Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku plays like a really slow version of Zelda, except for the combat, which relies more on projectile attacks instead of sword swipes.  You can't run, but you can fly for a limited time by collecting several winged power-ups.  Flying allows you to speed past enemies without being attacked, but its main purpose is to help you traverse the game's multi-tiered levels.  At first it's a little confusing, since it's hard to make out some of the tiers from the game's slightly angled top-down view.  But after a short while, it's pretty easy.  A flying meter is used to regulate the amount of time that you spend in the air.  The meter expands every time you level up, allowing you to fly longer.

And...that's about it.  There are other gameplay aspects, such as collecting lost items and returning them to their owners.  There is also one dungeon-like temple.  However, you'll spend the majority of the game blasting enemies.  The game doesn't have a chance to get repetitive though.  You'll find out why later in the review.

Classic scenes from the show are re-enacted in the game.  They're cheesy, but in a good way.  I laughed out loud the first time I saw Krillin freak out.  There are no voice-overs used to tell the story, but I could still hear Krillin's whiney voice in my head!  The scenarios are the same, but more laughable.  I can't explain why, they just are.  I'm not complaining though.  I haven't laughed this hard at a game that wasn't supposed to be funny since Resident Evil came out (the original PSone version).  I wouldn't want all games to be cheesy, but in this case I like it.  I mean come 'on, who doesn't love classic lines like, "It must have happened when you hit your head as a child.  Oh my!"  For those of you who already know the DBZ story (or just don't feel like reading through all of the text), you can skip each paragraph by pressing the B button.

There are times when death seems inevitable.  Goku is unrealistically helpless against wild cats.  You can blast them, but they'll still keep coming.  You can run, but they run faster!  Your only decent defense is to punch them, but if there is more than one cat attacking you, it may be impossible to win.  There aren't nearly enough herbs to compensate for the extremely difficult enemies that swarm around you early in the game.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining in all of this.  When you continue from a saved game, Goku is completely healed.  So you could do what I did and take full advantage of this feature.  Spend a lot of time leveling up in any enemy-filled area.  Kill as many enemies as you can and save often.  When your health gets low, don't heal, just let yourself die -- you need to save the items for later!  Doing this should allow you to beat it with little trouble.

Just when this game really begins to pick up the pace, it ends.  When the words "Developed by..." appeared, my immediate reaction was a disappointed "WHAT?"  I assumed that this would be a short (but hopefully sweet) experience, but I never expected to beat it so quickly.  The game said 5:10 when I saved just before the final battle with Frieza.  Add an additional 50 minutes for all of the dying that took place, and you've got yourself a six-hour game.  Some of you will probably be able to beat it even faster than that.  RPGs are generally a lot longer than, say, the average Tomb Raider clone.  Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku is the first RPG I've played that can be beaten in a day.  At thirty bucks, you're spending an estimated five dollars an hour to play this game.  That's an awful lot of money for a game that offers only a week or two's worth of replay value.  I was in no hurry to play through this game again.  Instead, I wanted a new world to explore and new enemies to defeat.  I also wanted Goku to reach his full potential.  He only has three main attacks, and his level maxes out at 25!  I don't care if they're following the rules of the show or not, because this is a video game, and a video game should take the experience above and beyond its original medium.

For all of its faults, Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku delivered a decent gameplay experience that left me wanting more.  I was frustrated by its slow, aggravating gameplay, but I still enjoyed it enough to keep playing and I hated to see it end.  Die hard DBZ fans will probably love it, and RPG lovers will probably like it.  But if length is of any concern to you, save your money and rent it.  If the short length doesn't matter, then this might be the DBZ game you've been waiting for.  It's the best one thus far.  Hopefully a better (and longer) sequel will be released next year.

Gameplay: 6.9
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku wasn't anything like I expected, but it turned out okay.  The slow pace is not very DBZ-like, but this is an action/RPG, so it's not as if that could have been helped much.  I look forward to watching this series grow.  It has an endless amount of potential.

Graphics: 7 
The backgrounds are bright and colorful.  Most of them aren't too detailed, but I was impressed by the FMV and the inside of an abolished home on Namek.

Sound: 6
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku doesn't sound too bad.  In fact, I like one of the songs.  However, the soundtrack is mostly repetitive and it sounds nothing like the music from the animated series.  Goku's voice-over (yeah -- you read it right, there's only one) becomes really annoying after the first few times you hear it.

Difficulty: Easy
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku is frustrating and cheap, but it's rarely challenging.  Leveling up solves all enemy problems, and most of the important items are really easy to find.  Frieza was a pretty easy boss, considering that he was the last enemy in the game.

Concept: 7 
Without a doubt, Webfoot Technologies (the developer of the game) were headed in the right direction for creating a stellar DBZ game.  They ran into a few bumps along the way, but all of them could be fixed in the sequel (if there is one).

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 6.7
It's hard to believe that nearly 100 episodes of Dragonball Z are crammed into six hours of gameplay.  Personally I would have rather had six episodes of the show and 100 hours of gameplay.  Being the short game that it is, hardcore RPGers may be seriously disappointed.  If you don't love DBZ, you probably shouldn't buy this game.