Playstation 2 - Dragonball Z Budokai 3

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Atari
Developer
Dimps
Country of origin
US/Japan
Genre
1 on 1 Fighter

Dragonball Z Budokai 3

By David Rasmussen
7th Feb 05

Eh...? Why am I reviewing a Dragonball Z game?
I am about as much of a fan of DBZ as the people of X-Play are... wait, oh right... it's their fault.
Seems that this version, for once, was a DBZ game that they actually liked -- so, yes, once again I have X-Play to point to when it comes to something game-wise that I'm reviewing.
This time out the game being, yes, DBZ Budokai 3.

The first thing I noticed about this game is the ton of options you have for it!

Dragon Universe - Story mode. Play this to unlock new playable characters in dueling mode.
Dueling - Basically it's one on one combat. This is where you get to play with all the extra characters that you unlocked in Universe mode.
World Tournament - It is exactly what it sounds like.
Practice - This is where you can learn the basics of playing the game, as well as practice what you learned.
Skill Editing - Here is where you edit your skills (capsules), and purchase new skills (capsules) from the Skill Shop to add onto those skills you already found in Universe mode.
Options - Adjust the game settings. They'll stay the same once you set them (autosaved once your done tweaking the settings).

The Universe storymode is pretty easy.
Starting at the beginning of DBZ (the Saiyans arriving on Earth) and going through the whole series, you fight your way through the story as one of six characters. Goku, Gohan, Krillian, Vegeta, Piccolo or Trunks.
Depending on who you play the story is different for each, which is great for replay value since you can play the game over and over again and have different experiences each time.
And that experience also changes as you increase the difficulty level! The harder it is the more fights and the longer some fights... for instance I have a feeling my battle with Frieza, for example, wasn't supposed to be as short as it was. I guess if I played in a mode higher than Normal mode it would have been longer.

The game is easy. Look for Dragonballs, and the occasional area to find money, stuff or event scenes, and then look for places to fight. The fight areas are easy to find, it's the other areas you need to search for.

Fighting is slick this time, and is way way interesting!
You're main drive of the fighting is the techniques you can use, which is represented by capsules you can "Equip". The capsules, which handle your special techniques, armor, gear and so forth, are all purpose little buggers and proper management of said capsules is a good thing to know as you play this game.

Fighting itself is easy, yet challenging at the same time. If you need to learn it (and you will since there are brand new things to learn in this game) there's a whole section of the game that is there just to teach you the ins and outs of combat. You earn bonuses for completing each lesson so that is a good incentive to do them even if you think you can get the system down pat without practice.

There are a whole lot of ways to visit pain and suffering onto your opponent.
Lots of moves, techniques, and ways to struggle it out including a new teleportation move and the "beam struggle" which (as you and your opponent lock power attacks) means you'll have to spin both analog sticks fast to land a blow (this also happens when you are locked in fast and furious hand-to-hand combat).

The major thing in this game is the ki meter, which governs the useage of your powers.
As it reaches a certain level you can power up, reach Super Saiyan level, and even pull of major attacks called "Dragon Rush"es... but even this has a nice balance in that, as the rush begins, you'll have to hit one of the four buttons (X, O, triangle and square) in a bit of Jan Ken Po to see if the full attack lands. If your opponent doesn't hit the same button you do in three attempts you land the attack, but if your opponent DOES match up with you just once then the attack is blocked. Keen.

Because of all the moves, and all the ways you can attack/defend? This is a well thought out and quite balanced fighter if I do say so myself. And, heck, it's fun too.
You can even devastate the battlefield during the battle! I've seen it happen! Cool!

Oh, yeah, and if you chose New Game during a game you're already playing with a character? You can choose to restart the game with that same character WITHOUT losing levels and such... so power up quite abit, and start again to build up levels, work on technique, find money, etc.
I don't know if that's a glitch or what, but I like it.

The Dueling mode is good, and even good just to watch as you can either pit player vs. player, player vs. computer or computer vs. computer (just to watch the fighting)!

The Skill Shop, where you spend your earned money during your Dragon Universe gameplay, is the place to add on new techniques and stuff for your fighters! And each capsule can only be used by certain players so that add another level of depth to the game. You can also edit capsules (skills) in this section, but I haven't done that yet so I don't know how that works.

And for fan service? Besides the fact you're going to be spending quality "time" with the major characters? You can even play as female fan fave Android 18... And I think you can play as Videl too but I haven't gotten that far to find out. I wonder... nope, sorry, Bulma is just a NPC character. Then again she didn't do enough in the series to warrant her as a playable character so go figure.
Anyway let's break this down now.

Dragonball Z Budokai Breakdown the 3rd
What's Hot? - Who knew I could actually have a good thing to say about a DBZ game? I didn't.
But guess what! I DO have a good thing to say! The game is tight. It's NOT Mortal Kombat but it's solid, and it's got some major moves that just make it sweet to play.

Combine all the elements of this game together and you have yourself a good game that should be considered for your collection. Why? Because you don't need to be a DBZ fan to see that this is playable, and even kind of good to boot, that's why.

Yeah, yeah, of course being a major DBZ fan would be a helpful thing in the playability of this game, but it is just good enough to be appealing to both fan and non-fan alike. Solid game, you should try it.

What's Not? - Still, yes, it‘s not for everyone. Much like how X-Play's Adam Sessler won‘t play a single Final Fantasy game no matter how much those of us who play it say he‘s missing out, there are people who won‘t pick up ANY DBZ games no matter how much people rave about them. Why? Because some people are way too much turned off from the DBZ series to even humor playing a DBZ game no matter how improved it is over the first two Budokai games.
Yeah. Sessler's a whiner for his anti-Final Fantasy stance, check. But what about those who don't want to give Budokai 3 a chance? Well that's their thing, but still at least rent it out and give it the benefit of a doubt. Even if you had a bad experience with the first two Budokai games you should come back and give Budokai 3 a fair shake if you can. Even if you must rent it before you decide on it's merits it's worth the rental fee... and, yes, if the game is still not your cup of Earl Grey (hot) at least you had a chance to have fun with it before you declared it not for you. That's all I ask.

And, yes, Mr. Sessler, that goes DOUBLE for you and your Final Fantasy phobia.
Fingers to lips, shut mouth, and pick up a few good FF games to try out. There are some great games in the FF universe that people can't stop raving about, even if you seemingly have FF allergies.
Go on. Aerith won't bite you. Go on now, go on.

Moments to Remember? - Uh... can't think of much... oh, wait, the BIG attack sequences! The major damage the characters can deal out is cool! That's memorable. Yeah. Very memorable.

What to Ignore? - I didn't like the storymode much. Yes, X-Play praised it as being the best story mode of any fighter but I guess I'm not hot on it since I'm not hot on the DBZ story to begin with.

Anyway it's not like they squeezed in anime footage (there's nice anime footage in the opening as the game starts up) and a lot of the talking is talking heads (well, lot of motionless images at least)... the cut scenes play out more like a radio melodrama than the cut scenes of a big anime series turned game, so that is a disappointment if I ever saw one. So, yes, for me I guess I can ignore the story. My fave of the game is the fighting anyway so why would I want to notice the story? Pass.

Overal1? - Three times is definitely the charm this time for Atari.
After striking out with Budokai and Budokai 2 they finally have cranked out a game worth playing, and one even I (a non fan of DBZ) can get behind and support.
If you can? You should buy it, or rent it, or whatever you do it as long as you give this one a spin ASAP.
It's fun, and that's something I don't say everyday about DBZ... in fact that's something I have NEVER said about DBZ, so it must be good if I actually have something nice to say about DBZ.
So give it a try, rent it if you can, before you declare it unplayable... it might surprise you.

-- David Rasmussen 7th Feb 05

Playstation 2 Dragonball Z Budokai 3 Images