Review: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (PS3)

For those who have already played the three more recent DBZ offerings on PS2, the gameplay of Burst Limit will come as something of a surprise, being substantially simpler and relatively button-basher friendly. That isn't to say that there's a total lack of depth, with timing being placed to the fore rather than the rote learning of elaborate combos, but it does considerably limit the scope and longevity of the title.

License-appropriate gimmicks such as charging up characters' chi power and initiating mini-cut-scene Drama Sequences mid-fight alleviate some of the repetition, but it still feels limited in scope considering the epic scale of the TV show. Where are the bouts with challengers smashed mountains in half and blowing planet-sized balls of energy at each other? Konami's Zone Of The Enders games captured the scale and energy of big-battle animé scrapping far better than anything on display here.

Bust Limit is almost painfully by the numbers across the board, with little to offer fighting-game fans beyond the typical Versus, Story and Survival modes, perhaps inevitable given the undemanding fan base. The easy-to-grasp combat should make playing against friends less of a David and Goliath experience, but then it never becomes a particularly rewarding pastime either. Bouts frequently fall down to length sessions of countered counter-attacks and unblockable Drama Sequences, and while these intrusive, battle-deciding little moments can be disabled in offline games, few players will do so online. Combined with unavoidable lag and the brutally talented hardcore that make up the online community it makes for an uninviting prospect.

More's the shame, really, given that the excellent presentation would make any long-time fan of the series proud. Graphically, the bold, chunky characters are backed up by animation that should make players pine for a 3D remake of the show, even if the backgrounds do suffer every bit here as in an old cartoon- bland and repetitive, they're simply there for decoration. A dual-language audio track reunites many of the cartoon's voice actors, but the lack of context given to the inter-battle cut-scenes of the central Z Chronicles mode means that only those who have suffered through the incredibly long sagas on television first will find them particularly enjoyable. Even then they only bookend the combat, making this far from the all-encompassing epic the source material deserves.

The overriding mood Burst Limit exudes is one of workmanlike averageness. There is nothing in the game to be particularly dismayed by, nor anything that gives the sense that this could be the definitive spin-off fans and non-fans alike could get behind. With gamers largely served by the previous six outings for the franchise on PS2, Burst Limit could only appeal to a nostalgic minority, the series has still never moved beyond a post-pub alternative to Tekken or Dead Or Alive. For a certain few who remember sitting through three episodes of Goku's Super Saiyan Level 3 charge-up in his fight against Final Form Cell this will make a reasonable time waster; but if that previous sentence made no sense whatsoever, there's little reason to buy into the franchise here.

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Colin Whiteside