Kenryoku_Maxis

User Score
8.0

Presentation - 7.5
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 7.5

Taking after its predecessors, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo picks up the story where Dragon Ball Origins on the DS left off, taking you through the major points of the story starting from the Red Ribbon saga all the way to the struggle with King Piccolo himself.  But is this the definitive retelling of Goku’s rise to adolescence, or will they need to revisit the story in yet another future title?

Game Setting and Story:

Taking place directly in the world of Akira Toriyama’s classic Dragon Ball and directly following the events of Goku, it is hard to find a more stylized and immediately recognizable setting.  And the game does a great job portraying that setting, from the floor of the Tenkaichi Budokai to the Red Ribbon Base and down to the depths of the Demon’s Toilet.  Nearly everything is simulated as it was seen in the Anime, or neatly supplemented to the existing locations to extend gameplay.

As for the story progression, the game follows a pretty standard practice for Anime titles, simply showing images and using voice actors to narrate the action and conflict.  While this is understandable for handheld or older titles which don’t have the benefit of larger storage space and full motion video, on the Wii the practice feels dated.  Especially since the game already includes various animated cutscenes at key moments, more resembling the action and pace the series is known for.  Moreover, this process of telling story through images and dialogue can sometimes extend over fifteen minutes and slows the pace of the game significantly.

Presentation and Graphics:

One area the developers of Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo definitely worked hard on was the graphics.  From detailed cel shaded character models to the environments, which are extensive, vibrant and uniquely Akira Toriyama.  You can tell the developers were going for accuracy to the source material, even in the areas added to the original storyline.  There are times when the quality of the graphics dip for a short time with bosses twitching, blinking textures and similar visual bugs which weren’t cleaned up completely in testing.  But overall, the game comes out visually strong and many won’t notice its flaws without extended play.

The music is also above par, with many quality tracks finding their way directly from the Anime series which fit the mood of the individual levels well.  Many won't stand out unless you are a long time fan of the show, but they still help drive the action of the gameplay.

On the presentation side however, the game is a mixed bag.  While the title begins with a wonderful opening sequence, that also contains an original song composed and sung by Hiroki Takahashi of Dragon Ball fame, upon entering the game itself you find a rather minimalistic display.  And for most of the game outside of the actual gameplay itself, this is the standard, with plain menu commands greeted by comments of the various characters on screen.  While this interface is quick and clean, it does little to encourage exploration of the games extra content and can get downright annoying from the voices loud and repetitive nature.

As an alternative option to the default voices however, the localization team did choose to leave the original Japanese voices in the game.  For some, this will be a necessary option to switch to, as the standard English voices presented in this game border on what can be considered tolerable voice acting and the Japanese voices are much more subdued in their responses to menu selections.

Gameplay:

Again, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo follows much of the gameplay standards developed by its predecessors.  Most notably, Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure on the Game Boy Advance, to which it shares many story scenarios, gameplay modes and a similar combat engine.  Those who had previously played through Advanced Adventure will feel right at home when starting up this title.

But while much of the gameplay is derived from previous Dragon Ball titles, that doesn’t mean it is a typical 2D brawler that copies everything.  Levels are built for 2D exploration, but feature free movement along a 3D space.  This creates large and detailed levels akin to Metroid and Kirby, but allows for ample room within these levels for interacting with enemies and items, resembling past titles such as Fatal Fury and Double Dragon.  And overall, the fighting engine works well.  Sometimes a little too well, as multi-hit combos and stunning enemies can easily lead to victory without a scratch.

Bosses are another matter however.  They range from pathetically easy to frustratingly difficult and for the most part provide the real challenge in the game.  But most of that challenge comes down to running away from their attacks and stunning them when they are defenseless.  This repetitive system of baiting bosses into submission feels hallow as it just turns boss battles into a chore and an endurance match.  They have little resemblance to the real battles they are portraying other than those characters being used and the occasional cutscene thrown in between for story.

The Good and the Bad:

When considering the purchase of this title, some key factors should be kept in mind.  First off, as mentioned before, it does support the option to chance the voices to their original Japanese.  This allows fans of the show in either form to enjoy the game with the voices they are most familiar with.

Additionally, this is one of the many of the latest Wii titles to support multiple controller options.  While the Wiimote and Nunchuck are standard, the Classic Controller and GameCube controller are also both supported.  And all control relatively the same aside from button commands.

However, the main story mode of this game is only going to last the average player between 8 and 10 hours, with about a quarter of that time spent watching dialogue sequences.  And while there is extra content in the game, it is mostly regulated to replaying the same missions for better scores and to find hidden items.  The game also features an extra 2 player Tournament mode resembling the One on One mode found in Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure.  However, the mechanics of fighting resemble the boss fights and even with an additional player, soon becomes stale.  Especially when compared to the fast paced and much more polished gameplay of the Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi series, this extra tournament mode feels like a nice afterthought which could have been much more.

All things considered, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo feels like a game which tried to be the definitive Dragon Ball title.  Instead, the development team seemed to lack the funding or time to fully expand on the games scope.  What is left is a game which is fun, but ultimately leaves you wanting more; more from the bosses, more from the story sequences and more of the actual game to play in between.  If you are a big fan of Dragon Ball, then you likely will enjoy the narrative and pummeling familiar nemesis with Goku.  But others may need to weigh the pros and cons before they rush out to buy this title.