Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit PS3 Review

The Budokai games have always been fighters first and foremost. Unlike the Budokai Tenkaichi line of games it doesn’t sell itself as a ‘Dragon Ball Z’ simulator; it’s a fighter with Dragon Ball Z characters. Burst Limit carries on the Budokai tradition of offering a solid fighting system with plenty of easy to execute moves. Burst Limit doesn’t have the depth of a SoulCalibur or a Dead or Alive, but it does an excellent job of empowering players with its flashy move sets. By eliminating the need to manually charge ki gauges, players are not only encouraged to attack more frequently, but are able to do so with flurries of energy attacks and teleportation counters. This newly tweaked system also allows for a Street Fighter 3 style EX moves where players can sacrifice a bit of ki energy to bolster their special attacks or reinforce their defensive capabilities. I’m a big fan of these additions.

What I’m not a big fan of are the button mashing battles involved with those so called ‘Ultimate Attacks’. These battles are triggered when the player enters the stat boosting ‘Aura Spark’ mode and manages to catch an opponent in mid-air. These are trademark “DBZ moments” and while Budokai 3 employed a similar system, it didn’t jeopardize the well being of my fingers and my controllers. It’s the one feature I dread the most in Burst Limit and unfortunately I cannot switch it off. Shame. On the plus side, they’re an entertaining sight to see. Just like the rest of the game.

Burst Limit may not sport the destructive environments of the Tenkaichi games, but its battle arenas were beautifully rendered with excellent use of vibrant colors and depth of field to give it that sense of scale. It’s a bit of a deception since the stages aren’t that big with invisible walls isolating the warriors, but they do capture the various trademark DBZ battle grounds well. The number of stages may be on the low side; however each stage comes with a multitude of “levels” and states. For instance, you could alter the level’s appearance by landing a high powered attack which changes the green rolling hills view into a desolate world on the brink of destruction. I’m making it sound more exciting than it really is, but they are rendered very well and convey the dire battle scenarios superbly.

Goku, Gohan, Cell, Frieza, Vegeta and the rest of the Dragon Ball Z cast were faithfully recreated for the world of high definition goodness. Staying true to your anime source is one thing, but exceeding it? That’s something I’m sheepishly admitting happened with Burst Limit. It was rare, but in some cases the recreated scenes were as if I was watching a remake of the classic anime series. In battle, each of the cel shaded characters threw their energy beams, punches and kicks just like their anime counterparts would. I got a real kick from those ‘Heavy Smash’ attacks – it just screamed Dragon Ball. Very awesome.

Wrapping up, you can’t deny that this game was made for Dragon Ball fans. If it wasn’t, the single player would have been more detailed with more characters and locales accurately retelling the story arcs of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z in their entirety. Even with that in mind, Burst Limit is targeting a specific type of Dragon Ball fan. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is for the fans looking for a next-gen Dragon Ball Z game with a bit more that ‘fighter gene’ in its DNA. And as with all solid fighters, the game truly comes alive when you pit two live opponents against each other in a battle of wits. It’s a bit of an annoyance go through the single player in order to unlock the full roster, but once it’s done and you come to grips with the game’s mechanics and concepts, it’s a blast to play competitively. So if you’ve been craving a Dragon Ball Z based fighter, give Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit a good look. For folks like yours truly, it’s a return to form and happily welcomed.

Verdict:
For Fans Only

For more information, visit the official website.

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