[12/9/07] Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

[Devia Eleven]

 

Published by: Atari

Developed by: Spike / Namco Bandai

Genre: 3D Fighting

Number of Players: 1-2

Release Date:

US: November 13, 2007

Japan: October 4, 2007

Australia: November 23, 2007

ESRB Content Descriptors: Cartoon Violence, Mild Language

Also Available On: Wii

Emulators: PCSX2

 

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is supposedly the last installment to the Budokai Tenkaichi series. Even though this series has made a pin-point in Dragon Ball gaming history it falls a bit short of hard core Dragon Ball fans. Following the same tradition of adding 20 new characters each sequel along with recycled game modes. it has yet to completely polish the true Dragon Ball gaming experience. This game is 80% exact to the last game, and it's probably not worth purchasing, if you've played the last games, this one doesn't bring much more to the table. It's painful to see Dragon Ball games falling under all other fighting games as the game developers and companies add little content after each sequel. This game is what Budokai Tenkaichi 2 should have been. They rushed the game and only focused on adding more characters, and they know that people will break their necks to buy this game just because of these petty additions. I hope this will be the last Dragon Ball game on last-gen consoles and hopefully they will hand this title over to some good developers unlike Spike and Bandai Namco games who literally half-ass anime fighting games.

 

 

This time around they decided to keep last year's models, along with some new models. The game doesn't use the full potential of the PS2 or the Wii. Even though some effects are impressive, this game wasn't ever really steered to the visual side. The special effects and attacks look polished and more similar to the actual anime than any other Dragon Ball game I've played in 3-Dimensions. The stages look decent, and are great to look at but at the same time they aren't anything special. The in-game menus look top-notch. but the game models have crappy cel-shading quality which can bother some hard core fans. The transformations have been completely revamped, to look more like the anime, and they take about 6-7 seconds to initiate, unlike the last game where it took nearly 3 seconds. While the transformations can be good to look at, they also become repetitive, and there should be an option to take these off or not, for the more impatient players.

 

 

In this game, rarely any new modes were added, everything has been dumped over and nothing has changed basically. You have your basic Duel Mode, where you can fighting against the computer or play against a friend. There is also a Tag-Team mode that lacks Tag attacks, and 4 players which would seem more logical for Tag Team. Then you have your all-worthy story mode, where it contains content from Dragon Ball to GT to really hype up those fanboys. This time they took out the free-roam system where the player can fly around the Earth and talk to other people. In replacement to this, they added a new feature that allows characters to talk and speculate about the battle taking place, while you are fighting. Which is very similar to Dragon Ball, where the more weaker Z-Fighters sit back and comment on how strong someone is. HOWEVER, this isn't the only new feature in story mode. There is also a feature where it requires the player to press R3, pressing R3 activates a storymode cutscene/fight scene, where it correlates to what happens in the anime. These cut scenes involve button pressing at correct times. R3 can also dictate what happens in the battle, you can either kick the snot out of the opponent or press R3 which triggers a cutscene and sometimes a transformation. After while storymode can seem extremely repetitive. even when fighting on the highest level. Completing the story takes only 5-6 hours to pull off at the most. After doing this the players main motive is to unlock all characters in the game. Saying this, it means that there it little of nothing else to do after completing story mode, although, if you are a RPG fan, there is a mode regarding that. A mode that allows the player to construct an existing character within the Dragon Ball Z roster, and build his/her stats from the ground up. It does involve training, and fighting other players for EXP points. This is a good feature that can keep the player busy. The tournament mode is now also revamped, the revamption (not a word) of this mode was a bad choice. This mode is used to unlock characters. The bad thing is, you need to beat certain tournaments at certain difficulty levels to unlock 1 character. You cannot choose the levels, you have to keep coming back to Tournament mode until the game randomly picks the difficulty mode that you desire. There is a clock that dictates which tournaments open at what times, and it's just too tedious to get to where you need to go. Not to mention the option of player against a friend.

 

 

Then you have your options mode, where you can Save/Load, change the langauge settings, sound and screen settings along with customizing your configuration settings. There is also a bonus mode that can be gained if you own both Tenkaichi 1 and 2, it transfers modes from the last game onto this one. It involves the same things as the last games so it seems a bit pointless in it's entirety. There are a few ways to unlock different characters, some involving collecting Dragon Balls in story which becomes flat out boring and repetitive. Most of the characters you unlock are minor ones, and mostly aren't worth unlocking. That was the bad thing about all of the new characters that sucked and had no major purpose in the story mode. That's on a personal level. The Wii version allows players to play online. I know nothing about this because I don't own the Wii version and I have never played it, so that mode goes unexplained. Even though I have not bothered to explore all of the modes of this game, I doubt I will find anything worth while.

 

Let's talk about the sound shall we? The game contains both English and Japanese voice acting. I prefer the Japanese because it gives the full Dragon Ball feel. I also get tired of hearing Enlish voice actors. The music consists of soft and hard rock techno music, that capture different battle situations. They seem too generic, and similar others that I've heard in previous Dragon Ball games. The sound effects are up to par this time, and the moves/explosions/effect sounds are amazing. They are 100% similar to the anime. There are also some Dragon Ball Z movie theme songs that can be used, along with some original Japanese sung theme songs for the real fans. Another thing about the sound is the narrating in the story mode by Dragon Ball characters. These were interesting, because they consisted of different characters reading text or talking to other characters from the past. They start to get a bit off topic and it starts to get amusing at times aswell.

 

 

This time around the training and practice modes have been improved and they help the average newcomer to pick up some Dragon Ball lingo. The combos have been improved aswell, and some combos are similar to ones that are in the anime. Many are considerably hard to figure out, but once you do they come in handy. Most combos are fast paced, and if both players are advanced players the match will literally look like an anime match. This game is the only game that really captured the melee system well, according to the anime. The computer will stop at nothing to make sure that your matches are lost, especially while fighting on the highest level. The computer will commit the deadliest combos and reversals that will make your blood boil, but the only easy way to escape such a predicament is to train. To point out some major errors in this game starts with the story mode. Where the game will make you fight with certain characters and will demand that you survive for a certain amount of time. It can be very arduous to do, and is painstakingly frustrating at times making you want to scream at your television set. I would point out these things but there are just too many. If you played previous games you should know what I mean.

 

Coming to a conclusion with this game, if you aren't a Dragon Ball fan, you might like the melee system and the fast paced action packed fighting system. It might take the average user a bit to learn but it's all worth while. This game certainly isn't worth the purchase. Considering that it's 90% alike to it's predecessor. It's defiantly worth the rent though. This is a Dragon Ball game that can suck into the Dragon Ball universe with all of it's stages, characters, fighting, and content. Hopefully in the future Dragon Ball games will surpass previous games with next-gen potential.

 

Pros:

-- Extreme amount of Dragon Ball content

-- Online Play

-- Great special effects

 

Cons:

-- Same as last year

-- PS2 doesn't have Online Play

 

7.0 Presentation

6.5 Graphics

8.0 Sound

7.5 Gameplay

7.6

[BlackKnight]

I hate the way devs slack off when working with licenses.

 

Nice review- I've played the first Budokai and enjoyed it at the time but am not at all a DBZ fan... is this one worth a download even?

[Devia Eleven]

This one is worth the download, it's a fun game that drys out in a couple of weeks.

[L.S.D]

I still remember the first Budokai on PS2. It was really fun that time. Never play another since then

 

A fan of the manga but it all sadly went downhill especially when they start those crappy "fusion" look