Good
There's a modest collection of play modes available to you from the get-go, starting with the single-player mode ported over directly from the arcade version. This is a pure arcade fighter, with nary a story sequence to watch, putting you straight into the action after a brief flyover over the stage. You also have a survival mode and versus battle. The game does a good job of making you feel rewarded for playing through these modes repeatedly, even if they do lack any significant story elements. For one thing, you can earn experience for your custom characters in order to make them stronger. Secondly, you can win Dragon Balls from defeated opponents, seven of which can be used to summon the dragon Shenron. The great dragon looks a lot like Trogdor the Burninator, although without the beefy arm. Anyways, collect a septuplet of balls and he'll grant you a wish, which can either upgrade your character's fighting skills, or unlock some of the game's hidden content. Character-specific unlockables can be used multiple times across all your custom characters, while the special unlockables only require a single trip down summoning lane in order to enjoy the new features, like new characters, additional in-game voiceovers and other goodies. It's too bad you can't wish for more wishes.
Super Dragon Ball Z has solid fighting-game action, simpler than some of the fighting games you may have played with ten-string combos, but different enough from other traditional fighting games to provide its own challenge and unique flavor. For one thing, projectile attacks are a huge part of this game, far outweighing the power of the energy blasts in the screen-filling Marvel vs. Capcom series. There's a great variety to these projectile attacks, with different properties to them for each character. Frieza, for instance, can launch a triple-volley of bolts in rapid-fire succession, and they'll even home in on you if you jump over them or drop down to the ground to evade. His Frieza Cutter move, a spinning saw blade of energy, will also track you laterally, making his moves especially hard to dodge. Vegeta tosses very fast fireballs, and can splay them in a wide arc to catch even the peskiest of side-steppers. His aim is good enough that even if you jump, you'll still catch one of these blasts in the face, so your best bet is to fire off a projectile of your own to cancel it out. Majin Buu can charge his spread ball projectile, which causes multiple hits on enemies and also serves as a forward shield blocking incoming blasts. The weakness here, of course, is that quick-thinking enemies will sidestep once you start charging and make you pay with a quick dash inside.
There's not a huge variety of moves available per character, but the handful that are included are fun to pull off. Being able to extend Piccolo's arms to grab an enemy halfway across the screen is a blast, even if the long windup makes it a risky move. One concern is that the game may not be the most balanced, with the sword-wielding Trunks and Super Gohan seeming to have a definite reach advantage, and some characters having far more useful long-range attacks than others, with Frieza and Cell coming to mind. Every character has a powerful enough move-set to put up a good fight, though, and making intelligent use of movement abilities can quickly turn the tide in any battle. If you're getting peppered at long range, for instance, you can always sidestep and quickly dash in to attack. If you're having trouble on the ground, it's not very hard to take to the skies and fly away from your opponent, unleashing ranged attacks and playing the distance game. There are plenty of ways to approach combat, and you can always play to your characters' strengths, but if you decide to keep throwing your friends when playing head-to-head, don't be surprised if you get punched in the nose.
