- Title: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: Atari
- Developer: Dimps
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Fighting
- Pros: Nice graphics; accessible and fun gameplay; looks and sounds just like the show
- Cons: Doesn’t cover entire DBZ run; less features than other recent DBZ games on other systems
DBZ Burst Limit follows the Dragon Ball Z story from the beginning with the Saiyan Saga through the end of Cell Games. There are 21 playable characters to choose from, most of whom you have to unlock by playing through the story. On paper, these features sound great, but compared to previous DBZ games, it is hard not to be disappointed. DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 on the Wii and PS2 covered the entire DBZ series and had 150 playable characters including characters from DB GT. Burst Limit seems like a bit of a step backwards in terms of value.
Burst Limit does have a lot going for it, though, in spite of the smaller roster. The Z Chronicles story mode is fairly lengthy and will keep you busy for quite a while. There is also a training mode that lets you not only practice but also includes a survival mode, time attack, and a battle point mode that gives you a score for using different attacks.
The real star attraction of Burst Limit is the versus mode. Fighting games are always better when played against a human opponent, and Burst Limit is no different. You can play locally or over Xbox Live.
Gameplay
To make the game even more like the show, the game uses something called Drama Pieces. These replicate what you see on the show where a character will make a surprise appearance for a last minute pep talk or blindside attack or your character will power up and become stronger among many other things. The Drama Pieces kind of mess up the pacing of the game a little bit by throwing little cutscenes into the middle of a fight, but that is exactly how the fights are on the show so it isn’t too bad. And they definitely do add a lot of authenticity and drama to the fights, which is a good thing. You can, thankfully, turn them off in versus mode if you want, but for DBZ fans it is nice to have them on.
Graphics and Sound
As far as visuals go, there is no question that Burst Limit is the best-looking Dragon Ball Z game yet. The characters look great in high definition and are very detailed and sharp. The environments you fight in are generally pretty bland and not very detailed, but that is true to the show so you can’t really complain too much.The sound is also pretty good. You can choose from English or Japanese voices (featuring the real voice actors, natch), so whether you’re an Otaku or Cartoon Network watching anime noob, the voices will be true to the show.
Bottom Line
