Simply put, if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan, or know someone who is, get this game. It’s the title they’ve been waiting f
There have been two previous versions of the Budokai series already released, both of which were acceptable titles, but nothing really worth recommending to the general public. Budokai 3 takes everything that was good about the previous two games, throws away what didn’t work, and adds enough to make this version a good title.
Those familiar with the show will tell you Dragon Ball Z is all about flashy energy attacks, frenetic fighting pace, and battles that can go on forever. Budokai 3 captures that perfectly with its fighting system, and with the visual representation of the action on screen. Everything you remember from the show seems to make an appearance in the game. Massive beams which can destroy planets can be hurled at opponents, and in some instances your opponent can fire back an enormous beam of their own resulting in a struggle to see which powerful attack wins out.
Hand to hand combat is handled through two basic buttons in conjunction with directional button presses. You can also dodge or block any attack and even teleport behind your enemy with a perfectly timed button press. Both players can do all of the above, and the use of the teleport technique in the hands of two great players should make for a very technical match that may last for a long while.
Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 is very easy to pick up and play, especially if you start by trying out the practice mode in the game. You’ll find that within 10 minutes you’ll know how to perform devastating beam attacks, and even perform a few basic combos. Budokai 3 is one of those titles that does a good job of making it accessible to novices, and offers up more then enough to keep advanced gamers happy as well. The draw of this title (besides the license and its characters) will undoubtedly be the flashy over the top graphics and animations. Each character is able to perform several over the top devastating techniques, all of which require direct input from the player after the attack has been launched. In Budokai 3 launching a dragon rush attack does not guarantee success to the player – after launching the attack the offensive player will have to press one of the four face buttons on the Playstation 2 controller in a set time limit, and if the defending player happens to press that same button as well in that time limit, the attack is either minimized or cancelled out entirely. This occurs three times for each dragon rush attack, so that three of the four face buttons will have to be pressed. Once a button is pressed by the offensive player it’s removed from the list as possible buttons available for the remaining rounds of the ongoing attack. It’s a tick tack toe method of playing where the odds start out in favor of the offensive player, and by the time you get to the last round in your attack the defensive player will have a 50% chance of guessing correctly which button you pressed, thus keeping the offensive player from truly completing the move.
Another category of over the top moves, the ultimate attacks, will also use three round systems to determine if you’re successful or not. However these attacks use a moving energy bar which requires you to press any button as the bar is as close to maximum level as possible. The player who presses their button as close to the top of the energy bar during all three rounds wins the attack and the struggle.
Regardless of who wins out during these attacks both players will have a visual feast as they play out the ultimate attacks. These attacks are ripped almost entirely from the show, and are animated to feel like they were taken directly from the show. You’ll see from space, as the game passes and cuts away from the action, to show you that planets are being demolished thanks to your deadly moves. The environments are also affected by your titanic struggles, as they are destroyed by what you’re doing.
The voice acting from the actual television show lends their talents, and further elevates the game’s appeal to Dragon Ball Z fanatics. The music is also influenced heavily by the series (as you might expect), and while everything that is there is top notch, there’s certainly quite a bit more that could have been added voice wise to add to the experience of gamers.
What Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 delivers to gamers, it delivers at a high caliber, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for future improvement. The single player’s top mode, the DragonUniverse, is supposed to function like an RPG telling of the history of the Dragon Ball Z television series. While the mode is adequate in what it does, had it truly incorporated a long RPG style of gameplay, and used animated (as opposed to static) cut scenes to tell the story, you could very well be looking at one of the best titles ever created. It’s one of the things to improve upon for the next version of the Budokai series hopefully.
Simply put, if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan, or know someone who is, get this game. It’s the title they’ve been waiting for, for 10 plus years now. Even if you’re not a fan of the series (and that would put you in a very small group who doesn’t know about this franchise), you’ll find enough in the game to make it a worthy rental.