Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Publisher: Atari
Medium: Playstation 2 Discs: 1
You get to control Goku and his friends in the Dragonball world. You can start off by playing the Dragon Universe, or the World Tournament.
The Dragon Universe is the story mode for the game, where choose a character to play through the story with. You then go through the Dragonball Z Saga’s in chronological order, collecting Dragonballs, and completing key points in the story. The Dragon Universe mode allows you to unlock secret characters as well as skills to use with your characters.
In the Dueling mode, you can choose to fight against the computer controlled opponent, or a friend. It even allows you to watch one of your custom characters fight against the computer and see how he fairs.
The World Tournament is exactly as it sounds, a tournament between all unlocked characters in the game. In the World Tournament, There are three levels, like in the previous games: Novice (3 rounds), Adept (4 rounds), and Advanced (5 rounds).
You should Practice before playing either of the modes to find out how to use some of the new features, like teleporting. Practice mode will show you the basic moves as well as some of the more advanced to help you throughout the game. Trust me; if you cannot figure out how to do a Dragon Rush because you skipped it, you’re missing out.
Skill Editing is a very important option in creating your custom characters. When you earn skills or zenie (money) from the Dragon Universe, or win zenie from becoming the World Champion at the World Tournament, this is the place to go. You can Edit Capsules (skills), buy capsules from the Skill Shop, view the Skill List or trade your skills with a friend.
Sound Quality: 9
There is music in every background of the game, except for the loading screens. Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 used theme music that goes right along with the United States version of the series and movies. The sound effects for the game were similar to what you would hear when watching the series. The music didn’t seem to feel too repetitious though they did use a theme or two for different sections. If you weren’t paying attention to the music and trying not to die during the fights you probably won’t realize it.
Video/FMV: 7
The beginning movie sequence plays out quite nicely. It looks to be made specifically for Dragonball Z: Budokai 3. You get to see some of the characters fighting the villains, and even notice that fusion is a feature in this game. Sadly this is the only movie sequence in this game.
Voice/Dialogue: 8
The voices are the same voice actors from the United States version. The menus have voices explaining their functions from the featured character in each section. You can hear the characters yell out their favorite moves in combat, or when they get hit by the opponent.
Controls: 9
The controls feel to be upgraded from the last games, and I didn’t have any problems pulling off any of my moves. They were fast enough to throw in a kamehameha after knocking my opponent away and still hit him. I found no problems here.
Gameplay: 8
While the story mode has been completely remodeled as in all the previous versions, it still looks great. You get to fly around the Earth as it is in the actual Dragon Universe. You fly around and find objects just lying on the ground. You will notice these as all they do is shine at you, and a text box will pop up at the top of the screen as you fly over it. Also you can fly to your next key point in the game, where you may either talk to another character or more often fight a villain.
After defeating your enemy you will gain experience points. Once you have enough to level up (which it does automatically) you will receive some stat points that you can use to make your character stronger. How you level up your character is completely up to you. My favorites were to give him more health and strength than the computer.
Throughout each saga there are dragonballs to find. To make this job easier you will have to find the Dragon Radar. If you haven’t found out yet, when you press the triangle button while you can fly, you will turn the map feature on. When you have found the Dragon Radar this will be available to you just as the map is. You will see an orange dot where a dragonball is, as you fly over them. At the end of the Dragon Universe mode, you will summon the Eternal Dragon, if you have collected all 7 dragonballs. You will then be able to choose an item that is available to you.
To unlock secret characters you will have to play through one of the selectable characters story mode more than once, and meet specific requirements. You can also unlock new stages to fight in for the Dueling mode, by completing the different sagas and secret characters.
Replay Value: 8
You will want to collect all of the skill capsules in the game, as well as all of the secret characters. Upon collecting all the characters in the game, you will get a screen when you defeat the Dragon Universe mode letting you know. Also you will now have up to 40 different characters to play with, including ones from the Dragonball GT series.
Overall: 8.2
I really enjoyed playing Dragonball Z: Budokai 3. There were great graphics, plenty of moves, un-lockable characters, stages and special abilities. One of the things I liked most about Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 was the fact more than one person could use the fusion technique. Yes this means you will get to play with more than just Gotenks. You will also be able to play with the Super Saiyan 4 characters as well!
The only letdown with this version of the game is that it seems to be a remake of Dragonball Z: Budokai 2. There are only various added characters and parts to the story, as well as a serious upgrade to the graphics. This by no means makes Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 inferior to the previous versions, and I would recommend to any Dragonball enthusiast to definitely get this game.
Written by: Blue Ghost