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DBZ Video Game Reviews
Budokai 3 - by i_amtrunks

Hello DBZ fans, Im here today to review Dragonball Z Budokai 3.

Released in November/ December 2004 (depending on your location), im sure that every Dragonball Z fan who owns a Playststion 2 has already bought, played an finished Budokai 3. This review is really just to outline the basic changes that Budokai 3 has from Budokai 2, and some of its individual characteristics.

The biggest change in Budokai 3 was the introduction of free flight to Dragon Universe. Dragon Universe is the new story mode, which follows the basic plot and storyline of Dragonball Z. Goku and 10 of his Senshi (including Brolli) are able to fly freely around a fairly detailed map of Earth in search of the Dragonballs, Items and Enemies. This is a major improvement over the game board 'hopping' system that was given to us in Budokai 2.

Now players can freely choose when and where they would like to visit certain places of interest, and when they would like to fight. The ulitmatew goal of Dragon Universe is to find an allocated amount of Dragonballs in each Saga their character plays a part in, and fight their enemies.
For example, Kid Gohans Dragon Universe mode follows Gohan throughout the Saiyan, Namek and Frieza sagas. By visiting Gurus on Namek before fighting Recoome, Gohan gets a power-up and the unlock potential capsule. By visiting the many different places of interest, even some that do not really tie into the real storyline, players can recieve power-ups, capsules and Zenie to enhance their gameplay.

Another big difference is the use of a level up system. This system can only be used in the Dragon Universe and Draon Arena modes (more on Dragon Arena later). The level up system works on an expeireince based points sytem, where once a character reaches a certain amount of experience points they level up, earining a skill point which the player can then distribute into one of 7 stats, ranging from health and attack to guard and arts. The placement of skill points into the 7 stats determines the type of fighter you want.

The capsule system remains the same in Budokai 3 as it was in Budokai 1 and 2. This time you have ability, equipment and items, instead of special skills, physical skills and support skills. All personal move skills, from transformations to Ultimate attacks are all included under ability skills.

The item skills have also been changed, you may now only pick one item per fight, and that item has to be activated by holding x and tapiing down twice. Items help charatcers increase health, ki, and even attack. Sezu beans, and The viral Heart Disease vaccine are all items.
A large amount of attacks that were in Budokai 1 and 2 have been lost in Budokai 3, and some others have been changed.

All characters now have a breakthrough (although some characters only have 1 or 2 attacks), and most characters now have an Ultimate attack.Grab and throw attacks are automatic, and no longer need to be set, and some special attacks such as Special Beam Cannon and Final Flash can only be used after succesfully completeing a Dragon Rush, another new addition to Budokai 3.

Dragon Rush is one of 5 new infight additions to Budokai 3. The other additions are Hyper mode, Ultimate attacks, Beam Struggles and Teleportation.

Hyper mode is like a semi-invincible state that you can achieve by pressing all 4 buttons at once, once in this mode, it becomes very hard for your opponent to knock you down(you still take damage) and you glow red.

When in Hyper mode you can then choose to execute a Dragon Rush or Ultimate Attack.
Dragon Rush is a new attack where once in Hyper Mode, you send your opponent flying backwards, and a cut scne is played. During this cutscene, both players have to choose one of the 4 buttons on the gamepad. if the attacker and defender choose different buttons, the attack continues, but if the defender and attacker choose the same button, the defender stops the onslaught. Dragon rush is played over 3 button selection stages, and if the attacker manages to win all 3 selection stages, they finish of the Rush with a strong finishing attack. Goku, vegeta and Piccolo all have special rush finishing Attacks.

Ultimate attacks can now only be executed in Hyper Mode, the attacker has to have an adequate amount of Ki stage to launch the Ultimate, then activate Hyper Mode, once in Hyper Mode, all 4 buttons must be pressed simultaneously to activate the ultimate attack. As in Budokai 2, players then duke it out to see if the Ultimate is successful or not.

Beam Stuggles now occur when both players launch a death moves simultaneously, this is one of the best additions to the game, and after a few beam struggles against a good opponent, you may find your hands to be rather sore.

Teleportation is the biggest new infight addition. Not only do some Computer opponents abuse the attack, it also adds a whole new difficulty to the World Tournament stages. Now for the simple price of a few Ki bars, you can teleport behind your opponent and knock them flying, as long as you time the button press just right.

Other than new attacks and story mode, there is also a new mode called Draon arena, where characters use their improved statistics from leveling up to battle different opponents. All Characters can be used in this mode, and the higher level opponent you fight, the more points you receive. You also get given passwords every time your character levels up. There are official forums where people give their passwords for others to use. Punch in the password and you are able to fight that persons character.

The amount of characters in Budokai 3 is astounding. Zarbon, Dodoria and Android 19 do not make a comeback in this game as many had hoped, but many new faces do appear. These include, Kid Goku, Uub, Cooler, Bardock, Saibaman, and Cell Junior. Oh and of course the beefiest villian of them all Brolli. There is also a DBGT character called Omega Shenron, who acts as a secret hidden boss, but isnt anything to get exicited over.

Omega Shenron isnt the only DBGT component to sneak into a perfectly good DBZ game, both Goku and Vegeta have a SSJ 4 capsule which can be equippes, as well as a SSJ4 Gogeta capsule.
It is a fair whack harder to complete this game than its previous namesakes, Supreme, Kai, Omega Shenron and Android 16 take a decent amount of play to figure out how to get, you also need to be a World Tournament whiz in order to get all the Zenie to buy every breakthrough, skill and bonus extras to complete the game 100%.

Budokai 3 is a great game all-round. It may not have the extensive move list of fighters such as Tekken, but it remains true to the show it is based on. The gameplay is fast, and the combos can sometimes be outrageously biased, if you learn to abuse the new teleportation system. It is alot easier to pull of an Ultimate attack than it previously was, but it is also easier to dodge them.
Giving Characters such as Androids 17 and 18, Tien, Bardock and Kid Goku, appropriate Ultimate attacks, as well as including Gotenks, Vegito and Gogeta fusions, increases te play value of this under-rated game.

Overall this game gets a 9.75/10, with its only minor downsides being the inclusion of DBGT characters and the lack of moves for some minor characters.

Feel free to contact me at i_amtrunks@hotmail.com for any extra information on Budokai 3, such as unlocking characters, dragonball locations, story re-enactments or just general information.