Tom gets thrown in at the deep end.

I will be honest from the start, I know nothing about Dragonball Z, so I won’t be going into any story-specific bits about who does what to who and why, because basically I don’t know. Saying that, I have played a Dragonball Z before and did enjoy, it reminded me of an old game on the PSone called Psychic Force.

The first thing that hit me about Dragonball Z Burst Limit was how colourful and sharp the game looked; the cel-shaded style does really suit this game given that it is based on a cartoon.

The core section of the game is called the Z Chronicles. In the Z Chronicles you will play through some of the fights seen in the animated series, this is where my problem started, as there is no cut-scene to explain what is going on, so it was a bit confusing! This is how the story mode is, a random cut scene that doesn’t give much insight as to why you’re fighting then the fight begins…

In general the fighting in Dragonball Z Burst Limit is okay with the button presses being quick and responsive - the button layout is nice too, with the buttons being in sensible positions from the off. The moves look impressive with reactions reflecting the force of the move.

We need more speed!

But I’m not going to lie; the movement isn’t that great, I just found it slow at times with the dash being a bit hit and miss, in a game where the fighting is fast and furious, the characters need to move a bit faster too! They just seem to move at an average speed which does take some of the pace away from the game. Speaking of the movement in previous versions you could fly around the ‘combat zone’ which gave an extra layer to the fighting this has been removed, which I must admit is disappointing.

As I mentioned before the cut-scenes are quite random, but this could just be to those who know nothing about Dragonball Z, but even the cut-scenes have flaws apart from the randomness. The animations seem to be recycled, using different characters which can become rather tedious as you then know what is going to happen in the cut-scene as you would have already seen it.

There are various modes to go through on so your game options are not limited, with time trials, survival and Xbox Live available to throw yourself in to. But these additional features will only be enjoyed if you can enjoy the combat and are comfortable with the movement, as I did not enjoy the movement I did not enjoy the extra modes.

Overall this is an okay first time outing for the Dragonball Z on the Next-Gen consoles, yes there are a few little niggles to be worked out. Dragonball Z fans may enjoy the game but may find it a bit disjointed in some places, non-Dragonball Z fans may too enjoy it but won’t know what is happening in the story. There is a demo on Xbox Live so check it out and see what you think.

GAME's Verdict

• The cel-shading looks very good.
• Good combat system.

• The movement is too slow for the pace of the fighting.
• The random cut-scenes are confusing for non-fans.
• You can’t just free fly around the combat zone.

Review by: Tom Daly
Review Published: 13.06.08