DragonBall Z Budokai HD Collection for PlayStation 3

Sometimes my teenagers get something to review, and this really is one of those occasions.

Zavvi.com, the online entertainment, gifts and clothing store, sent us DragonBall Z Budokai HD Collection for PlayStation 3 to have a play.

This is a bundle of two games on one disc - DragonBall Z: Budokai 1 and DragonBall Z: Budokai 3, which were originally released by Namco Bandai on the Playstation 2 in 2002 and 2004 respectively. This edition for the PS3 has been remastered in HD and now offers trophies and achievements.

DragonBall Z is PEGI 12 rated (Pan European Game Information). It is basically your standard fighting game, either playing 1on1 or tournaments against up to 7 human opponents using the same Playstation, or against a computer controlled opponent. Both games play very intuitively, so anyone who is used to Playstation gaming can pick up the controller and start right away.

DragonBall Z: Budokai 1

The 'special moves' use button combinations that no ordinary human can remember, but somehow this doesn't put anyone off ~ teenagers especially. I must admit fighting games aren't really my thing, I don't mind a quick go every now and again, but I have no real desire to play one through to the end of a tournament, and when I do play, I tend to find a combination of buttons that causes a special move to happen, and just repeatedly use that - yes, I AM that person.

DragonBall Z:Budokai 3

One let down is that it's very hard to work out which controller you are when playing a tournament against more than one other person, so we did end up with lots of scrambling across the room to grab a different controller as people's characters stood idly being pummeledby their opponent.


This is an essential for fans of the series, who no doubt will enjoy the remastered and enhanced graphics and entirely new soundtrack. It's interesting to play 10 years on, it takes you right back to 2002 and my teenagers have commented on the fact that they were too young to play the original, but were well aware of it and watched the TV show, and they also feel that games from that era have a special nostalgic appeal.

Although trophies and achievements are now fully supported,  there still isn't any online play capability, which I think will mean that this game does disappoint the younger population who are used to being able to play against friends who are not actually with you at the time.

My family have had a real laugh playing this, especially the older 3 males. It stands the test of time as a light and easy game, which is good for a laugh and best enjoyed with a few friends.

Zavvi sells a huge range of PS3 games, mainly at heavily discounted prices. They also sell games for other platforms, CD's, DVD's, gifts, toys and clothes.

Zavvi sent us this disc free of charge in order to review