Developer: Dimps Corporation
Publisher: Atari
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Review:

Ka – Me – Ha – Me – Haaaaaa!  I had to start this off the only way I knew how and a KAMEHAMEHA seemed so perfect.  I’ve never been a fan of the television series and to be quite honest, I’m not looking forward to the movie but what I can tell you now is that I love the game.

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit surprised me at every turn with its solid fighting action.  It was so much fun battling with the likes of Goku, Gohan and even the Perfect Cell.  Are you ready for a Super Kamehameha?

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

All of your favorite Dragon Ball Z characters are here to do battle with.  Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza, Krillin, Bardock…you name it.  You make your way through the storyline, the Z Chronicles, which breaks the story into different 3 different sagas (Saiyan, Frieza, Cell).  Each of them tells one part of the conflict amongst the fighters.  This is where you’ll unlock the fighters and their attacks.

The controls are easy enough to learn.  RB button allows you to transform (if your character can).  Teen Gohan and other Saiyans can hit RB once or twice to get to their Super Saiyan form.  The Ki Attacks, Super Attacks and Ultimate Attacks were performed with the B button and D-pad (or left stick).  These attacks of course controlled the bad ass Kamehameha’s, Super Beam Cannons and other special moves.  The LB button unleashed the Aura Spark when your Ki gauge was full.  Aura gives a little extra effect to the Ki Attacks.  Don’t worry, you’ll learn all this during the training stages.

There were also Drama Pieces that were used as help throughout a battle.  They are automatically engaged depending on the battle situation.  If you’re near death and have a Super Bean Drama Piece, the battle will cut off into a cutscene and you’ll be given more health.  I was a bit annoyed with the “drama” but good thing you could adjust those options.  With all the “drama” surrounding the Drama Pieces, I will say that I’ll never get tired of Broly saying “Kakarot!”.  He has such a hatred when saying the word that it was never dull.

Visually, all the characters looked great.  The cartoon came alive right on the screen with the design of the fighters especially their Ki/Aura abilities.  The environments weren’t so impressive but that’s the Dragon Ball universe.  There also weren’t very many places to do battle in.  Having only 5 arenas was a bit of a letdown.  As I mentioned briefly above, the voicework was great.  KAKAROT!  It was easily the second best line throughout the story behind KAMEHAMEHA of course.

Xbox Live Extras

You can take the Dragon Ball fighters on Xbox Live to do battle with the rest of the world.  The setup is pretty simple.  There are Player matches and Ranked matches.  You can set the options for rounds, time and also whether or not Drama Pieces are used (thank goodness).  The action doesn’t fall too far off compared to playing the game locally.  I did experience some lag with the few rounds I lost on Xbox Live which I totally blame for my loss.

If you want to enter the worldwide arena of Dragon Ball Z players on Xbox Live, it’s available.  Be sure to check the battle rules before you enter a match though because some people are sneaky with their battle rules.

Conclusion

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit was everything the cartoon has been for all these years; a showcase of epic awesomeness between mighty warriors.  For those like me who had no interest in the cartoon, playing the game will make you feel the true meaning of what it is to be a Super Saiyan.  I didn’t care for the “drama” between matches much but the action itself was amazingly fun.

I think I’m going to buy a few DBZ DVD’s actually so I can experience the series.

8.5
“Standout”