Best In Series So Far.
the most long awaited and best sequel so far.
Graphically it's pretty much identical to the 2nd in the series, but still manages somehow to improve upon it's cel shaded appeal and increase it even more so with more detailed characters and backgrounds that ooze in dragonball appeal. Every characters looks unique as with the art style leaving to a nice feeling for the eyes.
The audio in the game is pretty much identical to the last installment of the game. The new voice clips, power up sounds and special move voice overs are varied and unique and are over the top like you expect any dragonball game to have and that's a good thing, everyone sounds crazy and that gives the nostalgic feeling of being in a real dragonball fight once more. The music is your basic DBZ fast track of action music and is not much to be desired but still keeps you in the mood for a good bashing.
Gameplay wise the story mode has yet again to avoid fan notice somewhat but manages to at least keep you interested this time around. It's a pretty simple system when you put it in point form. Fly around, interact with small amount of towns and items, complete a quest, repeat. By doing this you unlock items, characters and gain experience and money to use in another mode called Dragon Arena. Which is basically a level based combat fighting zone in which you can enter your friends code and fight against there character. A long ways away from Long Distance Multiplayer but with DBZ games, fans have learned to take what they can get.
The fighting system in the game has always been the main focus and in Budokai 3 , is the main focus.
New special moves, a few new characters and more customized animations and focus on detailing each character have made this Budokai definitely the top of it's series. The inclusion of a Counter Teleportation mode (which if you like dragonball is a dead ringer for fun) and power struggles was a must have that came right from the voices of the fans and into the developers laps. These must needed additions add a ton of variety to the fights that was craved and is a welcomed treat.
Dragon Rush however is the most debated about feature and it simply boils down to Rock Paper Scissors duo. If you throw an opponent into this barrage of fists your treated to a nice graphical interactive cinematic in the Rock Paper Scissors duo, the more you push the opposite button of your opponent, the more you will impact him until you reach the final 3rd match then pull your final move or special move if the capsule is equipped. This would've been much better if each character had there own custom moves in each section of the duel but as for a new addition right now it is also welcome.
The fighting mechanics are essentially the same beyond this to Budokai 2 but I won't cut them short, the additions and new animations that are more detailed add a lot of spice that was missing and makes this game much better then it's predecessor.
With the main list of characters there and new characters put in this is basically any DBZ lovers game and is a must own for fans of all ages and even those who just got into the whole series in itself.