Dragon Ball Z : Burst Limit
Sunday, March 29, 2009
It is nearly twenty years ago, Dragon Ball Z series was first broadcast, but it is still incredibly popular. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is actionfighting at a furious pace, the game busts through graphic barriers with loud screams and heavy energy beams but the is the gameplay at the same level as the graphics?
Innovation is out of the window
Sometimes, fans of animé series get one or two games they want, but in the case of the Dragonball-series the fans have gotten a tad more games. The constant milking of the Dragonball Z-franchise is something that makes me wonder if these developers have ambitions, because the lack of innovation is clearly evident. Burst limit is one of several DBZ games. This one more focused on the classical fighting unlike the Budokai Tenkaichi-series.
Not a lot has happened since Budokai 3, there is a lot of characters where most of them have their own set of moves and special attacks. There is a story mode, time trial, survival, and online mode where you can take their skills online. Classic template for a fighting game.
The problem with the DBZ-series is that anyone who has played these games or watched the series know exactly what it is all about. So in order to make the game successful with its story mode, the developers must create a more beautiful iteration of it, even though we’ve seen it all before. They succeded, Burst Limit is clearly the most beautiful DBZ-game to date, however they really blew it all because of their laziness. Each time you select a new “mission” in story mode as you’ll be presented with an animation sequence where two characters fight and maybe talk a while, this may look incredibly impressive the first time you see it, but eventually you’ll realize that they are basically using the same sequence in almost every mission.
The gameplay saves the game?
The game’s only innovation is something the developers call “drama pieces”, these small pieces are action sequences that can be activated during battle. An example of this is when one of your comrades jumps in and helps you with a nice cutscene. These are very well done but like the story mode they tend to become annoying after some time. You think they would give more “feeling” to the game, but since the game is a fast-paced fighting game they tend to ruin the flow of the fights instead. Flow in a fighting game is critical, it’s all about timing. Two characters may be in the middle of exchanging punches and kicks at a fast pace, a drama piece kicks in , shows a little cutscene and after the two fighters are located at each side of the screen. Flow ruined, total flop.
Burst Limit a relatively good fighting game, but it is just better looking than the earlier parts of the Budokai series. Game mechanics are at first sight, very superficial, but the more you dive into the game, you reach a certain depth. Each character has their own special-attack and move-sets, I still feel that it lacks something though and does not really capture the feeling of Dragon Ball Z.
Conclusion
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is a game without innovation, ambition and is merely a way for developers to get some money out of fans whom love a serie that was broadcasted twenty years ago. If you’re looking for a fighter that lasts, this isn’t the right choice. If you love Dragonball Z, this might be for you, but even then there are better fighters out there.
