I wonder if Goku could waggle a wii remote at 100 times gravity

I got DBZ Budokai Tenkachi 3 when Gamestop did there buy 2 get one free sale during the post Christmas holidays. Now I had the original Budokai Tenkachi and wasn’t that thrill with the game, it tried to get the DBZ fight feeling to it, and while it succeeded in creating the fights. It also bogged the game down in some confusing controls, especially seeing how budokai 3 was one of the most accessible fighters I have ever played. Now Budokai Tenkachi 3 is on the wii a system known for accessibility, do the controls work, and has the game improved in 2 installments. The answer is yes and no both. The game is a lot better then the original but there are some kinks to work out.

Story.
The story follows the DBZ sagas plus some fights from the DB GT and the original Dragon Ball series. The story mode is a lot shorter then others and misses out on a lot of the fights in the series story. But it also to make part for movie battles and some new what if fanfict scenarios.

Graphics.
The graphics are the usual celshaded graphics you expect from a DBZ game. They capture the look of the characters from the show quite nicely. The environments aren’t half bad to each area being different from each other and having destructible terrain to either destory or hide behind.

Sound.
Some of the same music you heard in past Dragon Ball games and the same funimation voice actors for the dub. It’s not bad but you’ve heard the sound before in past Dragon Ball games.

Gameplay.
DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi series is a fighter, but the main difference is that the arenas that you fight in are huge. You can escape from your opponent and hide and ambush them if that is your thing or you can stick close and bash them into the ground. Each character has two type of power bar. First is there basic kii in which they can use to chase around, and fire the first two special attack. The 2nd one fills up allows you to charge your first meter into a new blue zone and once fully powered up lets you do rush and regular fire ball attacks without wasting kii for a short period of time. You can also do your super special moves.

So how do the wii controls work. Pretty well by simplifying some of the controls. It’s still one of the more complicated fighters that use a lot of the buttons to do but the wii controls work. Pressing A will do your attack, B fires shots, A and B blocks, A and swinging the wii mote will do a fierce attack. Holding down the control pad on the wii remote charges you guys up. To do a special attack you hold down a direction on a control pad and then a hand gesture. Most of the gestures mirror the moves, in other words to do a kamahmeha your hold your hands together like goku. Piccolo special beam cannon you hold your controller over one of your shoulders and then swing towards the TV. The basic rush attacks are done by swinging both nunchuck and wii remote towards you. It’s pretty simple and DBZ fanboys will love the mimicking of the moves.

Has for characters the game has an insane amount the popular characters are there Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillian, and Vegeta and all there ages and different forms. But the game also digs to the bottom of the barrel, you have to know your dragon ball if you can remember Devilman and Arialle.

Outside of dragon history there are a few extra modes. There is the usual tournament mode which disappointed me in how they change it. Now there are several tournaments that have different level of fighters and different rules (one for example will give you a randomly selected fighter) now this is a good thing. The bad thing is your not allowed to pick the tournament or the difficulty rather the game selects what you can do randomly, so if I wanted to do a Yamcha tournament mode I might be doing another one with a difficulty I don’t want. Some great ideas in some of the tournaments it’s to bad the mode is poorly executed.

There is also a battle royal mode that allows you to either do a silly simulation training game to unlock extra goodies, has well has pick a list of fighters to pair off against. It’s not bad way to kill some extra time once the history mode is done. Of course there is online mode if you don’t have friends that are into DBZ but don’t count on that to hold your interest.

Online
Outside of the usual Nintendo wifi hassle of having friend codes Budokai Tenkachi 3 suffers from just overall terrible online. The words lag and slow down don’t even begin to describe the problems with this games online. To describe the battles here pop in a DBZ episode on your TV and then watch one of the fights at a quarter speed. It’s just has painful to play this online.

Final Recommendation.
If your looking for a good wii motion fighting game DBZ will fit your need. If your looking for a good online fighter, Street Fighter 2 HD Remix is available on xbox live.