Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (ドラゴンボールZ バーストリミット, Doragon Bōru Zetto Bāsuto Rimitto) is a video game based on the anime/manga series Dragon Ball Z and has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, making it the first video game from the Dragon Ball franchise for those two consoles, as well as the first Hi-Def video game from the franchise. It was announced in Shonen Jump magazine on December 12, 2007. The game was developed by Dimps and published in Japan by Namco Bandai and in the US by Atari.

 Gameplay

On June 18, 2007, a trailer was released, detailing gameplay. It is on a general 2D plane, unlike the Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi game series which used an over the shoulder camera perspective.

The gameplay shown in the trailer is of a similar style to that of Shin Budokai and the Budokai games before Tenkaichi, with some modifications. The game focuses more on strict fighting instead of collecting capsules and Dragon Balls for your character. After completing story sequences, you unlock certain items such as characters, abilities and battle stages. Combat has been simplified dramatically from the previous games. Using special moves is as easy as pressing a button and moving the left analog stick or d-pad simultaneously. If certain actions are made during the battle, “Drama Pieces” are activated, causing many different effects such as having your health restored with a Senzu Bean and a helper character attacking your opponent

At the Taipei Game Show 2008, the game was shown to utilize in-fight cutscenes in an effort to make the game as dramatic, and similar to the anime as possible. One such example is a character being attacked with an energy beam, and a switch to an in-game rendered cutscene depicting the character deflecting this attack in defense, and then quickly returning to the gameplay. Each character is allowed to pick three different drama pieces.

The game utilizes the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360’s online functions to battle friends and enemies alike across an internet connection, and online players can play against those with a copy of the game worldwide.

[edit] Development

The combo system has been described as “simple for our button-mashing friends”, and the countering system is “very timing-specific” and “simple to pull off”. There are 21 playable characters and 15 “what if” scenarios, which branch off from the original storyline.^{[citation needed]} The game has 5 battle stages in both versions of the game. In addition, more than 800 anime cut scenes were included.^{[citation needed]}

On May 10, 2008, a trial demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. Although the European PlayStation Network did not receive it until the 5th of June

 Playable characters

 

Character	Transformation(s)
Goku	Base	Kaio-Ken	Super Saiyan
Kid Gohan	Base	Unlocked Potential
Teen Gohan	Base	Super Saiyan	Super Saiyan 2
Piccolo	Base	Sync with Nail	Fuse with Kami
Krillin	Base	Unlocked Potential
Yamcha
Tien
Trunks	Base	Super Saiyan	Super Trunks
Vegeta	Base	Super Saiyan	Super Vegeta
Nappa
Raditz
Saibamen
Frieza	1st Form	2nd Form	3rd Form	Final Form	100% Final Form
Captain Ginyu
Recoome
Cell	Imperfect	Semi-Perfect	Perfect	Super Perfect
Android #16
Android #17
Android #18
Bardock
Broly	Legendary Super Saiyan

 

 Reception