DragonBall Z Burst Limit, despite the few problems it has, is the best in the series, and truly captures the DBZ feel!
The story of DragonBall Z Burst Limit which is called Z Chronicles, follows right the way from the Saiyan Saga, up to the Cell Saga, with 2 bonus Saga's which basically is the Bardock and Broly Saga's respectively. The acting in it is amazing, now usually in anime most people will bash it for the English not being as good as the Japanese, but in this it's just as epic watching Goku turn Super Saiyan in English and in Japanese. There are some inaccuracies in the story, like when Goku turns Super Saiyan, the planet Namek isn't about to explode, it's a little while after fighting Frieza in his new state that the planet starts to tear apart. They do miss out on a few fights, like SSJ Goku vs Android 19, and Vegeta vs some of the members of the Ginyu Force, and that apparently there is an island behind Kame's House. Whilst new comers won't see this, anime fans alike will notice this. Now I'm not expecting it to be 100% accurate, but if they had all the fight scenes, it would make for a better deal. It does however have 6 types of difficulty, ranging from Very Easy to Z Mode, of course you only start off with 3, so you'll have to work your way up to become the ultimate Z fighter. It can take you 2 hours to do Z Chronicles on 1 difficulty, but there are goals for each match, which are all the same. They can be fairly easy to pull off, some are "finish the enemy in 90 seconds", "Use a Pursuit Attack" and "Land the first blow", and all add up to the ranking for that fight. This is a great idea, as it gives you more incentive to replay the fight, and "hone your skills" to become better.
The controls are very complicated, and at first, you'll need to go through all the 3 Training Modes, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, to even have the slightest chance of completing Z Chronicles. This is not a game newcomers and even veterans of the Budokai series will be able to jump straight into, it looks a lot more complicated then it seems, which can be said for a quite a few games. The training takes place in different saga's, which is good, and there is a clear explanation of what to do and how. Eventually after going through all the tutorials, which might take you 15-30 minutes, you'll be able to pull of Transformations, Ki Blasts, Vanish Attacks and more, whilst going through Z Chronicles you'll have to use a bit of strategy, like when to transform into a Super Saiyan, when to Block and when to use a Heavy Smash. If you just go head on into battle, you'll probably find yourself battered by the A.I, whom will occasionally spam an attack or two here and there. This can be annoying, as when you're far away from them, I found them spamming a normal Kamehameha or Ki blasts, meaning I would then have to resort to it too. I'll give you a few of the controls, Square is to do a light attack, Triangle is to perform a heavy attack, which will go through the Blocks, Circle is your Ki Blasts, and X can be used to dodge as soon as the enemy is about to hit you.
The gameplay is, again, more complicated then past DBZ games. One problem I have is the amount of characters and areas, 5 areas and only 22 characters, not alot if you compare this to past games. You can have different colours of course, here and there, doesn't in anyway effect your gameplay, so no excuses if you get beat in a different costume. You have whats known as a Fatigue Gauge, if yours fills up, you'll be too tired to continue fighting, leaving you vulnerable for a couple of seconds. Alternately if this happens to your opponent, you should go on an offensive and launch an Ultimate Finish Attack, which is essentially a charged Ki Blast in Aura Spark mode. Your Fatigue Gauge will fill up if you use Vanishing technique, Dodge or simply being attacked by the enemy and vice versa for the other opponent. You have your life gauge, and under that you have these bars, which indicate how more many bars of life you have left, white meaning you have them and grey meaning you don't, quite similar to that in Metroid games. A Aura Spark is basically your character being powered up, allowing for more damage and bigger Ki blasts, alternate, if you use your beam attack, you'll have whats known as a Ultimate Finish Attack, which if hit successfully, will deal the opponent a great deal of damage, sometimes with a small cutscene, showing the true impact of the blast. In a Pursuit Attack, whoever performed it will have to tap repeatedly to hit the other opponent or A.I; alternately your opponent will need to do the same to reduce damage. There is a bar at the bottom, split up into 3 sections. If your colour goes all the way up, you'll do maximum damage, if it's in the middle, then you'll do some damage to them, and if it's in the bottom then they will have blocked all damage, and vice versa for the opposite person. You'll have to tap the buttons repeatedly, in a button mashing mini game, it's fun, but again the A.I can spam this, making your fingers hurt after 15 seconds of doing it 3 times. There are these items called Drama Pieces, which can only be activated after certain in game requirements have been fufilled, which will show you a small cutscene, and explain why they are fighting, making it easier for newcomers to understand. These will also give you a small increase or decrease in certain things like strength and lower your fatigue gauge, but these won't last long, so it's imperative to use them to your advantage. In beam struggles, which can only be activated if both players release their beams at the same time, colliding forces with each other, will have to repeatedly press the buttons to bring the beam collision closer to the other opponent. It only lasts for about 5 seconds, but all of these make the game feel like a proper DragonBall Z game, with the intensity of the fighting, and the soundtrack helps out a great deal too!
The soundtrack has to be one of the best in the DragonBall Z games; it makes you want to fight with all you got, adding a great atmosphere which, most games don't seem to do nowadays. Even if it is just some Electrical Guitars, the melodies of them are simple memorable.
There is an online feature for this game, the last game that had this was Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the Nintendo Wii, if someone doesn't have a good connection, expect quite a bit of lag, which could determine you winning, or losing. You can invite a friend to have a match if they have the game, and determine whether you want the Drama Pieces on or off. There is a Ranked Match mode, but this can be unfair as you don't seem to find someone who's as equal level to you, either they are a little lower or higher then you, meaning it could be a easy victory or crushing defeat for you. There is a Survival Mode, which pits you against 100 enemies whom you must defeat and progress, the only downside is your health recovers slightly and it is very easy to do, when you know the controls of course. This does add quite a bit of replay value, I've clocked in about 15 hours or so from doing Z Chronicles multiple times, and doing Survival mode, and plan to do more.
Overall, DragonBall Z Burst Limit is a great game to play and watch, that fans of the series and newcomers alike can enjoy, despite the few problems it has. This truely has the best DragonBall Z experience, and makes you feel like YOU are the characters, acting out the scenarios that the series is famous for.