Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (Sony PlayStation 2, 2007)

This tenkaichi is by far the best one of the series. Better graphics, smoother gameplay, and lots more characters and game modes. If your looking for a Dragonball game that will take you through the whole saga from start to finish, get this game. Best Dragonball game to date...

This is a great addition to the Dragon Ball game list. Plenty of characters to unlock and choose from all 3 Dragon Ball Saga's (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT), awesome battle system, excellent graphics, great battle modes including your favorite Dragon Ball battles, tournament modes and MUCH MUCH MORE!!!! This is a great game with hours of game play and replay... believe me you won't be disappointed.

Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is the latest and last game in a series that has perhaps become as drawn-out as its name. But I'll review Tenkaichi 3 on its own merits, and won't compare it to its predecessors, which I haven't played.

The back cover of the game says it has a total of 161 characters. That's true, but it's like this: there are several different versions of certain characters. For example, there are five versions of Goku, the main character: there's Kid Goku, an early Goku, a 'mid' Goku, an 'end' Goku, and then there's Goku as seen in Dragonball GT. Add the transformations that come with those last three Gokus, and you have more than 10 different versions of Goku. There are nearly 80 different characters, which, along with their transformations and fusions, will keep you interested in the game for a long time.
But saying there are 161 characters is fair, as transformed characters don't just look different, they fight different as well. Transform during a battle, and the moves and attacks available to you will change. What's also nice, is that you can begin a battle in any transformed stage, or with a Fusion character like Gogeta. You can power down during the battle should you want to, going from Super Saiyan to regular ol' black-haired Saiyan, for instance.

The Dragon History mode, which is the story mode, has all the DBZ sagas, it has fights from the Dragonball movies and What If fights that were never in the show; although they're not treated as fully as DBZ, the Original Dragonball and Dragonball GT sagas are also included. This story mode is, however, condensed and gives you very little information between fights, so that if you don't know the show, at times, you won't know what it's all about. In short, it doesn't do the Dragonball shows justice.

What makes up for this is the fighting itself. The game is just a lot of fun. When you start off, it'll seem complicated, but you'll learn. At some point, you'll notice you've gotten better, and later, you'll notice you've gotten better still, and that's rewarding. What's more, it tells me that Tenkaichi isn't a 'buttonbash' game as some have argued. The battles can get so fast-paced that things will go from good to bad if you don't keep your head in it.
Another thing that adds to the fun is that you can have a maximum of ten characters in a battle (5 versus 5), switching to another character or performing a Fusion when things aren't going well.
Adding an element of strategy to fights, are Z-Items. In the Evolution Z mode you can buy and equip these items to your characters to make up for their/your weaknesses, or further empower their/your strengths. Add the right items, and you can send in your next fighter blazing at full energy, able to launch a super attack to turn the tide of battle. And that IS fun.

All this gives the game great replay value. I myself am not a fan of Dragonball Z, but with an open mind I've come to appreciate Tenkaichi 3 for the excellent beat-'em-up I believe it to be.

It is certainly best of the series.Graphics are better then the tv show even.Anyone who enjoys japanamation or 3d fighting games should like this.Fun for the whole family(one of the few games my wife enjoys as well).The story mode a little short and the activating of taunts is strange, but this game is very well done, being almost addictive.I heard the game almost did not make it out and that the needed guide book for it since it is very indepth (example over 150 playable characters) was never released.

An awesome game!!! It basically has all of the saga's a TON of characters to unlock, though the graphics are that of a ps2 standard its definately a TO BUY!!! game. So if you love dragon ball z, you'd really want to own this one!! its sooo much better than all of the others. Besides the ones for the ps3 that is.