Even when characters are standing still, energy will crackle and swirl around them, and when they start throwing attacks, intense and colorful light and particles bombard the screen. You can expect to see lots of small, anime-style motion lines all over the place. The game also uses a dazzling color palette that helps make the action stand out, but it's the special-effects overkill that really makes Shin Budokai great to look at.
Using a nice, clean cel-shading effect helps make the characters look all the more like their two-dimensional counterparts, and the animations, which are presumably lifted from Budokai 3, are fast and powerful.
#Dragon ball z shin budokai 3 series#
The Budokai series has always done a solid job of translating the flashy Dragon Ball Z aesthetic into a 3D fighter, and Shin Budokai bucks no trends in this regard. Overall, the gameplay is still fast and furious, and the game's artificial intelligence can put up a pretty wicked fight. The dragon rush attacks, which introduced a fun little rock-paper-scissors mechanic along with some amazing cinematic camera angles, is the most unfortunate omission, though it's also disappointing that power struggles, where two characters throw massive energy attacks at each other at once, resolve themselves without any additional input from the players. There are some cool gameplay elements introduced in Budokai 3 that didn't make it into Shin Budokai. Things get really interesting when both players use the instant teleportation back and forth several times in a row, making for a fun tug-of-war dynamic. You can also use this to ping-pong enemies back and forth after an initial attack launches them into the air.
With this simply executed move, you can instantly appear right behind your opponents just as they're about to throw a punch, giving you the upper hand. Instant teleportation can also have a significant impact on the momentum of the game. Certain characters, such as the Saiyans, can use the ki energy to turn into more powerful forms, too. Fully charged ki attacks aren't unbeatable, since a well-timed punch can cancel out the whole thing, but they're impressive looking and completely devastating when they land. Depending on how much ki you have charged up, your energy attacks can range from a puny yellow fireball to a time-stopping, screen-filling nightmare.
Your ki will increase naturally over the course of a fight, but you can also hold down the L button to quickly charge up, though this will leave you extremely vulnerable to attacks. In addition to your standard life bar, there's a ki meter, which dictates what kinds of energy attacks you can throw. It's the ranged energy attacks that give Shin Budokai's gameplay such a distinctive flair. Holding down the block button puts your character's guard up, though well-timed taps on the block button can dodge an attack entirely or even throw an energy attack right back at your opponent. As you might expect, melee attacks can be easily strung into combos, and pressing both at once lets you throw your opponent. The game's controls map easily onto the PSP, using two of the face buttons for melee attacks, one for blocking attacks, and one for firing off ranged energy attacks. Like its predecessors, Shin Budokai takes a basic 3D fighting game model and imbues it with the hyperkinetic energy synonymous with Dragon Ball Z. That Shin Budokai takes its cues from the first three Budokai games, and not Budokai Tenkaichi, should be a great relief to fans. Ryu's fireballs have nothing on Goku's kamehameha wave. Shin Budokai's bare-bones set of features is in stark relief against the game's solid core and is a little disappointing. The simple, fast-paced action of the Budokai series translates well onto the PSP, and the presentation is both eye-catchingly vibrant and technically flashy.
#Dragon ball z shin budokai 3 portable#
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai brings Atari and Dimps' successful anime-inspired fighting series to the PlayStation Portable in a package that isn't particularly ambitious but is still well-executed enough to make it worthwhile.