"After all this hustle... I expected something different."

DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is the third game of the Tenkaichi series and a disappointment to me. The game features a lot of characters (I think I saw in a news story that they are over 150), no matter how big or small their role is in the anime. There was a lot of attention and I myself couldn't wait 'till it came to Europe.

Gameplay: Summary line: Old...but still great. Score: 10/10
The gameplay hasn't changed much from the older two games' except the in-battle conversations and special area effects and other bits and pieces like camera changes during attacks that pound you to the ground. The different style of androids, humans and saiyans adds variety which is a good thing. There are a lot of attacks and attack types and the number of different stages has greatly improved from before. I thought that the gameplay was perfect in Tenkaichi 2 and I still believe that after 3. The battles in the "story" menu are made so they can match the actual battles in the anime but you can choose if you want to follow that way by pressing the a button at certain times.

Audio: Summary line: Impressive job. Score: 8/10
Every dialogue is voiced, the attacks have some impressive audio backing them up, and the voices are the same as in the anime... The quality of the voices is very good and there is also a choice to change the audio to the original Japanese voices.

Graphics: Summary line: Flashy...TOO flashy. Score: 6/10
The graphics are so-so. It's not really something special, there are better, there are worse. Every stage is fully 3-D and you can change the camera to 5 position (left, right, and how close the camera to the fighter is).The bad thing about the graphics is that they are flashy...to the point your eyes hurt so play the game with as many lights on as you can.

Variety: Summary line: Dishonoring. Score: 3/10
Here's where the downfall starts. Comparing the variety with this of the previous games is like saying that the NES is more powerful than the PS3.The number of battles has dropped to even 3 at a scenario, Z-item fusion was removed and the game's really pathetic when it comes to this. It is really annoying to complete a game in less than 10 hours isn't it? Well it's not an RPG but still one would expect more from that, I mean, 8 scenarios...

Replayability: Summary line: Your choice. Score: 4/10
After you finish the game in 2 days then you will have seen it all. There are of course tournaments and random battles but you will have unlocked anything you need so you won't have to play again to get the Z-items you used in fusion or for another reason you would have in the other games.

Rent or buy?
RENT! Trust me on this one. Before you do anything rush go and rent it. You won't pay the video club much anyway.

Review summary:
The gameplay and audio are great but if you think the game is better than the other then you better rent it first like me, you wouldn't want a game that lasts for 2 days. The game's saviour is the gameplay though which is great and I do recommend you try it, after all, the Tenkaichi series has the best 3-D fighting game style for me.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/07

Game Release: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (EU, 11/09/07)