Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

"By far the best DBZ game since the first"

Now, I may be new at writing reviews here on GameFAQs, but I know good games, bad games, and great games when I see them. This falls in the latter category. Seriously the best fighting game on the Wii at this point, it brings fighting to a whole new level, especially with the DragonBall characters. Not only do they have the obvious stars such as Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin and Frieza, but also some of the older heroes and villains older fans will know about. That's right, DragonBall people, the original. They've got Piccolo, Pilaf's machines, Nam(!), Arale, and Blue. The roster is so amazing; I've yet to get the time to unlock everyone there is. But I'm not gonna praise this game all day. As you noticed, I gave this game a 9/10, and that is saying a lot. There were a few things that irked me on this game, mainly with the combat itself and I hear many people complain about online. While this is a problem, I don't really think its anything serious. If you're interested on how the internet is, or if your gonna complain about how I don't have an internet section, go to the message boards and complain.

Gameplay: 9/10
The actual controls may either do one of two things: 1. You'll look totally cool destroying a friend with a Final Flash, what with the arm movements and what not. Or 2. You'll look stupid trying to get a BOOST on your Spirit Bomb when your mom walks by. Although I have problems with the last one, the whole Do-A-Movement-To-Attack is much better than Tenkaichi 2 was. The people follow your directions, and unless you pressed the wrong D-Pad button, they will effectively execute them. These new moves are quite punishing, and is wonderful to see new moves on the list, as well as old time favorites. It delights me to see an opponent get a bar or two of health zapped away from a mini Spirit Bomb, or watch the Earth get blown up (again) after a Big Bang Kamehameha. The issue here is that the moves don't want to do what you tell them. Its especially frustrating watching your character still charge that Kamehameha after you told them to fire it. These motion problems can leave you wide open for a string of attacks.

I also had a problem with the combat controls in general. I was too used to playing Tenkaichi 2, where combos and such were easily done, as was Dragon Homing. Here, everything is sped up to ungodly levels. I can barely dodge a blast, or an attack; if I get hit, I'm pummeled for another twenty seconds; I tell Goku to fly, and he just zooms right past my opponent. What the hell is that?! Still, even though I was ranting about these things, this section is still a 9 because of the awesomeness of actually LANDING an attack.

Difficulty: 6/10
Meh, wasn't too hard. I flew past the story mode and was already competing in the tournaments. there's only a few obvious fights that will give anyone trouble at first, like the Kid Buu fight or staying alive long enough against Frieza to have Goku come down and save the day... again! God knows how many times I've sworn to my T.V at Kid Buu or Arale when I fought her. Still, the mediocre opponents lands this section a mediocre score. Wish I could elaborate more, but there's not much else to say.

Sound: 7.5/10
Alright, sound is great, but what really hurts this section is the same thing that damages every DBZ games sound section: Soundtrack. It's not that great to be honest. As usual, the opening cinematic music is nice to jam to, but other than that, its just some guitarist who think he's Eric Johnson and a drummer who listened to Moby Dick too much. Really, maybe three songs are good out of that whole thing. Nonetheless it comes out of my T.V fine, and as long as that happens, it's still a thumbs up in my book.

Roster: 10/10
I'm... SHOCKED. Wow, they really went above and beyond my expectations when it comes to the selection of people. They have three different Goku's.... THREE! All with different moves and motions. My favorite is watching Goku going Super Sayian as (mid). Watching him just stand and look menacing is the best thing in the world. Although Vegeta is my favorite character, he is not the one I use most often. I can see they pumped up all the Gohan's, cause they TOTALLY need to be stronger.</sarcasm> But probably the happiest thing I saw was Nam. By far my favorite DragonBall character, and he's in this game, along with his Cross Arm Dive! *Angels sing in a chorus* I tried to go through and see everyone's finishers on training and got bored with a good 60% left. The selection is much deeper than any other DBZ game I've ever played, and if they make another, I will be curious to see who else they manage to fit in the game. Maybe some more regular fighters and less of Frieza's minions who die within five seconds.

Story/Replay Value: 9/10
I wanted to give this section a nice score, and since the story itself would definitely lower its score, I gave it a nice boost. Quite obviously, this game is going to have an awesome replay value, if you remember Tenkaichi 2. The story is so rushed I don't even want to think about it. I was fumbling with the controls for maybe a half hour, and when I looked up, I was shocked to see that Nappa and Raditz laid dead on the battlefield. At least Vegeta entertained me as an Oozaru. The little "saga's" go by faster than en episode of DBZ, and that's saying something. By the end of the night, you should have at least Buu Saga, unless you play the Special Saga as a break or something. The best is the What If Saga. Not what we all expected it to be, but still good, especially if you enjoy think of insane variations to stories. My favorites were the Sayian uprising and the one with Devilman. Other than these, its mediocre and feels rushed.

Replay value makes up for all of this and gives all hope of a still enjoyable game. My God, the developers did an awesome job with not only graphics, but voice acting (thank you Christopher Sabat) and the actions themselves. I might have said this earlier, but watch mid Goku go Super Sayian again. That's so cool! *cough* Anyways, all in all, its great.

Final Notes: Great game, really. Any DBZ, DB or GT fan will find themselves in heaven with this game right here. It's all there baby, ready for there picking! One thing stills bothers me, personally. It's about Vegeta. I still like Bruce Drummond as the voice actor, not as much Sabat. Sorry, but I had to get it out. Not to say I like the original dubbing/script, but I just like the voice he gave Vegeta. That's my view personally. Wait, you're still reading this? >_> Well, this is it. Fin.

Final Score: 9/10(!)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/07

Game Release: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (US, 12/03/07)