A game DBZ fans should enjoy playing on the road for short trips.
DBZ has always been known for it's storyline that you either love or hate. This game is no different. Dragon Balls are objects that when you get seven of them you are granted a wish or three. Barely any wish is off limits, even resurrecting an entire planets population. Because of this rather awkward plot design, characters can die numerous times and come right back. What made matters worse in the series was that every time somebody died all this unnecessary drama accrued. Unnecessary because you can always bring somebody back to life, and on top of that, dead characters still get scenes in the damn cartoon. Either way, this is the game, not the series, but it follows the same principle. In Supersonic Warriors though, the games story is more of a spin off to the actual series. In DBZ Budokai for the consoles they stick to what fans remember from the series, but in Supersonic Warriors they give each character their own story in Story Mode that is quite different from the series. Even a weaker character like Piccolo can save the universe from Buu in this games Story Mode. This makes things rather interesting, but if your looking for a DBZ game that stays totally true to the series, then you'll be disappointed. Regardless if your a fan of the series, or just a newcomer trying something new, you really won't be too enticed by the stories behind Story Modes many characters.
DBZ: Supersonic Warriors gameplay works like a DBZ fighting game should work. Fighters can fly around every angle during a fight, move extremely fast, power up, and of course launch huge beams of light at their opponents. The gameplay is separated in several different modes. There’s a Z Battle mode which is basically like the typical Arcade Mode in most fighters. A Challenge mode where you challenge a team of different fighters every time. There is also a Training Mode where you can practice your skills. The main attraction though is it's Story Mode where you pick a fighter and play through his/her story. The story is usually not tied in with the events of the series completely, but it never strays too far off from the original story. There are two kinds of fights. One on one fights, and team fights. Team fights team you up with another fighter which you can switch during battle. In these kind of fights it's essential that you switch fighters like in a standard tag match to avoid getting both knocked out before victory is in your sights. Each character has a good amount of special moves, such as Kamehameha's, Special Beam Cannon's, Spirit Bomb's, and all those other popular moves from the series. Dodging them in DBZ:SW is rather easy once you learn the ropes. Besides special moves, you also have a small but useful variety of kicks and punches. Mastering both the special and the regular moves can gain you victory, but if you can't master them, then button mashing can be just as (if not more) successful. Other things like grabs and level interaction attacks (such as throwing a character through a levels boulders) are also present in DBZ:SW, but their a tad bit more complicated to pull off. The main problem with DBZ:SW, like most fighters, is that it can't help but feel repetitive after a few fighters. Regardless of who you fight with, they all feel very similar or practically the same. I found myself doing the special moves of each character using the same button combination of just one character. This made mastering one character feel like I mastered them all, which is fine for most fans of the series who usually aren't looking for a challenge, but rather just looking for something to launch a Kamehameha at.
Still, for any fighting game I feel it's more of a con than a pro. DBZ games have been having this same problem since the dawn of DBZ fighters. All fighters feel so similar that the whole game loses it's flavor before you even play as them all. Still, DBZ:SW's gameplay isn’t bad, the fighting engine is certainly original and unique unlike any other I've seen so far, and that’s definitely a pro. It's just that when every character feels the same, you can't help but get bored quick.
The graphics in Supersonic Warriors are actually quite good. The environments move as you fly around in battle, and it gives you a sort of odd 2D1/2 feel. Character models look good, they change size depending on how close you are to them in battle and it's a new feel that no other fighting game I seen had given, and special attacks are done in a very nice DBZ artistic way, especially if your all the way powered up. Character models clashing together in combat looks good, and when moving fast across the battle field the graphics help display the speed of your movements. If your a DBZ fan, you'll very much enjoy how things look.
The controls in Supersonic Warriors are obviously tilted towards the younger audience. Every characters controls are all technically the same exact thing. Doing a Special Beam Cannon with Piccolo is the same as pulling off a Kamehameha with Goku. In my opinion I enjoy more of a challenge in control variety, but I assume most DBZ fans just want to be able to simply pull off any mega beam special at will. Powering up your character is as simple as holding down a button, grabs and combos can either be pulled off by button mashing or pressing two to three buttons simultaneously. Since the controls feel the same with every character, mastering the controls with one fighter means you can pretty much handle any fighter in the game with ease. The only thing I found particularly hard to pull off was blocks and counters, but unless you expect to button mash your way through the game you won't need to use much blocking or countering.
In Supersonic Warriors sound is what you’d expect in a 2D DBZ fighter. Fighters yell out their special moves when performing them, and grown when getting knocked out. The background music is also very much what you’d expect in a DBZ game. No sound seems out of place from what I've heard. The sound isn't exactly at it's best, it could have been better, but DBZ fans will feel right at home when they hear "KA-ME-HA-ME-A!!!!!" come from Goku during a match.
Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors is a great game for those looking for a fast paced fighting game where the sky is literally the limit, but for those serious about the fighting genre they would want to certainly look elsewhere. For DBZ fans however the game offers plenty of references to the series, and has all the crazy high flying, beam shooting, earth destroying action that their familiar with. Unless your a super hardcore DBZ fan though, the game will get boring fast if your expecting to have long single player fun. Supersonic Warriors is a fun game to play in short portions, and a great game to whip out on a short car ride.
The Sweet - Blasting someone with a fully powered up Spirit Bomb attack and totally pummeling your opponent.
The Good - Team Mode. Having three fighters on a team has never made more sense. This tag team like battle system in team battles is user friendly and very fun.
The Bad - Storyline in Story Mode always seems to stray away from the series, so if your a fan of the series expecting this games story mode to be very accurate, you will most likely be disappointed, even though it is nice to see a DBZ game trying something new with how the series story could have been if the main character was actually Piccolo or Cell instead of Goku.
The Ugly - Every character in the game controls the same. This lowers the reply value quite a lot, but it's not surprising coming from a DBZ fighting game. Adding a little less similarities between the many characters in the game and it would have inspired me to bump my final score up a bit, but I like my fighting games to not only be fun, but also to give each fighter different controls to pull off moves. Supersonic Warriors just isn't challenging enough in my opinion, but I doubt DBZ fans will have a problem with this as much as I did.
You May Also Enjoy - Street Fighter Alpha 3, King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood, Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition, Digimon Battle Spirit 2, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Dual Blades, Black Belt Challenge