If you want an amazing game to occupy you, then this game is the choice for you.
The first thing you'll see is of course, the graphics. It's not a major rehaul or anything of the sort. It's still that wonderful cel-shading that gives our favorite demi-gods that animish look we love so much. They're very clean and smooth and you'll be awed by their beauty. The environments are just as beautiful and you'll be amazed by their detail at first sight. You'll also pleased when you see the amazing looking characters bust through those wow inducing environments and reduce mountains to rubble.
Still, just because the characters look like their anime counterparts, doesn't mean they a perfect appearnace or resemblance. For example, Goten's face is way too buggy and lined to truly resemble the artwork of Akira Toriyama. Another mistake you'll find is Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta who was annoyingly narrow eyes. I know that this seems like something unworthy of pointing out but if you're a nitpicker then feel free to find the worst looking 3-D rendered character.
Now let's stop praising or bashing the graphics and move onto sound and music. The music is what've you come to expect from the series. The music is from the original Budokai series as well as some new tracks. All of it is intense and fast paced and get's you itching to beat something to a bloody pulp.
Where the music rises, the sound sometimes falls. Although most sound effects are clean and sound as it would sound in the anime. However, some of the voice acting is a little lackluster in execution and it makes you question whether the Funimation voices will keep staying around to reprise their roles.
I'm sure some of you gamers and DBZ fans want to know just how well DBB3 has succeeded in terms of gameplay. Let me tell you, it's definitely an incredible experience that'll have you playing for hours on end. And guess what? This time, you're allowed to fly at a moment's notice! I'm sure any DBZ fans is squealing at the prospect (and if you really do squeal, you have problems) You'll also get a whopping mount of 38 characters (not including transformations) that all play well and uniquely.
Before you go into any battle, well at least in this game, you should be prepared with capsules. A staple of both the game and the anime, capsules are used for a variety of reasons. They serve as items, powerups as well as attacks that you can use in battle.
You've got the basic stuff: a guard button, an energy button and a punch and kick button. You can use the guard button to block attacks and such and use the energy button to deliver small ki blasts and perform special moves. The punch and kick buttons can be used as you'd expect them to be used: punching and kicking through short and cool looking combos. This is utilised very well considering how each character plays quite differently (some more than others) The shoulder buttons also come into play but telling you what they do is kinda pointless since you can make a set of custom controls that can be suited to your needs.
Along with this, you get to use ki, a staple of the Dragonball anime. This is used to deliver energy blasts and perform special moves. To do this, you're gonna have to charge up your ki, which is measured in seven bars. Each character gets a baseline ki, which determines how much ki you start off with. If you go over it, your ki will slowly decrease and if you go under, it'll slowly recover until you reach your baseline once more.
You're going to be charging a lot of ki to utilise a very important part of fighitng in DBZ. Special attacks, which can be performed by entering in a combo or with a simple press of a button. With enough ki, you can launch attacks like the ever popular Kamehameha wave to the lost in obscurity Galic Gun. You can also launch big, nuclear explosion causing attacks that you can view safely from space. These are launched by entering Hyper Mode and either using Dragon Launch or by pressing the four face buttons at the same time.
Speaking of Hyper Mode, you better learn to use it if you plan on performing some killer attacks. You can activate it by pressing the four face buttons at once and you'll become red and become impervious to weak attacks. However, your ki will be drained to zero over time and you'll eventually exit out of the mode. So, you better either launch an ultimate attack or begin Dragon Rush.
Dragon Rush is another new addition to the epic gameplay and it's and interesting one to say the least. It starts by you or your opponent knocking your opponent away in Hyper Mode and pressing the energy button right afterwards. You then go into three stages in a rock-paper-scissors esque match. At each stage, you'll be given the option to press one of the face buttons (the later stages won't include the button you pressed in the previous stage) and if your opponent presses the same button, the Dragon Rush is canceled out. The Dragon Rush can cause major damage if you're lucky but unfortunately, everyone's Dragonrush is virtually the same except for the end.
Dimps gave us even more goodies with a whole bunch of capabilites that fill us with that wonderful Dragonball feeling. Now you have the ability nearly all physical attacks by tapping the guard button at the right moment. Yeah, I know you love it. You also get a teleportation counter that, although it takes up three ki bars, let's you avoid a nasty attack that could have cost you the battle. You can also use teleportation differently by knocking your opponent into the air like a pinball. It certainly provides a nostalgic feeling, doesn't it?
This is all fun and good but it comes at a price. Along with your health and ki, you'll see a little figure that goes from blue to yellow to red. This is your fatigue meter. The more fatigued you get, the tougher it is to win power struggles as well as succeed/block ultimate attacks. And when you get really exhausted or drain all your ki Hyper Mode, you'll have to take a breather and spin the analog sticks to recover. You might get frustrated at teams but it's a perfect way to keep gameplay balanced.
The menu is pretty much the same. You've got Dueling, World Tournament, Practice and all the other regulars. However, you've got two new additions. Dragon Universe and Dragon Arena. Dragon Arena must be unlocked first so you'll want to discover the features of it yourself.
Dragon Universe is the new and improved replacement of the incredibly lame board game that existed in Budokai 2. This time, you'll be given the option to fly around the world through eleven characters. Each character (with the exception of two) closely follow their story in DBZ by going to red points indicated on the map. You're also given the chance to deviate from the original story and perform things that their manga counterparts would never do. This is where you can also find dragonballs to wish for capsules, money (zenni in the DBZ universe) and tons of other goodies. The extra are great but the story is a bit lame. Instead of watching the action unfold, you'll see character sprites with speech bubbles talk through the stories with occasional sound effects. Although, there are some strange moments where there's no speech and the story kinda skips over from one point to another, leaving you to wonder just how butchered this show can get.
Overall, an excellent game for even the non DBZ fan. It's fast and furious and provides a whole bunch of fun and variety. DBZ fans will be pleased with all the stuff you can do to make yourself feel like a DBZ warrior. You might be a little disappointed that some major characters are missing along with some environmets M.I.A. or not in the condition you'd expect them to be. Sound can also be a little disappointing at times but overall good. However, the greaty gameplay outweighs the cons so much that it can draw in even those that aren't interested in DBZ with it's intense action. If you want an amazing game to occupy you, then this game is the choice for you.