Dragonball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 for PlayStation 1

I must first start off and state that I am a huge DBZ fan, and I will be a little biased in my review. I have now played the DBZ Boudaki and Ultimate Fighter 22 games. I liked both, but seemed to like the 3D effects of Boudaki better.

I did like the fact that the characters in this game are the drawn originals from the series. The backgrounds were from the show as well, and that made the game fun to play as well as allowed you to remember the episodes that the backgrounds were from. The game was simple enough to play, and the ability to levitate made it fun. It was easy to get started, and easy to pick your player. However, to perform the more difficult moves I had problems.

I have a seven year old, and a five year old who play their Playstation non stop on the weekends. I bought them this game thinking I could read the instructions and whip them until they figured out the moves. No luck. The special moves in the instructions were impossible to figure out, and I did not have the time to sit there and figure them out. My kids through trial and error were able to master some of the special moves, but I am still at a loss on how to read the instructions.

Another thing I did not like about the game was the music. I expected to hear music from the show, and I did not recognize any of it. I love the DBZ show music, and would have liked to have it in the game.

Also, the fact that the characters all talked in Japanese took away from the game. I understand this is an import, but with it being such a big seller, Infogrames should have made an English version. It would have sold in Japan and in the USA. DBZ fans would have bought both versions just to have them.

The game play is awesome, and I can over look only one color in the energy blasts. All of them are red, and they actually should have been red and blue like the show. I cannot over look the one game flaw I found playing. If you back up defending yourself, and then can't back up any further, you are dead meat. Your opponent can kick, punch, and blast away at you without you being able to defend yourself. It is a major game flaw. Since I could not figure out the major moves, I had to back up, jump, and avoid the major attacks. I kept getting caught in an invisible corner and getting destroyed. Once I realized this, I was able to better defend myself, but I do not like the limited space.

I enjoyed playing this game, but I had a few beefs with it. I hate games that make the instructions impossible to interpret, and this is one of them. I loved the game play, but because I could not learn the special moves, I was never able to win. I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and sit there for hours and try and figure them out.

My kids loved the tournament play, and the head to head battling. I liked the fact that you lose your energy, and unless your opponent lets you power up, you can be beaten if you go over board with your energy attacks. It makes the playing field even. There is no time limit in rounds, and I loved that. A fight to the death always beats a victory because the time ran out.