Burst Limit : Review

What kind of game Dragonball Z Burst Limit is

Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit is a video game published on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 which has a gameplay similar (but not identical) to the one used in the Budokai series:
The characters and arenas are in 3D, they can move in 3D but the camera shows the characters from the side, like in a 2D fighting game.

The game is famous for its visual quality : Simply put Burst Limit is probable the most beautiful Dragon Ball Z video game existing, at least in 2023, despite having being published in 2008.

Its gameplay is also very fast paced and it is clearly the Budokai game with the better air combat system in the whole series.

The thing is, Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit, despite being an excellent game has quite a modest numbers of playable characters compared to the previous game : 21 (without including the transformations) and it lacks all the characters from the Buu Saga and contains only the characters from the Saiyan Saga and the Cell Saga.

Other flaw : The game hasn't a Tournament mode, but at least it has an Online mode, so players can fight others online.

Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit's game modes

- The Chronicles of Dragon Ball Z (Story Mode).
- Versus (Duel mode)
- Test.
- Tutorial.
- Training mode.

The Story mode of Dragonball Z Burst Limit, "The Dragon Ball Z Chronicles", tells the Story of Dragon Ball Z from when Radiz shows up on Earth to when the Z Warriors defeat Cell.
This mode is very basic in its making but it is also innovative at the same time : It just consists of selecting classic fights (like for example Goku Vs Vegeta) and during the fights if the player does particular actions, then a "drama" plays.
A drama is a short animation which replays a particular event which happened during the fight in the manga and anime series.
They are short, really well made and make the story mode interesting.

Another thing, they exist alternate versions for some fights : For example, the fight between Goku, Piccolo and Raditz has two versions : One where Goku fight Raditz and an alternate version where it is Piccolo who fight Raditz.
And during both fights, Piccolo or Goku intervene during the dramas, helping each others, which gives the feeling it is really a 2Vs1 match while in reality it is a simple 1 on 1 match.

The characters of Dragon Ball Burst Limit

This is the full list of the 21 playable characters :

The Saiyans

- Goku
- Kid Gohan
- Teen Gohan (He's the only character who can transform into a Super Saiyen 2).
- Trunks
- Raditz
- Vegeta
- Nappa
- Bardock
- Broly

The Humans

- Krillin
- Yamcha

The Aliens

- Tienshinhan
- Piccolo
- Saibaiman
- Frieza
- Recoome
- Ginyu

The Androids

- Cell
- Android 16
- Android 17
- Android 18

The arenas of Burst Limit

There are 7 maps playables in Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit and 3 of them have an alternate version :

- Plains.
- Islands (2 isles : A random island and also Kame House in the Evening).
- Rock Mountains.
- Cell Arena (Day and Ruined).
- Planet Namek (Day and Devasted Planet Namek).
- Devasted Earth.
- Space.

7 maps may seem few but in each ones of theses arenas it is possible to fly very high on the sky and when you go above the clouds, the atmosphere there is very different from the ground, almost like this is an alternate version of the arena.

Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit in picture :

Also, Burst Limit has a few mods and you can see them here.