Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

Now available at the Playstation Store is the playable demo of "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit" for the PS3 (as well as the Xbox 360). I had a chance to try it out last night, with average expectations, and was pleasantly surprised with the gameplay experience. With a plethora of DBZ games out there, it was hard to expect something different, but I'm glad to be proven wrong.

The opening sequence gives you a hint of the slew of playable characters available, including the givens like Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, and Yamcha; and other well-known characters such as Cell, Raditz, Frieza, the Androids, the Ginyu Force, Tien, and more. Attacks and movement are fairly basic with simple attacks and counters and strategic super attacks. What makes "Burst Limit" interesting is how players have a choice to combine gameplay in a pre-set storyline. You'll be able to recount some memorable moments from the DBZ anime/manga. So for players who might want to follow a story thread rather than beating random characters with energy blasts for no real reason, you have an alternative option.

The animation is very fitting to the anime story outline. As IGN sums up:

It's a nice little nod to the parallax scrolling backgrounds in 2D fighters, and when combined with things like some solid cel-shading and a nice hint of motion blur whenever the fighters make quick dashes or special moves, the game leans more toward the animations which inspired it. The little cutscenes that play out during super moves complete with screen-slicing close-ups only furthers the feeling of playing an interactive episode of the show.