Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit Review
by ForlornTwilight
Dimps Corporation is most known for bringing Dragon Ball Z fighters to the forefront with their Budokai series, but they have had their hands off of the DBZ brawlers for some time. Now they are back with Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for the Xbox 360 and PS3, offering online play for the first time in the franchise’s history.
Gameplay
Burst Limit covers Dragon Ball Z’s most popular arcs: the Saiyan saga, the Frieza saga, and the Cell saga. It covers these in the Z Chronicles mode, which gives a broad overview of the story, but doesn’t really cover specifics, so newcomers to the series will have a lot of lose ends to deal with. The sagas are presented through some of the major battles in the series, but not everything is represented, as characters like Chaotzu, most of the Ginyu force, and a big chunk of the Cell saga’s cast is missing. My biggest complaint aside from the broad focus of the story is that the whole series is not represented. Dragon Ball Z hasn’t been on American airwaves for some time and did complete its original run, and there have been previous fighting games to include nearly the whole series. While Broly and Bardock are included, they just feel a bit tacked on. The fact that this game only covers three of the sagas, and not even completely, is just inexcusable. Seeing as the target audience for this game seems to be people who grew up with the show, it is also a bit unnerving to sit through all the toned down violence, as some of the more gruesome scenes from the show are not depicted, as well as dealing with all the times the characters use “darn” as their expletive of choice.
Having some experience in the past with fighting games, Dimps has made sure that the mechanics behind Burst Limit are solid. At the surface, the controls are simple and combos are easy to execute, making the game very accessible to newcomers. Those looking to dedicate time to the game will find depth in the counter system, but it isn’t as sophisticated as systems in other games in the genre. Transformations are handled in game, and that includes Frieza and Cell as well as the Saiyans. The different forms often have different special attacks, which can create some fun variety and requires both players to be on their toes. Certain Ki attacks, like the Kamehameha and Gallic Gun, can grapple with each other, resulting in a button mashing furry to overtake your opponent’s attack. There is also the Aura Spark mode, which boosts attack damage and allows you to execute an Ultimate Attack that has you launching a volley of blows at your opponent, with the damage taken being dependant on how well you mash the face buttons.
The Z Chronicles mode is the beef of the single player, taking you through over 50 of the series’ biggest battles, allowing you to choose from 6 different difficulties, with the later ones being absolutely brutal. To keep things interesting, you will often find yourself playing as the bad guys, but some characters have too many fights associated with them, which can be a bit boring. Through this mode you’ll unlock Drama Pieces, sequences that often bring a twist to the battle by raising or lowering a character’s parameters. None of them are very game breaking, but some take longer than others and they often loose their charm after the second or third viewing, although it is nice that the dialogue can change depending on your opponent and your partner. Unlocking them, though, can be a real pain, as the AI is often slow to perform the actions that lead to their appearance. Outside of the Z Chronicles are the Trial modes that have you battling under certain conditions. The Survival Trial has you facing 100 opponents, or as many as you can take before you drop, with the difficulty rising as you go along. This mode is very time consuming, though, as each fight goes through a full loading time, and you’ll end up spending hours before you get to opponent 100. There are also Time Attack Trials and Battle Point Trials, each with the same three courses. These fights will have you taking on themed sets of opponents in two round matches, and are also more of a chore than fun. There are also some odd battle choices, as the first course has you fighting Frieza for three matches and is just a bore after the third round.
There are plenty of options for multiplayer enthusiasts, with offline modes allowing for battles against the computer, between humans, and even between in the computer. The biggest aspect of multiplayer, though, is the online mode. The biggest issue with fighting games online has always been lag, but Burst Limit performs fairly well in this category. Most of the time lag is unnoticeable, but playing against someone from another country is flat out, as the game essentially becomes a moderately interactive slideshow. The online community is also rather small, which can make it hard to find people around your level to play, but the community is far from dead. The online mode does hold up well, and is sure to breathe some good replay value into the game. You have a good selection of characters to choose from for these modes, although not all the characters from the sagas in the game are playable, so fans of some of the more obscure characters may be disappointed.
Graphics
Like other entries in the series, Burst Limit relies on a crisp cel-shaded style to try and match the anime, and it holds up very well. The backgrounds aren’t incredibly detailed, but the character models are well done, as are the attacks. Some of the animations, especially for taunts, are a bit stiff. The main problem with the graphics comes with the interface and the stages. Although the menus are slick and easy to navigate, there are some poor choices that a company experienced with fighters shouldn’t be making. Mainly, the character select is done in a list-like format where scroll boxes with the fighters’ names and pictures. Although the cast isn’t massive, it is big enough to make scrolling through the list tedious. There is also no visual representation of what the fighters’ alternate colors look like, other than their name becoming the main color of the outfit. The stages are another problem, as there is only a handful to choose from and none of them really feel unique or different from one another in anything more than a cosmetic way.
Sound
A great job was done with the audio in the game, as the music really fits the battles and the voice actors, both American and Japanese, are fairly accurate to the series. Some of the attack calls sound a bit forced, as do some taunts, and there are also some odd grunts made by certain characters when hit. Overall, though, the audio is spot on and hard to fault.
Controls
As mentioned previously, the controls are fairly simple, with two buttons covering most of the attacks, while another covers Ki attacks, with the last face button covering defensive moves. The Ki attacks are distinguished simply by the direction used with the button. It’s a really simple system and is easy to learn. The finer, defense related points may take longer to get down, but a newcomer will have no problem getting used to the controls. Still, some of the inputs don’t get accepted as smoothly as others, though, and some attacks have awkward timings associated with them, and some characters have Ki moves that are too similar.
Conclusion
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is a fun fighting game that is easy to pick up and play, but there really is no excuse for not covering the whole series. As other games in the franchise have done it, Burst Limit can’t help but feel like a step back, despite the addition of a solid online component.
