have chosen skills, and make him the ultimate warrior in battle, or use just the normal skills that the computer has set for the character, other words the basics.

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World Tournament
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Here you will be able to compete in a world tournament, and fight numerous enemies to win the top prize money, and become the champion of the world. You will fight at the World Tournament map, so watch out, you could get kicked out of the arena. Your skills will work on here, and be able to do your most powerful moves, but you can't over kill the opponent, or you will be disqualified.

At the end of the world tournament, and if you make it to the final, then you will know you have won some Zenie (DragonBall Z Currency). Depending what difficulty the tournament is on, is depending how much you get. There are three difficulties for the world tournament. There's Beginner, which is the easiest, and you will be able to win up to 10,000 Zenie, then there's Adept, which has an extra round you will have to fight in, which makes 4 rounds altogether, and you will be able to win up to 30,000 Zenie. And then there is Advanced, which is the hardest of all, there are 5 rounds to compete in, with the toughest of warriors, but you will be able to earn up to 50,000 Zenie.

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Practice
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In this mode, you will be able to practice your technique and new moves against any warrior. You can have them to do any stance, have them standing still, blocking, or actually have it being controlled like you would in a duel, with whatever difficulty suits you. Your health will go down, for like a second when you take damage, but it will become full again after as this is only practice.

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Skill Shop
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The skill shop allows you to buy skills with the Zenie you earn from the world tournament, there are many varieties which you can buy, and when you have some you can trade them with your friend, if he has the same game and the memory card with the memory of it. There are other things you can do also; you can equip skills to your warriors, to make them better fighters, stronger, or better defensive. Create the ultimate warrior!

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Other
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The game is very playable, very entertaining and enjoying to play with your friends. Keeps you on your toes, and also keeps your friends happy with the game and great when there are loads of you. The game is 2 players though, so watch out! The game is quite addictive at start, but when you have completed Dragon Universe, you will start to get board of the game, which means its time to move on, and buy the sequel.

The game is very original, it is the first DragonBall Z fighting game on the Playstation 2, it is very entertaining to play, and has its own unique story line, and battles for you to fight in. Original characters done by DragonBall Z designers, and go through the story of DragonBall Z in its own unique way. Very original.

The games graphics are awesome, very good, all in 3D, and makes the game seam so real. It is completely different graphics to its sequels, which gives it its own originality. Very good graphics, but not as good as its sequels, as I found that animation graphics even more awesome.

The voices in this game are all done in Japanese, which can be annoying, as the sequels of this game are done in English. But you will have English subtitles, which you can change at the beginning of the game or in the Options.

The background music to the game is very good; you will be able to download it off the internet which is also good. It is very addictive music, and also you can click to it. The sound effects of the game is very good, with the punching, and the powering up screams (they do that a lot), very good indeed.

The game is not that difficult at start, it is pretty simple, but when you get further into the game, you will find it can be very difficult, at may frustrate you. But if you are a master at fighting games, then you will like this, and probably be able to do well in the fights.

The game costs around £10 - £20 now, as it is in the Playstation 2 Platinum section now, which makes the game much cheaper, you might be able to find this game cheaper pre-owned or on EBAY. It is great value for this game.

The game is not too long, but when you have completed the Dragon Universe, you will still have to get all the Skill capsules, and play the world tournament, and get all the secret characters, so there still is some fun after Dragon Universe after all!

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My Opinion
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This game is very entertaining, but it is not the best that I have played, it can be quite disappointing to hardcore DragonBall Z fans. It does not compare to the likes of DragonBall Z Budokai 2 or Budokai 3, as they have much better graphics, in English and have more characters for you to play with. I shall give this game a 6 / 10, as I found it entertaining at start, then the fun kind of just slowly died, then I found myself playing other games like Kessen, or not the Playstation 2 at all.

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