[12/9/07] Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

[MF29]

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Playstation 2/Nintendo Wii

Published by: Atari
Developed by: Spike / Namco Bandai
Genre: 3D Fighting
Number of Players: 1-2
Release Date:
US: November 13, 2007
Japan: October 4, 2007
Australia: November 23, 2007
ESRB Content Descriptors: Cartoon Violence, Mild Language
Also Available On: Wii
Emulators: PCSX2



Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is supposedly the last installment to the Budokai Tenkaichi series. Even though this series has made a pin-point in Dragon Ball gaming history it falls a bit short of hard core Dragon Ball fans. Following the same tradition of adding 20 new characters each sequel along with recycled game modes. it has yet to completely polish the true Dragon Ball gaming experience. This game is 80% exact to the last game, and it's probably not worth purchasing, if you've played the last games, this one doesn't bring much more to the table. It's painful to see Dragon Ball games falling under all other fighting games as the game developers and companies add little content after each sequel. This game is what Budokai Tenkaichi 2 should have been. They rushed the game and only focused on adding more characters, and they know that people will break their necks to buy this game just because of these petty additions. I hope this will be the last Dragon Ball game on last-gen consoles and hopefully they will hand this title over to some good developers unlike Spike and Bandai Namco games who literally half-ass anime fighting games.

One of Broly's attacks

This time around they decided to keep last year's models, along with some new models. The game doesn't use the full potential of the PS2 or the Wii. Even though some effects are impressive, this game wasn't ever really steered to the visual side. The special effects and attacks look polished and more similar to the actual anime than any other Dragon Ball game I've played in 3-Dimensions. The stages look decent, and are great to look at but at the same time they aren't anything special. The in-game menus look top-notch. but the game models have crappy cel-shading quality which can bother some hard core fans. The transformations have been completely revamped, to look more like the anime, and they take about 6-7 seconds to initiate, unlike the last game where it took nearly 3 seconds. While the transformations can be good to look at, they also become repetitive, and there should be an option to take these off or not, for the more impatient players.

Omega Shenron's "Dragon Thunder"

In this game, rarely any new modes were added, everything has been dumped over and nothing has changed basically. You have your basic Duel Mode, where you can fighting against the computer or play against a friend. There is also a Tag-Team mode that lacks Tag attacks, and 4 players which would seem more logical for Tag Team. Then you have your all-worthy story mode, where it contains content from Dragon Ball to GT to really hype up those fanboys. This time they took out the free-roam system where the player can fly around the Earth and talk to other people. In replacement to this, they added a new feature that allows characters to talk and speculate about the battle taking place, while you are fighting. Which is very similar to Dragon Ball, where the more weaker Z-Fighters sit back and comment on how strong someone is. HOWEVER, this isn't the only new feature in story mode. There is also a feature where it requires the player to press R3, pressing R3 activates a storymode cutscene/fight scene, where it correlates to what happens in the anime. These cut scenes involve button pressing at correct times. R3 can also dictate what happens in the battle, you can either kick the snot out of the opponent or press R3 which triggers a cutscene and sometimes a transformation. After while storymode can seem extremely repetitive. even when fighting on the highest level. Completing the story takes only 5-6 hours to pull off at the most. After doing this the players main motive is to unlock all characters in the game. Saying this, it means that there it little of nothing else to do after completing story mode, although, if you are a RPG fan, there is a mode regarding that. A mode that allows the player to construct an existing character within the Dragon Ball Z roster, and build his/her stats from the ground up. It does involve training, and fighting other players for EXP points. This is a good feature that can keep the player busy. The tournament mode is now also revamped, the revamption (not a word) of this mode was a bad choice. This mode is used to unlock characters. The bad thing is, you need to beat certain tournaments at certain difficulty levels to unlock 1 character. You cannot choose the levels, you have to keep coming back to Tournament mode until the game randomly picks the difficulty mode that you desire. There is a clock that dictates which tournaments open at what times, and it's just too tedious to get to where you need to go. Not to mention the option of player against a friend.

New Attack "One Handed Spirit Ball"

Then you have your options mode, where you can Save/Load, change the langauge settings, sound and screen settings along with customizing your configuration settings. There is also a bonus mode that can be gained if you own both Tenkaichi 1 and 2, it transfers modes from the last game onto this one. It involves the same things as the last games so it seems a bit pointless in it's entirety. There are a few ways to unlock different characters, some involving collecting Dragon Balls in story which becomes flat out boring and repetitive. Most of the characters you unlock are minor ones, and mostly aren't worth unlocking. That was the bad thing about all of the new characters that sucked and had no major purpose in the story mode. That's on a personal level. The Wii version allows players to play online. I know nothing about this because I don't own the Wii version and I have never played it, so that mode goes unexplained. Even though I have not bothered to explore all of the modes of this game, I doubt I will find anything worth while.

Kamehameha from behind

Let's talk about the sound shall we? The game contains both English and Japanese voice acting. I prefer the Japanese because it gives the full Dragon Ball feel. I also get tired of hearing Enlish voice actors. The music consists of soft and hard rock techno music, that capture different battle situations. They seem too generic, and similar others that I've heard in previous Dragon Ball games. The sound effects are up to par this time, and the moves/explosions/effect sounds are amazing. They are 100% similar to the anime. There are also some Dragon Ball Z movie theme songs that can be used, along with some original Japanese sung theme songs for the real fans. Another thing about the sound is the narrating in the story mode by Dragon Ball characters. These were interesting, because they consisted of different characters reading text or talking to other characters from the past. They start to get a bit off topic and it starts to get amusing at times aswell.

The Androids

This time around the training and practice modes have been improved and they help the average newcomer to pick up some Dragon Ball lingo. The combos have been improved aswell, and some combos are similar to ones that are in the anime. Many are considerably hard to figure out, but once you do they come in handy. Most combos are fast paced, and if both players are advanced players the match will literally look like an anime match. This game is the only game that really captured the melee system well, according to the anime. The computer will stop at nothing to make sure that your matches are lost, especially while fighting on the highest level. The computer will commit the deadliest combos and reversals that will make your blood boil, but the only easy way to escape such a predicament is to train. To point out some major errors in this game starts with the story mode. Where the game will make you fight with certain characters and will demand that you survive for a certain amount of time. It can be very arduous to do, and is painstakingly frustrating at times making you want to scream at your television set. I would point out these things but there are just too many. If you played previous games you should know what I mean.

"That hurts"....

Coming to a conclusion with this game, if you aren't a Dragon Ball fan, you might like the melee system and the fast paced action packed fighting system. It might take the average user a bit to learn but it's all worth while. This game certainly isn't worth the purchase. Considering that it's 90% alike to it's predecessor. It's defiantly worth the rent though. This is a Dragon Ball game that can suck into the Dragon Ball universe with all of it's stages, characters, fighting, and content. Hopefully in the future Dragon Ball games will surpass previous games with next-gen potential.

Pros:
-- Extreme amount of Dragon Ball content
-- Online Play
-- Great special effects

Cons:
-- Same as last year
-- PS2 doesn't have Online Play

7.0 Presentation
6.5 Graphics
8.0 Sound
7.5 Gameplay

7.6

 

[Adaptus]

I heard the online component is extremely lackluster and doesn't work right most of the time.

I read it here: http://www.thewiire.com/review/228/3/Dragon_Ball_Z_Budokai_Tenkaichi_3

 

[Skyrider]

Meh, I bought the game last week. I must say, the single player just sucks.. The single player of Tenkaichi 2 is much much better because in part 3, they have cut a lot of missions, and removed a lot of things. They should have just the missions from part 2 in to 3. I know the game is bigger which has its limitations. But that doesn't mean they can just screw the single player mode. Honestly, I am disappointed in this new version. Besides the point, they still haven't fixed the cell voices of form 2 & 3.. As those are still using the voices / sounds of form 1. What the heck is up with that?

 

[MF29]

What the heck is up with that?

I couldn't tell you. :talk:

 

[Rocky]

So its not out in Aussieland yet. (due end of the month) Are you basically recommending people who have BT2 (which I did enjoy) should just stick with it? From the sound of it, its like BT2.1 rather than a whole new game, if thats the case I might save my money and get something else later on.

 

[J-Dude]

So its not out in Aussieland yet. (due end of the month) Are you basically recommending people who have BT2 (which I did enjoy) should just stick with it? From the sound of it, its like BT2.1 rather than a whole new game, if thats the case I might save my money and get something else later on.

If you're so concerned about money, just sell BT2 and buy BT3. A lot of the combat additions are worth it.

Yeah, I know the Tenkaichi series always lacked a true ability to captivate the player and keep the experience going. It DOES get repetative pretty quick, though I admit that even though frowning on the additional characters is popular right now, watching a lot of the special moves used by each character is great entertainment for a long-time fan. The special moves in my opinion do a very good job at replicating their in-show counterparts.

The thing is, it will take some serious ingenuity to give new life to this game series. I love the cinematic special moves, but after the first time you've seen it, it's just boring each time you use them. Even Budokai 3's Dragon Rush got really repetative because the cinematic sequences were always the same, only changing depending on when and if the defender is succesful in countering the attacker. What needs to be done, is that the developers need to give us a LOT of possible combat options, and maybe eliminate cinematics entirely. I know I enjoy the little break from constantly manning the controls, but you have NO control when the cinematic gets moving, and so it breaks up the gameplay.

The thing is, it's tough to give a lot of options to fighting gameplay in a DBZ game, because DBZ characters are so frigging fast. Tenkaichi 3 captures the speed and pace of the anime very well, but it also sacrifices our ability to do anything more than mash the square button and press the triangle button every now and then. Whereas you don't want it entirely like Budokai's specific melee based fighting with all the "forward punch, punch, punch, kick, kick, energy button" stuff because obviously you lose a LOT of the speed when doing something like this.

However, there might be a happy medium for this. Really, I'd apply the old Budokai series' specific melee system, but make each move equal several blows instead of just one. That way, you have a vast selection of combos in melee, but the illusion of speed is granted because the animation shows a lot of fast action for every button press. Everything else about Tenkaichi's melee system would fall into place, and it wouldn't be very boring anymore.

As to special moves, too much about them is automated, and in most cases, they're too easy to dodge. How you fix this exactly, I don't really know.

The models need to be capable of more. I never liked many Tenkaichi cutscenes because the models have no expressions. Budokai 1 never had this problem. None of the original Budokais did. The characters just feel dead. The textures are also disappointing as well. I shouldn't be able to see resolution artifacts several "feet" away from the character. I KNOW the PS2 is capable of handling more than that. And the cel shading, I now notice, is disappointing. They just use the old "clone, invert normal, push" technique to create the outline, which doesn't even seem to actually be black. And the problem with this method is that it ONLY does a very basic outline. None of the lines inside the outline are generated, and are faked by textures. I realize generating a post-production cel-shading line is a memory-devourer, but if you won't bother to make your textures good enough, then the textures shouldn't be relied on to fake the cel-shaded lines.

Other than that, environments still feel very constrained. I appreciate that you can only make the environ so big, but I know the PS2 can handle a larger one than what is common of Tenkaichi battlegrounds. But besides size, I think adding DEPTH to scenarios would be fun. Buildings having interiors, caverns lying beneath the Planet of the Kais. I know that aspect made a lot of ESF maps fun.

But anyway, this post is way too long...

 

[~*Logan*~]

The melee system has been upgraded, every rush blast is unique (for the most part), and many characters have completely different fighting styles this time.

If anything else, BT3 looks and performs better.


Online is having problems, but I hear they're fixing it so lag won't be a major problem anymore as long as people play against others with a similar and good connection. I played the PS2 version my friend has, but I'm getting the Wii version for christmas.

Also, the Wii version uses the Classic and Gamecube controllers, so if you hate the Wii controls, you'll be fine (like me).

 

[J-Dude]

The melee system has been upgraded, every rush blast is unique (for the most part), and many characters have completely different fighting styles this time.

If anything else, BT3 looks and performs better.


Online is having problems, but I hear they're fixing it so lag won't be a major problem anymore as long as people play against others with a similar and good connection. I played the PS2 version my friend has, but I'm getting the Wii version for christmas.

Also, the Wii version uses the Classic and Gamecube controllers, so if you hate the Wii controls, you'll be fine (like me).

It does look and perform better than T2, and certainly better than T1. But it's still not enough to do what the game NEEDS. Tenkaichi's biggest problem was how it never got deep enough to keep your attention long-term. It's a blast for a while, but it repeats itself too much. Eventually you keep going through the story mode and take to each new fight with the only enthusiasm coming from wondering who or what you'll unlock. You lose interest in the gameplay istelf, and if this is hapenning, then something has clearly gone wrong.

I'll admit right now that back in high school before Tenkaichi ever came out, I had designed a third person free-roaming fighter for DBZ in my mind that was essentially what Tenkaichi is now. I realize now that this is not the ultimate DBZ experience I had imagines it would be. It's always been a step up in it's freedom, but coupled with the linearity of the lock on system which makes it feel like the fighters are connected by invisible strings, said freedom goes right out the window.

Really, I'd like to see a DBZ game that wasn't geared one-hundred percent towards being a one-on-one fighter, but more of an adventure RPG of sorts akin to the Legacy of Goku titles. Most veterans of DBZ games know what I speak of sounds a lot like "Sagas". Despite how Sagas so embarassingly failed as a game, I still feel this direction of gamplay is unrepresented in 3D DBZ games, or at the least, not represented very well. Sagas was rushed to shelves, and it showed with the clunking obviousness of a retarded burglar trying to sneak a cash register out the shop door under his overcoat. And I'm forced to admit that perhaps someone other than Atari might do the series more justice if they try this again with perhaps a few months to a year's additional effort. But still, the idea that Sagas stumbled drunkenly through wasn't a bad one at all. The idea was very good, but the execution was terrible. I'd like to see someone have another go at it. Instead of linear environments that lead to a boss, perhaps a free-roam world, low poly, loaded with sprite trees, but still vast. And instead of having to follow the story's progression, you could go back to places you've been.

Like I said, a 3D Legacy of Goku, but on a grander scale, and with a sophisticated battle engine. That for me would truly make a DBZ game worth playing. I'm tired of one-on-one fighters, let's mix it up a little!