Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

So just to start i am a huge Dragonball z fan, as it was the first Anime that i ever saw back when it was first shown on Cartoon Network but this Burst Limit review will not be swaided by that fact like alot of these other reviews have.

So on to the Review!!!

People seem to compare this game with Budokai 3 alot for some reason, even after playing it, this is wrong as it shouldn't be compared with 3 but with Budokai 1.

I'm proberly right in guessing that if your reading ( or have read ) this review then you are interested in some form in either Dragonball z itself or fighting games. Well...
First off Dragonball z Burst Limit for the Xbox 360/PS3 is a Primary fighting game, and a good one at that.

Now unlike the past few DBZ games, Burst Limit return to the Budokai formula of fighting as the camera is places further out and not behind your character like the Tenkaichi series, and just like the Budokai series
the game focuses more on strict fighting instead of collecting capsules and Dragon Balls for your character. After completing story sequences, you unlock certain items such as characters, abilities and battle stages. Combat has been simplified dramatically from the previous games. Using special moves is as easy as pressing a button and moving the left analog stick or d-pad simultaneously. If certain actions are made during the battle, "Drama Pieces" are activated, causing many different effects such as having your health restored with a Senzu Bean and a helper character attacking your opponent.

Now these '' Drama Pieces '' are what i would call a '' double edged sword '' for the sheer fact that when you first play the game and activate one of these Drama pieces, it looks cool thanks to the great Animation ( exept the mouths that keep moving after the dialogue has been said ) and core graphics, but after completing the game you would of most proberly unlocked 80% of these Drama pieces which means you can use them if equipped to your character in fights online or against friends, thats good and everything, until you have seen and activated the same Drama piece OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, which again would be fine......

IF YOU COULD SKIP THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!

Although implemented fairly well these Drama Pieces turn from being a great addition to being a hindrance during gameplay and although what alot of reviews said is true in the way that '' They dont really determine who wins '' it still fells rather disjointed enough to make the game abit of a chore.

Now aswell as noticing these unlocked Drama pieces during the story who'll also notice the story itself fell abit ( or hugely ) disjointed from pretty much the previous animation scene...
E.G. in one particular scene Goku fights freiza for a while and finally comes to a desition that the only course of action would be to use the Spirit Bomb, only a second after Goku saying this the Scene jumps to Goku Firing it ......

So what happened to Gohan , Krillin, and piccolo fighting freiza long enough for Goku to gather enough energy?
Makes me wonder if anyone from Atari even watched the Anime or if they just saw bits of it during Adverts.

Anothering thing as well as skipping fights altogether, '' What if '' fights have been added ( For some stupid reason ) one of these '' what if '' fights include Bardock fighting all of the main Z fighters until he fights Goku.
Now i cant really complain about the core game play, but why in the hell skip important fights that were really in the anime and put in this crap?

Also within the story mode you will unlock all 20 or so of the fighters within Dragonball z Burst Limit, for this ive heard both arguments...

'' ONLY 20 CHARACTERS?... THATS **** ''

and

' There may be only 20 characters but they all play differently now ''

I have found out that both of these statements are utter crap.
Yes I'll admit the hand to hand combat is different for around 17 characters but the special attacks are something far different....
E.G. Yamcha, Goku, Krillin and Gohan all have the same special attack, the KAMEHAMEHA!
So how can every character play differently if they each have the same DAMN ATTACK.

Of course aswell as the stroy mode Burst Limit offers a few other features for you to pretty much waste your time in, these features are:

Survival Mode: A mode where you keep fighting opponents ( 100 ) as long as your health lasts.

Time Attack Mode: A mode where you fight a specific set of opponents and try to beat them as quickly as possible.

Battle Point Mode: A mode where you fight a specific set of opponents and try to score as many points as possible.

Now apart from some good leaderboard options to see who has the best in each mode, these are pretty terrible for 3 main reasons:

1. There all pretty much the same thing but one with a set of health, another with time and the last with a point average.

2. As there is 100 opponents on the survival Mode and only 20 character within the game its highly repeatitive.

3. Unskipable Drama Pieces Oh not only does Burst Limit screw you over with content but it also screws you over with it's online ( from my point of view anyway ) as just like Gamespot stated in there review it's core online feature is 1 Vs. 1 fighting, which it good and all considering alot of fighting games only have this feature, but what makes it far worse than them games would be the LAG during fights, if your opponent is across sea's...
So be Warned....

Overall Dragonball Z Burst Limit IS a good fighter, with improved Graphics and gameplay but where it shines brightly in Flash and flair it seriously lacks in substance, so much so that it feels this game is the first DBZ ever on consoles, However if you are like me a fighting game fan and a dbz fan you will get a few kicks out of this.

The Good:

Nice visuals
Drama pieces start off being a nice touch
easy learning curve

The Bad:

not worth the £40 i payed
depends on whether you like Eng Dub
Drama Pieces annoy you after a period


The Ugly:

Online suffers from relentless Lag