|
| |
|
Dragon
Ball Z Budokai 3 (PS2) |
|
|
|
|
Review by: thegreatmonkey
|
|
Reviewers Score: 8
/ 10
|
Posted: December 11, 2005
|
Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3
system: PS2
Genre: fighting
Difficulty: variable (medium-very hard)
Rating: 8/10
Dragon Ball Z has had a lot of fighting games released throughout the
years (and why wouldn't it? It's a hugely popular series). Many of
them fall flat, however, this one shines. DBZ Budokai 3 is easily
a great fighting game, made greater by it's price.
Graphics (9/10)
The characters of DBZ are brought to full vivid 3D stature when
fighting, and the pictures shown when a character talks look just like
the anime. The arena looks great, as does everything else.
No real complaints.
Sound (8/10)
The fighting sounds are just like in the show: pweeeee is heard when
someone is hit and flies across the stage, psh when someone is hit...
you know the stuff. Music can be heard in the background just
about everywhere: it's sometimes a bit corny, but it works well.
I enjoy the opening theme a lot. good sound..
Storyline (9/10)
The dragon universe mode is really the only one with a storyline.
In it, you can play as Goku, Vegeta, 3 versions of gohan, Krillin, Uub,
tien, yamcha, Piccollo, and Brolly. In these, you play the battles
that each character fights in, and are able to fly around to the points
where these battles take place. While flying, you can also stop on
points where you get a small scene between two characters, and
item/ability/power up capsule (discussed later), or even a new
character. Fun stuff. These battles adhere to the anime/manga
storyline without any faltering really. Posting the entire story
would just take up too much room: just imagine the entire DBZ arc, and
if you don't know it, there are thousands of fan sites with summaries.
Gameplay (8/10)
Chances are you've played a fighting game, so you know basically what to
expect. You can punch, kick, block, and in this case, shoot energy
balls. Combos of these allow you to use special moves, instantly
teleport, or go super sayain (or super namek or unleash your hidden
power or something like this, depending on who you are.) However,
you can only do the combos if your ki is high enough. Each
character has a set amount of default bars: that is to say, these bars
replenish themselves over time, naturally. However, if you want to
speed up this, or get more bars (you can get up to seven, I believe) to
help do combos and such, you need to charge. Charging is standing
in one spot, allowing yourself to be vulnerable, as your ki bars
go up. every time you do a combo, you'll lose a certain amount of
energy. However, going super sayain or something like that will
increase your default bars. Simple. As the story progresses
in dragon universe, you gain more abilities/items/powers in the forms of
capsules. These capsules can be added to your player to be used.
Capsules take up a certain amount of room: when its full, no more.
The ability ones are certain attacks you can do, such as the kamehameha
wave, or changes, like super sayain 2. You can also buy capsules
at a shop with money you get by finding it in the random spots on the
map, or by entering in tournaments outside of DU (dragon universe).
Items also are present, which have different effects and can be
activated once during battle. All is explained in a tutorial
sequence in the beginning. None of its too hard, but some of it
(like teleportation) is a bit hard to master.
Aside from the dragon universe thing, there is tournament mode, in which
you go through a tournament with a character you have. Winning
gets money for capsules. There's also the dragon arena, a strange
thing that is unlocked later where you fight characters at a certain
level. This is where the online capability comes in: by
exchanging passwords online on a forum or something, you can get a
persons customized character to fight. Customized means that they
have certain ability allocations, such as attack and defense, that were
applied by the owner. Think RPG. Fun little addition.
Replayability (8/10)
Going through each persons DU story line is fun. Aside from the
several DU characters, there are the other characters you can use in
tournaments or in free fighting. I think there are about 50.
Yep, and each one of them has a certain way to be unlocked, meaning you
have to go through certain peoples DU a few times to unlock everyone.
Also, you may have to enter many tournaments to get money to buy all the
capsules. Over all, good Replayability
Overall (8/10)
Looking for a solid fighting game that's cheap and won't disappoint?
Whether your a fan of the series or not, DBZ Budokai 3 is a great game
to buy. It may have its faults, like difficult combos and some
other minor things, but overall its a satisfying romp. Great game,
worth your time and money. |
|
| |
|
