Publisher: Namco Bandai
Rating: T (for Teen)
Platform:
Release Date: June 10th, 2008
Official Website
Writer: kagomegan

Rating: 8.0

The story behind this, the latest of many in the line of Dragon Ball games, is the same tried-and-true storyline that the classic DBZ series has followed for years and years.

Well, you get the picture. The main story mode of this game, Z Chronicles, follows the story of a young “man” named Goku, his friends and his rivals through some of the epic sagas portrayed in the anime and previous games. You mainly fight through the first three sagas from the anime. Starting out in the classic “Saiyan Saga,” playing right through the “Frieza Saga,” and moving all the way to the acclaimed “Cell Saga,” you battle your way through some of the most important fights of the Dragonball Z universe.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are exceptionally well done. Featuring 3D cell-shaded characters and backgrounds, you really get the feeling of playing through your favorite anime. The character models are dead on, the special effects of the energy attacks are brilliant and the colors are vibrant and true to the anime. Even the menus are interesting and easy to read and navigate. Just as in previous games there are destructible backgrounds, which are triggered by especially powerful Ultimate Attacks. Ultimate Attacks also trigger special sequences on the opposing character if you happen to be hit full-blast with an energy attack. They’ve also added something new to the mix with the addition of “drama pieces,” which are special cinematic sequences which are unlocked by certain completed actions during the fight. Even the normal fighting effects were pretty amazing. The punches and kicks connect swiftly and fluidly. I especially liked the effect of landing a hard punch on a character and watching my fist follow through to his back.

Control
The controls are easy enough to master for anyone to pick up and play. There aren’t many difficult combos and there are plenty of interesting tutorials there for those of you who want or need them. To master the most difficult challenges in this game means to perfect your timing and use your block, dodge, and recovery moves effectively. Your blocks and dodges are one of the most interesting aspects of the game play and they really add to the fluid feeling you get when playing the game. If you happen to spike a character beyond the boundaries of the set arena, a button pressing clash begins to see who can end up with the sorest fingers. Just like in the previous console games, this one makes use of a “Ki” gauge. Unlike the other games however, your Ki gauge requires no charging and automatically refills itself, making it much too easy to unleash your special attacks. This takes away from some of the challenge to the game and makes it feel pretty pointless to having larger sized Ki gauges for more powerful attacks.

Sound
The music in the game is really appropriate. The opening sequence song is classic Japanese greatness. The Z Chronicles menu’s music really makes you feel like your playing someone’s memories of the sagas. The voices are well dubbed with all of the familiar actors from the 2nd English dub of the anime. Some of the characters have opponent-specific phrases that they say before and after the fight in VS mode and during some of the drama pieces. Through some of the scenarios that you play through Z Chronicles; the characters have small conversations while you fight. They sound a bit off beat sometimes, but they add to the effect of playing the anime. The energy blasts and other SFX are the same used in the anime, so how could they go wrong? When you clear the last stage of a saga, you’re treated to a nice music montage of the feats you’ve just accomplished in cinematic form, including some happenings they have re-done and added from the anime. The only thing I would’ve liked to see added would be real-time changes in the music when something dramatic happens due to the drama pieces or background destruction.

Flow
If you’re not knowledgeable of at least the first three sagas of the anime, you might be lost on the story progression as they lack description in the game. On the other hand, if you followed the anime, you’ll feel right at home with the story. The online mode feels hastily done since it kicks you out of the lobby after every match. What’s the point of having a lobby that’s going to reset after every match? Also since it kicks you out after every match you play, you have to take the time to reset your options for the match every time you want to fight. The flow of the online mode is also severely interrupted by the drama pieces. If you defeat your opponent in the air, at the end of every fight; you have to watch your opponent fly to the ground which takes up a little too much time.

Fun-factor
I must admit, I had a blast with this game. Personally, it was a nice to take a break from my 360 “achievement hunting” and just have some fun with a good fighting game. If you are a fan of the series, you will enjoy everything, as usual, about this game. If you’re not, you will enjoy being introduced to the characters and will have fun with a solid, casual fighting game, or you can turn up the difficulty for a bit more challenging experience.

Female Aspect
Despite there being a few female characters in the game (and by “few,” I mean one), this game is in no way geared towards females or meant to cater to the demographic as a whole. But for those of us girlies out there who aren’t so girlie, it works both ways.

Replay Value
As with all multi-player fighting games, there is tons of replay value. Even the story mode has unlockable difficulties and a ranking system that you can attempt to master. The online and VS play alone adds tons of reasons to keep on picking up the controller. Not to mention the Survival and Time Attack modes. It gets a tad repetitive in Survival and takes forever to complete, but is a ton of fun to finally accomplish the feat. Time Attack on the other hand gets really annoying. If you lose a round in Time Attack it starts you at the beginning, unlike a normal time attack which would just add the time lost to the clock, working against your overall time.

All-in-all DBZ: Burst Limit is a fun, interesting game that you will be playing for weeks after you first pick it up and will keep going back to. As a fighting game, it’s something that just about anyone can enjoy, yet there is enough to be challenged by the multiple difficulty levels for those who seek it. True to the story line of the anime and satisfying the basic needs of a fighting game, DBZ hits the mark again with the Burst Limit game.

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