Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 3
Score: 87% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atari Developer: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Fighting
Graphics & Sound: So for all you Dragon Ball fans, we now have the latest game in the series, and the second one available for the Wii. Graphically, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 looks very much like the previous incarnations did. All of the previous characters that you remember are there and look just like they always did. They all have at least two different outfits that you can choose from if you get bored of staring at the same thing over and over. But since there are over 150 characters available, including several forms of Goku and Vegeta, you can always just keep switching characters if you get bored looking at the same one. You can be assured that your favorite character is somewhere in the lineup, even if it's someone from one of the movies. The locations are also pretty much the same as the previous games too, but now you have the options of playing in day and night stages to give you more scenery. Just in case you were worried about having to get used to new voices, all of the characters sound exactly like the Dragon Ball characters in the show and movies. You'll get to hear all of their favorite lines and all of their grunts and groans as they are being beaten up. The background music is very fast-paced. It is very appropriate for a fighting game. I found the sound effects to be quite helpful too, especially the sound it makes when you're powering up. Just by listening to it, you can tell your power is rising so you're free to watch out for your opponent instead of watching your meter rise.
Gameplay: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is a fighting game, that much is obvious. But there are several different modes that you can play it in. Dragon History is where you play to unlock more characters, earn Z points, and most importantly, unlock new skills. You'll start with the Saiyan Saga. After you beat it, you'll unlock more sagas to play. Each saga consists of at least three battles. The battles can have many parts, so watch the screen carefully. When it is time to switch to a new character or trigger an event, you'll see (1) on the bottom of the screen in the middle. Press (1) to continue to the next part. Ultimate Battle is another mode of play available. It is a "survival game" challenge. Inside it, you'll train and battle to improve your skills and earn Z points. The biggest challenge is in winning all the battles. The Dragon World Tour is where you go to play in tournaments. The World Tour is "for one player, and will open at a specific time," to quote the game. But if you don't feel like waiting on a specific tournament to be open, you can choose Free and play alone or against your friends. Just be careful because in tournaments, you can be eliminated instantly with a "ring out." If you want to just battle against your friends or practice against different characters, you can go into Duel. There are three different Duels that you can choose from. Single Battle allows you to each pick a character and fight. It's a quick and easy way to match up against your friends. In Team Battle, you'll pick five fighters to battle with. Obviously since it is 5 on 5, Team Battle is going to last a lot longer. The last battle type you can choose is DP Battle. DP stands for Destruction Points. Basically you form a team compromised of characters that total no more than 10, 15, or 20 (whichever you choose) DPs. Each character is assigned DPs based on how strong they are. It will tell you how many DPs a character has on the character selection screen. Just in case you're curious, of the characters you can choose from at the beginning (because I'm not going to revel who you can unlock), Hercule is the lowest at 1 and Super 17 and Syn Shenron are the strongest at 9. If you want to use up your DPs on less than 5 characters, you can. If you want to go online and compete against someone outside your TV room, you can do so in Dragon Net Battle. All you need to do is set up your wi-fi connection. It will search for random people for you to compete against or you can choose to battle anyone that you have set up as a friend. You set your friends up under Manage Friends. To spend your Z points and buy things to customize your characters, you go into the Evolution Z selection. Launch is the shop keeper, so be forewarned that you never know if she's going to be nice or mean when you go in. There's several more game choices, so as you can see, there's a lot of different ways to play.
Difficulty: So honestly, this is the one area that I was upset with Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. The difficulty isn't consistent for the various boards. Even on easy, it was very hard to beat some. Granted, it's not necessary for you to win every battle since the story will change based on which character beats which other character, but it is still very frustrating. In Dragon History, you have to beat Saiyan Saga to unlock a lot more of the battles. Beating each battle takes a lot of time, and you can't pause in the middle of it. Quite a few of the battles that you unlock though are significantly easier than the Saiyan Saga was. Winning the tournaments is never an easy thing to do, no matter how strong you are. You have to win every round, one loss and you've lost it all. You can lose it very easily if you're not careful about ring outs. You're ok to leave the ring if you're flying, just be careful not to touch the ground. The second you do, you're out. But if you can manage to ring out your opponent, you'll get an easy win.
Game Mechanics: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is played by using the Wii-mote with the Nunchuk. You can also play it with a classic controller if you want. Just about every button on both the Wii-mote and the Nunchuk are used. The analog stick moves you through menu choices and moves your character around the screen. The (A) button calls your melee attack. You don't really get to choose whether it is a kick or a punch though. I do miss being able to decide what melee attack you use. The (C) button lets you fly up and the (Z) flies down. The (B) button will fire an energy blast at your opponent, but you'll probably want to save most of your energy for special attacks. Each character has their own special attacks. To perform these attacks, you'll need ki energy charged up. Different attacks require different amounts of energy. To see what moves you need to perform to make each attack happen, press (+) to bring up the Pause Menu and then choose View Skill List. To perform these moves, you'll hold down a direction on the D-pad and then move the Wii-mote and the Nunchuk in the direction shown. The game will show you how you're supposed to move on the bottom left corner of the screen. Just be aware that some moves require you to press the (B) button also. Honestly I really like having the movement in there. It makes up for not being able to choose your melee attack. The movements you have to do are often simulations of what the characters do to perform the attack, so it makes you feel more like you're a part of the game. A special attack that all characters can perform is the Dragon Dash. It can be very helpful to get the upper hand on your opponent. To dash, simply shake the Nunchuk and you'll sprint in the direction you are facing. There are quite a few more special moves you can do, so I highly recommend that you read the manual and practice up in training. On the whole, I really enjoyed playing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. We did completely lock the game up once to the point that I had to turn off the Wii and restart. Sometimes, it was hard to get the special moves to activate, but once you get the hang of it, it's all good. If you're not ready to buy, you should definitely go rent it and find out for yourself if you enjoy it or not.
-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl
Cars: Mater-National Championship The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific