The anime hype train may be focusing on "Naruto" recently, but that doesn't mean that the old standby "Dragon Ball Z" isn't still insanely popular. After all, Akira Toriyama's series has been finished in Japan for over ten years now and we're still seeing new games based on the adventures of Goku and company. The latest is Budokai Tenkaichi 3, the second sequel in a series that has become an annual tradition.

In keeping with that tradition, Tenkaichi 3 offers plenty of insane, ki-blasting fighting and enough Dragon Ball fan service to raise your power level over 9000, but there's not a whole lot of innovation or terribly deep combat. One thing the game does have, however, is a good variety of different modes. The main story mode is called Dragon History, and it takes you through a mess of battles made famous in all three DB series and the movies. Dragon History loses the map that you had to navigate in-between fights in Tenkaichi 2, which helps streamline the battles and keeps the action moving along.

Considering that many of the Dragon History bouts have been tackled in many previous games (they are the same old sagas, after all), some effort has been put into this mode to make the fights feel fresh. There are scripted moments within many of the battles when you're prompted to press the R3 button. This triggers a new story event within the fight, usually resulting in your current character flying out of the ring and an ally coming in to take over. During the match, it's not unusual to hear multiple characters talking to advance the storyline. It's a little odd at first, but it does a good job of replicating the feel of the anime.


Dragon World Tour allows you to advance through a ranked tournament and Ultimate Battle contains a few variants on the classic survival mode. One of the more interesting Ultimate Battle modes is dubbed Sim Dragon, which gives you ten turns (or "days") to make your fighter as strong as he or she can get. Each turn is completely menu-driven, and you can opt to train, explore or rest your character. Making the proper decisions will boost or lower their stats and health. Once the ten days are up, you face off against an opponent with your current abilities. It's somewhat simplistic, but it's an interesting twist on what is normally a fairly dry mode in fighting games.