Up until now... the only kind of DBZ games I liked was the SNES Super Butoden series from the Cell and Buu sagas. I tried the PS1 DBGT game and it was
miserable... then some more games came but all were just a
disppointment. But a friend introduced me to a copy of DBZ: Budokai
3... and my perpective on the whole DBZ game universe has changed.
Not only is the game faithful to the Dragon Ball Z universe but it´s
actually fun to play. The gameplay is pretty innovative, fun and easy to
follow and control. The action sequences between regular fist / kick combat is well
done and the Ki based action is just astonoshing; they even got right
the whole signature moves of the not so popular characters.
Then when you get to the major Ki based attack (Big Bang, Kamehame
Ha!, etc) to over power your oponent... well they are just great when
you manage to pull them off, since it applies a simple yet entertaining rock, paper, scissor type of toggle game to make it fair for any of the two characters to block, dodge or return the attack.
Regarding the characters, well their are a bunch and most of the Dragon Ball
universe main ones are available. Also some secret character might appear
here and there... and you´ll be able to play them. The best part is the
almost Anime like level up or transformation flow that some of the
characters in the game can do in mid battle (SSJ stages, Picorro fusions, Frieza level ups, etc). With every character
transformation you are able to change your moves list almost
completely to those that the character's level up adquires with the
increase of power... making some moves unique to a particular transformation stage.
The only thing I would complain about is some tedious RPG/RTS like elements like Dragon Ball search, plus after you
beat the game their isn´t that much to go back to again and again on the single player
mode...just maybe to get some extras like capsules, hidden characters or Zeni currency but really it's not worth it since most items can be baught from the in-game store and after your first 2-3 times through the game you will have more then enough currency for all type of purchases, and most if not all of the characters in the game available. But the fun part is to play with
a friend in VS mode.
Oh yeah! and the english voice acting is
awful.
So in the long run, if you like 3D fighting games then you could buy it, if you're not the anime based fan then rent it. Now, If you are a DBZ or Anime fan with a knack for fighting games... then don´t waste
your time just sitting there and go get a copy as in Right Now!
