Real Men Don't Cry. They Go Super Saiyan and Get Even.

I don’t know about you, but for some reason, watching guys’ hair burst into gold and blasting each other with vibrantly colorful blasts with names like “Recoome Eraser Gun” and “Kamehameha” (pronounced KAH-may-HAH-may-HA) appeals to me. And that’s exactly what the anime series Dragonball and its sequels Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT offers. Fortunately, Atari had the intelligence to make videogames out of these series, and of their many games, Dragonball Z Budokai 3 is, in my humble opinion, the best.
While Budokai 2 certainly was a solid game in its own right, the lack of a truly good story mode and the many similarities from character to character made it lose its fun quickly, Budokai 3’s faster pace and stronger gameplay mechanics make this the best DBZ fighter available. At least until Budokai Tenkaichi 2 releases.

Story
While the lengthy DBZ storyline would take an extremely long time to describe here, here it is in a nutshell: you play as many of the traditional characters, such as Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin, and even lesser names like Yamcha as they battle super-powerful foes from across the galaxy. While the story wouldn’t win any awards, the point of the Dragonball series is not a riveting plotline, it’s about exciting fights scenes, darn it. And that’s what the DBZ videogames focus on. In the game’s story mode, Dragon Universe, you do spend time flying around, and you can look for Dragonballs in exchange for rare moves or voice data, get the rare moves straight off, or talk to minor characters scattered around, but primarily, this is just a diversion from fight to fight (unless you’re a perfectionist and want to fully complete the game).

Gameplay
Well, Budokai is and always has been a fighting series. The third game is no exception. Following the standard series mechanic, you have four basic commands: punch, kick, guard/dodge, and shoot a Ki energy blast. With combinations of those, you can launch more powerful attacks and transform into new forms (such as Super Saiyan, Unlock Potential, Second Form, etc.) that increase your strength, as well as enable certain moves. There are also Death-Moves, which are powerful Ki blasts in real-time. If two are fired at the same time, a Beam Struggle ensues, which involves twiddling the analog sticks as fast as possible—fastest one wins, much like Burst Mode from the previous game-and that returns too!

The catch is, Death-Moves and Ki blasts drain your Ki energy, and if it reaches zero, you can’t perform the moves again. To recharge it, you must either land successful blows, or use a simple combo to recharge them. Adding a new wrinkle, your Ki automatically returns to a base level, whether that is an increase or decrease. Transforming increases that base level (in fact, some character’s base level is maxed-out Ki!).

But as with all video game sequels, serious innovation is necessary. Budokai does that by completely reinventing the game’s Ultimate Attack system, and adding teleportation to the mix. Starting with the former, gone are the combos that were pretty much identical from character to character, and in fact were frequently the same attack. In is Hyper Mode. With a press of a button, your character will flash red, and their Ki energy will steadily drain. Either a Dragon Rush or an Ultimate Attack must be launched, or the attacker will be exhausted and vulnerable to attack. A Dragon Rush resembles some attacks from the previous game: both fighters must press the face button or nothing, and if both press the same button, the victim either lessens, avoids, or counters the damage. If the buttons are different, then the attacker lands the blow. Successfully attacking three times may unleash a devastating special attack. Ultimate Attacks are a whole new animal. They take up a huge amount of Ki and are best launched when the opponent is fatigued (this comes from many Death-Moves or a successful Dragon Rush). This will bring up a screen with two meters per player: one that rapidly fills and refills and is stopped by pressing X, and one that is empty. The closer to full the first meter is stopped, the more the second meter is filled, and the player with the fullest meter after three presses wins. If the attacker wins, the attack is enhanced; if the attacker loses, the attack is weakened. While I miss the diversity of combos present in Budokai 2, this is a fun, dramatic setup.

Another interesting new addition is teleportation, a key part of the show. Budokai 2 was notably frustrating for the cheap foes that would simply guard everything you threw at them with no consequence, and then batter you into oblivion by catching you off-guard. Now, blocking is present, but it wears the defender down; a simple, well-timed tap of X saves you from damage and fatigue, at a small cost to your Ki. Also, if you want to counter your opponent, another well-timed press of X enables you to warp behind your foe and attack—but your foe may do the same if you do so. Also, while in the air, you can add to the damage of a Death-Move by following your foe with a teleport and continually bashing them around the field, while still fearing the risk of a counter-teleport. And I tell you, that is extremely fun, and much-appreciated.

After winning your battle with your foe of choice, some of them quite difficult, you earn Z-Points. These can be added to your fighter to enhance their abilities in certain fields (attack, health, defense, etc.). Outside of battle, you can also equip new capsules. Capsules range from simply new attacks to items or equipment that restore health or enhance defense or something like that, and unlike the previous game, they actually matter: fighting Super Buu as Gohan was nearly impossible until I equipped a Senzu Bean. You can also take a break from the main story mode and participate in the World Tournament to earn cash to buy more capsules, duel with a friend or against the computer, practice to learn your skills, or fight even harder opponents in Dragon Arena.

So when compared to Budokai 2, the third installment definitely wins in this department. Yeah, there are no complex combos. So what? Yeah, guarding is obsolete. And? This game is much faster-paced, and that is a vast improvement. Trust me, this game is definitely one of the best fighters on the market. Unless of course, you’re not a DBZ fan, in which case it’s about average.

Graphics
Continuing the Budokai tradition, the graphics are cel-shaded, which is a style I could never possibly explain, but everyone can identify when shown. The difference between this and the predecessor are small but noticeable; the color contrasts help aid in showing the new power of the transformations (Super Saiyan 3 especially). While some attacks are ripped directly from the predecessor, some are given a little more spice (save Final Explosion, which is completely reinvented for the better!). The destructible environments also are a nice touch, especially as a character soars over water. However the best addition in this area is how super-powerful attacks actually show their explosion as seen from space. Other than that, the graphics are solid, but nothing that will drop your jaw.

Sound
This is a bit of a mixed bag. First, the music: while the opening theme song is absolutely incredible, the rest of the music ranges from “decent” to “meh”. Most of the music just doesn’t pump me up like a soundtrack for this type of game should. While it’s primarily alternative/symphonic rock, a lot of it is really bland filler and you’ll focus more on your character’s various grunts. Speaking of that, the voice acting is also full of ups and downs. Vegeta and Goku’s battle dialogue bits are excellent (particularly the former’s furious “I’M GONNA BLOW YOU TO BITS!”), although fans may note that Super Saiyan 4 Goku’s voice isn’t very consistent. Then you have Goten, whose actor clearly has been kicked in the balls one too many times, and Trunks, whose voice is fine, but his dialogue is pathetic (remember “What a miscalculation on your part”? It’s back). The Supreme Kai has it worst of all: he sounds so feminine that it’s outrageous, and his nasal hum when he charges up is incredibly awful. However, the sound effects are fine, mimicking those of the show—and that’s all you really want.

Mechanics
Like I said, it’s not really about complexity as it is timing. Fortunately that timing is excellent. While double-tapping the d-pad to charge forward takes getting used to, you do get used to it. (Trust me, you won’t use the analog stick a lot except for teleporting and some Death-Move combos). There do seem to be a few glitches though. For one, the game slows down sometimes for no apparent reason. But the primary annoyance is that sometimes during Dragon Rushes, the sound will disappear. When it returns, it will still be stuck at the time where it disappeared, so you have sound effects playing for what already happened. This does get to be rather annoying, but it doesn’t hinder the gameplay much.

All told, DBZ Budokai 3 is an absolute must-have for DBZ fans, and a good purchase for anyone else. The many hours you can spend in Dragon Arena and the quest to find every capsule certainly increases the game’s replay value, and it’s not a cumbersomely long story like its predecessor. This is a solid, very enjoyable game.
Final Scores
Story-85%
Gameplay-94%
Graphics-88%
Sound-82%
Mechanics-77%
4.5 Stars, rounded up