3/5 ★ – KHFanXIII's review of Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku.

The Legacy of Goku series is one I've always heard good things about... except for the first one. This was a game that I myself had for my GBA, but (being a dumb child) I could never figure out how to progress past the first area. Was it really as bad as I've seen people make it out to be? To cut straight to the point no, it wasn't. I'm unsure of why this game is considered so bad. Granted, I haven't played the sequels, but they must improve on this game a ton, as I thought this one was fairly fun. Combat is a little clunky but, not unplayable. You only get three special attacks in the game, which is kind of a bummer, and due to that, it can get a bit repetitive. This is an RPG, but a very light one. The max level is only 25. I will say that there is some light grinding in this game, I recommend immediately grinding to at least level 5 in the starting area (I also did some on Namek), but honestly, I found the game to be pretty easy once you get the Solar Flare move (and even before then if you know how to exploit the enemy AI). Most of my time was spent doing Solar Flare, Kamehameha wave, run away to let my Ki recharge. The story in this game is the story of Dragon Ball Z. It covers from the beginning of Z until the defeat of Frieza on Namek. I think it retells the story fine, nothing special, but it fits this game's style enough. Comparing this to the last Dragon Ball RPG I played (the first Super Gokuden game), I feel like this game is a vast improvement, or at least I enjoyed this one a lot more. You just take so much more of an active role in this game as opposed to the near visual novel approach of the last game. The only problem I had in the game was when trying to figure out the artifact placement in the temple on Namek. I think the game was trying to give me a clue with the statues in the temple, but I just didn't understand it and ended up wandering around the temple for quite some time until I eventually stumbled upon where I needed to be. My only real gripe with the game overall (and this was a bigger problem in the first Super Gokuden game) is that you can only play as Goku. Due to this, the story breezes by as portions where Goku isn't there are just kind of skipped over, or replaced with a short playable section with Goku. Hoping this gets fixed in the sequels. My time in this game clocked in around the 7-8 hour mark. Pretty short, especially for an RPG (although my time with Super Gokuden 1 wasn't much longer). This was probably due to the lack of any real optional content in the game outside of a pretty lame boss early on as well as some small fetch-quests during a level (which only reward you with experience or a healing item). I did them all, but it's not quite fulfilling, but I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're looking for the experience. Overall, I thought the Legacy of Goku was a fairly solid game, with some areas it could be improved in, and not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. Looking forward to playing the sequel, but first, I'll be starting my journey through the Budokai series.