Wednesday 20 Aug 2008

The latest entry to the series of, essentially, 2D fighting games based on the Dragon Ball Z license, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, really wants to impress you from the get-go. Burst Limit opens with an energetic, explosive cinematic, supported by hyped-up music in the traditional style of a DBZ television episode. This opening reveals the characters, as well as playing on fans emotions by showing some of the key set-pieces they would have come to know from pouring over every episode and manga they have. If you are (or even were) a DBZ fan, you’ll be hard-pressed not to get at least a little excited.

While the presentation is enigmatic, the menus colourful and the game graphically striking, the veneer does wear thin as soon as you find yourself watching the same animations over and over during the campaign, getting interrupted mid-fight with ‘Drama Pieces’ and discovering that every move in the game is carried out with the same button combinations across all +/- 20 characters. On the other hand, all of the characters, moves and key events from the series are here, as well as the ridiculously overpowered attacks and original voice cast, encased in what fans would know as the ‘Frieza’ and ‘Cell’ sagas. There’s the problem though - while it’s a very competent fighter with an unorthodox approach to the genre (that may have been able to stand on its own without the DBZ name attached), whether you want to play the game or not will come down to how much of a fan you are of the series, or even how indifferent you are to the crazy antics of the DBZ crew.

Burst Limit’s base game play initially impresses you with its fresh approach to fighter mechanics - every button on the controller does something useful, combinations are easily executed and the block, or guard, button has a variety of uses, based on specific timing. If you’re under a barrage of kicks and punches from an opponent, timing your guard button presses (also known as ‘mashing’) will allow you to dodge every one of those attacks. Similarly, a blazing fireball attack can be dodged, hit away or hit back at your opponent by hitting guard at just the right time. Yet another use of the guard button is in enabling you to appear behind your opponent - again, if you time your button press correctly. These all make you feel like a professional fighter right off the bat as you’ll be using lightning-quick dodge manoeuvres and taking your enemy by surprise in no time.

While dodging is cool and is used to gain an advantage over other fighters, attacking your enemies is equally satisfying and, as with blocking, Burst Limit allows you to pull off some great moves with minimal skill. Performing Goku’s ‘Kamehameha’ is a simple matter of pressing forward and B. It’s that easy. In fact, pulling off any super move is as easy as ‘forward + B,’ or ‘up + B,’ or even ‘back + B,’ come to think of it. The craziest combo is probably something along the lines of ‘X X X Y Y.’ If you think that’s tough to remember, your diligence in remembering one move-set will be ‘rewarded’ by being able to apply your accumulated knowledge to every single character in the game. It appears not one list of character button combinations differ from any other, which is both a blessing and a curse. While other games in the fighting genre provide you with a long, intricate list of moves to learn, specific to one character, once you learn one character in Burst Limit, you’ve learned them all. This allows players not familiar to the genre to get into the fighting very easily, but after playing for more than a few hours, the tedium sets in while you input the same sequence of button presses again and again.

This lack of variation puts the focus squarely on the ‘strategy’ of Burst Limit. To a certain degree, each character is better suited for close- mid- or long-range attacks…but only to a certain degree. The fireballs you shoot out of your hands provide an opportunity to break your opponents’ defences and quickly close in for more intimate combat, while the simple act of throwing those energy blasts gives your opponent the opportunity to block your barrage and quickly appear behind you as you’re in full swing, leaving you defenceless. That’s just a small example of an exchange that could happen in a matter of split-seconds - Burst Limit is a fast game and, against a good opponent, you have to constantly be thinking about the next move. Another ‘strategic’ element to the game is the new ‘Drama Pieces’ feature. During a fight, depending on your current status, little drama sequences are triggered in which a partner character jumps in to either help you out with extra health, deal out some extra damage or increase your defences. While these are cool at first, you may eventually come to dread their appearance as they simply interrupt the fight at hand.

While longevity may be an issue in terms of the time it takes for you to grow tired of your abilities, couch- or online-play will fill your multiplayer needs. You could also just go up against a CPU opponent (after setting them up through a series of menus - AI opponents are indecisive in the matters of who they want to be and what powers they wish to choose), but that’s what the single player campaign is for. Head-to-head play certainly extends the life of the title, but would probably be relegated to ‘party-game’ status when some friends come over for a quick fighting fix. A trend that needs to die, however, is forcing players to unlock characters and levels for use in the multiplayer by playing through the single player. If players aren’t interested in the story mode and don’t want to play it, they won’t have a great variety of characters to choose from in the multiplayer portion of the game - not a great situation to be in.

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit certainly does make an impression to begin with. The flashy presentation is matched by the quality of the character models and graphical effects. It would have been great if there were a stronger and more deeply thought out list of moves, but the strategy available during any given fight offsets this complaint by providing encounters of substance and split-second decisions. A problem without resolution, however, is in the very name itself - DBZ fans (who haven’t yet played a DBZ game) will certainly enjoy the game, but hardcore or even part-time beat ‘em up fans will want more substance and may not understand what’s going. Story segments that keep the campaign flowing are disjointed, as not everything is sufficiently explained. The first appearance of DBZ on the next-generation consoles is a solid entry to the series, but it’s difficult to recommend to anyone thoroughly enjoying or looking forward to Soul Calibur IV. Maybe buy it with a friend to get your ‘Gallic Gun’ jollies. Oh…nerd joke.

Pros: Graphically appealing; stylish presentation; easy accessibility; it’s DBZ.

Cons: Control input can be finicky; dry button combinations; unlocking characters for multiplayer; it’s DBZ.

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Contributor:	Oliver

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