Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Game Review

Okay then. Hopefully all of us reading this article know what Dragon Ball Z is, so I don't need to go into review on that. As we all hopefully know, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT have many, MANY different sagas. In the third installment of the Budokai Tenkaichi game series we all know and love, they beautifully combine all three shows, and sagas, into a more action-packed game with all new stages, a new battle replay feature, online capabilities, and possibly the best feature of all, over 100 characters!! Not only is that the biggest character roster in any DBZ game, but it's one of the biggest in any fighting game period! Let's get started!

New Features: DBZ has been pretty efficient with adding many more features in every new game, and this third game in the series is no exception, but it might have set the new bar. In this game, there are several mouthwatering new features we've all been waiting for, and finally, we can play online with all our friends. Ok - there is something new called the Battle Replay feature, and, as the title suggests, lets you save battles and replay them later. Something not too exciting, but something worth showing off if you just pulled off a killer move and just have the urge to show all of your friends. That would be the minor new feature, because next we have the Disk Fusion feature. Again, not the best new feature, but hey, who's complaining? For the PS2 version of this game, while the game is already loaded, take out the disk and insert either Budokai Tenkaichi 1 or Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and you'll unlock the new battle modes Ultimate Battle and Ultimate Battle Z respectively. Next is something that helps the game just flow a bit smoother - better stages. With the new stages that have been added, the story mode seems al little bit more like the TV series, for the new features are new day and night stages. There are also dawn and afternoon for some stages, but if you're just fighting against the CPU or against your friend, it won't matter much whether its day or night, but still, it does add a little more excitement in the game. Also, it is worth mentioning that in the night stages, sometimes there will be full moons, and certain characters will be able to transform in there Great Ape forms, which brings us up to our next feature, the all new characters. As I just stated, Many people including Kid Goku, Vegeta, Nappa, Bardock, Raditz, and more will be able to transform into there Great Ape forms, though, if I may say so myself, the Giant versions of these saiyans aren't really helpful, but if you like them, then this is a great new feature for you. Other than that though, there are now about 160 characters in the game, including King Cold and Kid Chi-chi. In the game play, there are more features added also, but I'll mention that later.

Gameplay: There are many new combos in the fighting aspect, as well as blast moves. The combos will be able to go on for much longer with character specific combos, which means that certain characters will have special combos that others won't, blast endings, which means after a certain type of combo you will be able to press a certain button to finish off the combo with a Kamehameha or another corresponding move, which I think is a pretty sweet finish. Also, the Z Burst Dash which so many of us enjoyed in the last game has been much improved, being more evasive and able to burst to higher speeds for a brief moment and appear behind the opponent to dodge your opponents blasts. So that's pretty much it for the game play.

Online: Something we've all been waiting for has finally come out, although it might disappoint most. Finally an online capability has been unleashed on this series of DBZ, but only for the Wii. And further more, it sucks. Period. It lags so much its useless. Search anywhere and you'll find that basically no one has been able to play without horrible lag. There is a ranking system, but it's basically based on a win and lose - lose being the other person quit before you did because of the lag. All in all, there is NO online play in this online capable game.

My Ratings:Graphics and Audio - One of the best I've seen that's not Halo or some Burnout game. The shading with the characters is unbelievable, and it sometimes seems like your playing a TV show not a video game. And the 3D backgrounds are nothing less. Fantastic. Gameplay - New features, new characters, all the sagas, even a "What if" saga. Couldn't ask for more in a fighting game. The new combos and moves are stunning combined with the graphics, and...Well, I'm speechless. Creativity - This so deserves a 25, but for the sake of it being like the 10th or something in the series, it does get a 23. Hopefully the next Tenkaichi (if there will be one) will have something to excite me to higher the score, but for now, with the current new features, 23 will do. Fun: - I cannot tell you how much fun I had. I've done tournaments with my friends, played single matches with my brother, and just got board so chose 5 random characters and fought for the heck of it. The only con of this game was that I couldn't wait to try out the new online mode, but...as stated above, it was just disappointing.

Okay. So that would be my review of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. But will it be the last Tenkaichi? Who knows? But for now, get this game, because I would give this game 9 out of 10. Simply Amazing.

P.S. There will be a new Tenkaichi coming out soon called Raging Blast not Tenkaichi 4 so be on the lookout for it. Happy searching!