Bordering along the lines of Star Wars in terms of a trilogy being re-told to us en mass, Atari lets the fistacuffs fly once again as Goku and company take their final Budokai Tenkaichi outing on the Playstation 2. Thankfully, even though the story has not changed an ounce since the series' original foray with Dragon Ball Z Budokai roughly five years ago, does the game play still measure up?
By nestlekwik
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 once again feeds us all the key points and fanservice moments heralding from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series (which is divided between Dragon Ball, Goku's childhood, and Dragon Ball Z, the continuation with adult Goku, in the United States), concluding with the anime-only Dragon Ball GT. Unfortunately, this means we are once again pitted with the same details from previous games, but, thankfully, a few changes narrow down the tedium of DBZ BT2, cutting down the time spent in the story. With the change, players will find much more time to dive into a number of other modes exclusive to the newest installment.
Since the story mode has been cut down to size, this also slightly shifts the methods of unlocking characters, as most of the pivotal characters one would expect to be in a DBZ title are available from the get-go. Fortunately, this makes Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 the most playable out-of-the-box title in the franchise yet if bashing a friend's face in is the first thing on your mind after unwrapping the game's plastic. Through the trials and tribulations of game play, players will unearth 150 playable characters and character variations through a beefed up number of stages and modes.
Unfortunately, though, it's hard to see the newest entry as more of an update to Budokai Tenkaichi 2 rather than a stellar new title. While the title has some of the best presentation and fan service quality on the market, the core game play is starting to feel quite dated and dry and the Playstation 2 version offers little variation in its multiplayer in comparison to its solo offerings.
To its credit, DBZ BT3 cuts out all of the detail crunching and fetch exploration from the previous title, making the game's Dragon History story mode a little less of a chore to play. Instead of going through every single encounter, multiple faceoffs and the reciting of every last letter of dialog ever spoken in the anime series, fights are broken down to their key components, giving players the option to hit R3 when prompted in a fight to trigger the next story sequence instead of completing an entire fight just to do it all over again. BT3's story mode also allows for some leniency, not binding a player's progress down to the official story canon. If a player is skilled enough to beat down the mighty Nappa with the tiny Choatzu in the Sayin Saga, Nappa is actually done for and players get to see a short "what-if" dialog as if the scenario actually happened in the series. While sometimes the story event progression is mandatory in a fight, the ability to slightly change the story is a huge breath of fresh air from the inane progression of the previous installment.
Much like in DBZ BT2, fans of the series will also get a more hands-on glimpse of fleshed out "what-if" scenarios such as "what if Android 16 traveled back in time to kill Goku as a child," or even going as far as pitting Toriyama's Arale of his original work, Dr. Slump, against Goku, putting a lot more of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT onto the table than its predecessor. Outside of the game's story mode, the obligatory versus and tournament modes make a return but for the first time, players can tackle a number of challenge scenarios and raise a character in a mode where players have 10 days to make choices that randomly alter stats and items (a la Monster Rancher) before an enemy arrives.
While the additions are welcome, indeed, and give a solo player a lot to dive into, the lack of modes and an absence of online play really dock the heat of mano-a-mano battle. Versus mode pits two players in a vertically split screen, making it occasionally tough to tell what is going on outside of your character's tunnel vision. The game still retains its fighter password system and a new disc fusion allows owners of Tenkaichi and Tenkaichi 2 to unlock bonus content, but the Wii's online multiplayer is what the Playstation 2 has needed for the series for some time now.
The game's glaring weakness, though, still lies in its overly simplistic fighting engine. Game play allows for characters to fly at will, dash at high speeds, power up, block and attack. While in reality only the attack button is necessary in the game, a huge number of offensive and defensive options become available when buttons are pressed in certain situations. Ki attacks, throws, teleportation attacks and defenses, guard crushes and ludicrously punishing special moves round out a fighter’s arsenal along with the standard Budokai combo strings. With so many characters, however, many of the special moves and combo strings are repeated and a lot of the secondary characters lose some luster. Special moves involving rushes into automatic combos are still a little on the cheap end but due to more defensive capabilities; there is more leeway to allow players to avoid them.
While the game play might be too shallow for fighting enthusiasts to sink their teeth into, though, the game is made and designed for fans of the series and it definitely won't disappoint. The series retains its stellar presentation and ups the ante of cell-shaded graphics on the system while carrying over every anime voice actor - English and Japanese - accompanied by sound effects ripped straight from the anime. As always, the menus and interface are chock full of Dragon Ball characters and bring fans of the series a top-notch presentation that is sure to please.
Overall, while Drgon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is too much of the same in the realm of game play and continues to lack online play, it still provides a satisfying conclusion to the series on the Playstation 2. The newest installment removes a lot of footwork of unlocking items and allows players to enjoy more of the game straight out of the gate. However, there is still a ton to do with customization, options and single-player modes, making this entry an acceptable $40 purchase. Although it is clear the Tenkaichi series has worn its welcome, you'll be hard-pressed to find an anime-licensed title that packs a bigger punch than Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
GemuBaka Review Score: 3 out of 5
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