I'm a big
Dragon Ball Z fan, and have been for many years. You can just look at the list of
DBZ games I've reviewed over the years and learn that simple fact. Unfortunately, even I am starting to get a bit annoyed at the regular fighting games to come out of the license. It seems more often than not, the games just don't add anything new to the series, which is understandable since the show has been off the air for seven years.
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 actually breaks away from the mold a bit by not simply having you run through the show's massive story and just letting you take a character through a few fights against a variety of enemies. While the fights seemed to be pairings from the show, there is no attempt to force the player to tackle them in any kind of order.
Raging Blast 2's story mode is called Galaxy Mode, and you are presented with a universe of worlds that represent your unlocked characters. Selecting a character presents a series of fights that not only unlock new abilities, customizations and extras like artwork, but also new characters. Like I said, most of these fights are easily pulled from the show, but there are also a few that are simply amusing matchups.
Raging Blast 2 also boasts an enormous lineup, but like the previous version, it counts the characters' different forms as different fighters instead of a transformation option like in the Budokai series. As a result, characters like Goku or Gohan are counted several times. That isn't to say there aren't a lot of other characters to unlock and fight as, but some of the ones chosen are a bit obscure. These are characters like Cui and Nail, who have very minor parts in the overall show; heck, in their particular arc within the show.
While Galaxy Mode tries to be different, it really feels like the developers decided to throw out the story altogether and provide no real excuse for the various fights, so those players who don't know the show's storyline (though why you would get Raging Blast if that was the case is beyond me) will find the lack of any kind of cohesion between the many fights a bit confusing.
Raging Blast 2 also comes with the standard fare of Versus modes, both online and local, as well as the ever-present World Tournament Mode, both standard and Cell Games versions. A real gem is buried a bit in the Museum option where you can not only view the art that you've unlocked, but also a remake of one of the earliest DBZ movies, Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. It's a nice little extra that adds a bit of value to the overall package.
