Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit :: Xbox 360 Game Review

Reviewed by Kidzworld on Jun 18, 2008

Rating:

Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit Kamehameha’s onto next-gen consoles with Goku and the crew. Check out the deets in our review.

Dragon Ball Z Kamehameha's onto next generation gaming consoles with Burst Limit! Goku and friends are back to battle through three sagas in the DBZ universe that hardcore fans will love; however new fans have a lot of catching up to do. A strong tutorial system, plus training and trial modes should have you kicking Saibamen butt in no time. Check out the deets in our review.

Z Chronicles: Story Mode

You can relive events in the DBZ universe with over 50 battles fought across three different DBZ sagas, but following the story events/battle details can be puzzling for newbs. To make things more obscure, most battles are told from various perspectives - from both "good" and "bad" character perspectives. The game is targeted - almost painfully - towards hardcore fans of the series that know the back story between all the various characters. Personally, we couldn't keep track of the who's who and instead focused on the frenzied fighting action. Our single biggest beef with the story is that much of the dialogue wasted by "101 ways for characters to scream various syllables" that really don't need to be subtitled.

Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit :: Xbox 360 Game Review

Bursting Limits?

After coming to grips with our disappointment in the Z Chronicles; we discovered that kung fu fighting anime style might be as entertaining as any hardcore fighting game with the right mindset. Admittedly, the game feels more 2D than the 3D it's being reported as, but that isn't necessarily a negative as the developers did a good job recreating the anime style so true to form that we felt we were experiencing the animations the way the original artists intended. Unfortunately, in terms of overall gameplay, fans in the know may consider this title a carbon copy of the Budokai games with little in the way of new features.

Kamehameha!

By far, the most exciting elements of Burst Limit are the superb animations for all the power moves including the Aura Sparks, Ultimate Attacks, and Drama Pieces. Characters have their own versions of move types but thankfully no complicated combos to commit to memory. Despite the flashy graphics expert players may have their hands full with lucky button mashers; as the control scheme effectively makes the game accessible to fighters of all skill levels. Even newbs can execute dramatic "Special KO's" with the relatively forgivable command timing. In a nutshell, this game may appeal more to new fans as a rental; just to check out what the series is all about. To hardcore DBZ fans, this title will of course be a must have addition to their library.

Thumbs Up:

Story mode is moderate length (covers three of 15 DBZ series sagas)
Cool animation! Frenzied fighting style is true to the anime roots
Huge power moves are exciting to watch
Six difficulty levels for a range of player skill
21 DBZ characters to unlock for all gameplay modes

Thumbs Down:

Z Chronicles (story mode) sagas have a confusing number of POV (points of view) that are hard for new fans to follow
Many of the power moves are quite cheap and easily abused
Online battles commonly suffer from lag
Proof that if you slap a "DBZ" on a game title it will sell, no matter how many versions of the game have come before it

Game Rating:

Available for: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP