Biting into Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku II for the first time is not unlike eating a fried drumstick.  It has a tasty, crispy coating (the first half hour), an unpleasant layer of fat (the second hour) and delicious dark meat underneath (the rest of the game).

The action starts pretty quickly, but comes to a halt when you reach West City.  The Legacy of Goku II is based on the Trunks saga, which is interesting, and all, but it had one extremely dull part that could have been left out of the game: a scavenger hunt.  It's different on the show (though still boring).  In the game you must run around, talk to various people, collect various items and eventually return a precious key to a mayor who won't talk to anyone who doesn't have an appointment (or something he wants).  This sort of thing is very common in RPGs, and this is an RPG-type game.  Still, it wasn't necessary, and what follows is so good that you'll wish this part hadn't been included.

The developers must have realized that the first game was just too short, because The Legacy of Goku II is packed with a lot more gameplay.  There are more characters to use, more moves to perform, more areas to explore and several more enemies to fight.  Although it rarely prevents the player from progressing, there are quite a few areas in the game that can only be accessed by specific characters.  One door might say have the number 30 written in green, while another has 25 written in light blue.  That means that only Piccolo and Gohan can enter those doors, provided that they have reached levels 30 and 25, respectively.

Most of the character-specific areas are either intended to be accessed at specific times in the game (in which your character will almost definitely be at the required level), or are considered a side objective that does not have to be completed.  This means that the player has the option to extend the game's life, level up each character, unlock every secret and fully conquer the game.  Or the player can simply skip what isn't necessary.

Even when skipping those unnecessary parts, The Legacy of Goku II is still more than twice as long as the original.  Aside from the increase in regular thugs, you'll have many more boss battles, most of which are more challenging than the bosses from the first game.  As Gohan, you'll get to spar with friends like Tien, and although you won't gain any experience points by defeating them, you will earn valuable strength power-up items.

The combat has also been improved.  It's now faster and more entertaining, though still not on par with the top-tier action/RPGs.  Energy blasts are still an important part of battling, but now the game emphasizes hand-to-hand combat.  The androids can absorb energy, remember?  So you can't just blast them into the sky.  Nor can you blast deformed monsters to smithereens when you have run out of energy power.  Boulders contain energy and health recovery items that'll aid you in your quest.  You can also regain energy by defeating enemies that are carrying energy balls (this is random and undetectable).

When becoming a Super Saiyan, you'll be able to run faster and attack with 50 to 100% more power.  The Super Saiyan transformation is based on the amount of energy you have, so if it is completely depleted, you won't be able to become a Super Saiyan.

There's a world map this time around, too.  It's set up just like the world map in Final Fantasy VI.  The reason a world map was necessary is because of the nature of the game.  As mentioned before, many areas are restricted to specific characters, and those characters must have reached specific levels before they can pass through.  Plus, there are several strength, power and endurance items hidden throughout the game.  If one is missed, you always have the chance to come back and try to find it later.  Furthermore, as time passes, certain parts of the world will change.  They won't change so greatly that you'll be in awe, but there are enough small differences to make them worth revisiting.

When I finished the first game, I wanted a sequel that was more of the same but improved.  I also wanted a sequel that couldn't be beaten in one sitting.  One year later, that sequel is here.  Dragonball Z fans are gonna love this game, and I'm sure there are at least a few people out there who will enjoy it even if they don't like DBZ.  How do I know this?  Because I stopped watching DBZ before the Trunks saga finished.  I like the characters though, and Webfoot Technologies has really done a good job of taking DBZ and turning it into a game.

Gameplay: 7.5
Super Saiyans.  Androids.  Guys with really big hair.  Yeah, it's all here, and it's great.  Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku II is what I hoped it would be – more of what I liked about the first game, only better.

Graphics: 7.3
The Legacy of Goku II doesn't improve much on its visuals.  The super-brief cinematics are more fluid (perhaps due to the recent revelation that the GBA can handle full-motion video), but other than that the graphics are almost exactly the same.

Sound: 8.8
The Legacy of Goku II's soundtrack is an enormous improvement over the original.  There are some familiar tunes, a remixed version of the main theme, and a bunch of newer-sounding tracks that help push this game towards the full-fledged RPG status it's gunning for.  The music is extremely varied, ranging from the usual upbeat songs that Dragonball Z fans expect to hear to deeper, more powerful tracks that will no doubt catch the attention of the hardcore crowd.  If all Game Boy Advance games sounded this good, no one would be able to tell that it has such a weak sound processor.

Difficulty: Easy
Just as before, any problem that is found in this game can be solved by leveling up.  The exception would be the lame scavenger hunt in the beginning, but that really wasn't that difficult – just annoying and time-consuming.

Concept: 7.2
Conceptually, The Legacy of Goku II is not a huge improvement, considering that the majority of the gameplay style was already laid out for them from the first game.  What the developers did do, however, was take a good concept and make the game itself – the final end result – a much better experience.

Overall: 7.5
If you buy The Legacy of Goku II, one thing's for certain – it won't give you the DBZzzzzz.  Most likely it'll keep you up all night, with its lengthier quest and more involved characters.