Now going into this game I didn't really have the greatest expectations. I was a little bit disappointed with the last game and really there wasn't that much difference from the first one anyways. Really I felt more like I had to play the game being a DBZ fan and frankly I'm happy I did. There are so many improvements from the last two games that it's really worth getting even if you have the previous. Now to get the basics out of the way the graphics are an incredible cell-shading that's better than Budokai 2 in both character models and the enviroments and all the voices from the series are back doing the voices this time around so the audio and look of the game is great but it doesn't start there. First thing I have to mention was that they replaced last years Dragon World which was pretty much a board game to the awesome Dragon Universe which is this amazing 3D free roaming world that your character flies around fighting enemies as you level up following the story of DBZ from the beginning of the series and even some stuff from DragonBall GT. The characters you can play as include Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha with more unlocked as you go on. They each have their own story to follow but really some are more developed than others. However the nice thing is that as you play a second time through you can unlock new story events you didn't get the first time so it has some nice replay value. Now the next thing has to be mentioned is the gameplay. The fighting system has been improved so much that now the fights really feel like something from the series with the addition of the teleportation ability where you can get the drop on your opponent and beam struggles where you have to rotate the analog stick quickly to win. Not to mention the Dragon Rush and Ultimate Attacks which can really change the flow of battle within a few seconds. Now don't let these new features worry you, there is an excellent training mode in the game that let's you get all the basics of the Budokai games to all of the newer advanced abilities. Another great addition is adding playable movie character like Broly, Cooler and Bardock. Overall this game is easily the best of all the other Budokai's it may very well be the best DragonBall Z game of all time.
