Budokai 3 is a fast paced and visually exciting fighting game. And this is coming from someone who thinks DBZ is stupid.
There are loads of characters to choose from in this game, characters you'd expect like Goku, Krllin, and Piccollo, and dudes that are just kinda there, like Bardock or the Saibamen. Only DBZ fans are even gonna care about this stuff, but theres never been anything wrong with more characters in my opinion. The graphics have a great look, everything is cell shaded and captures the feel of the show. The special Ki attacks especially look great. The game is just a blast to play, and this is the reason I can't enough of it. When you play it, you have standard attacks like punches, kicks and throws, then special Dragon Ball standards like Kamehama (please, no angry letters for incorrect spelling), and then special moves such as Big Bang Attack or Destructo Disk, and, on top of all that, there's the Dragon Rush mode. The last two, specifically, are just fun to watch. It doesn't take alot of skill to complete them, but watching them is amazing. For me, it reminded me of a time when I was 10 and the plot to the Freiza saga seemed like Shakespeare. For DBZ fans, it is even more breathtaking, and that is who this game must be recommended to. If your a fan of the show, just go and get this game. Theres no other way around it. But fans of fighting games, specifically classic ones such as Street Fighter, are recommended to buy it too, as you'll have a blast playing it.
The Dragon Universe mode is definetly something to check out. The story is told out with voice actors from the show, but the lame part is all you see on the screen is a still picture of your character next to a generic background and a bubble cloud next to him. I'm not saying full cinematics were needed, but it would have been cool to have something more than what's there. Anyway, there are 11 characters to play through the story as, so it can take you along time, especially since you'll want to go through a second if your planning to get all of the unlockables. Theres also dueling, which is, as expected, great with a friend, and World Tournament, which you will probably end up using primarily just to get money. The money comes into play in the game's Customization mode, which is lots of fun. You can buy special skills for every character at the shop, and you can have lots of fun with this feature. So you can have the games Goku, with Super Saiyan and everything, and then a custom Goku that can fuse with Vegeta. It's pretty fun to mess aroudn with, but does grow dull, and could have been alot better.
Budokai 3 is, hands down, the best fighting game on the PS2. The only other one's I've played that even rose intrest are Soul Calibur II and God Hand. You might be turned off at first by the Dragon ball themes, or you might find them nostaligic like I did, or you may have a Vegeta shrine in your home and find everything about the game amazing, but either way, I say check out Budokai 3 and you won't be dissapointed.