Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden

As a fighting game fan, I’m disappointed by the simplicity and small-mindedness that seems to have gone into Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden. As a fan of the animé series for so many years, and having played many, many versions of this story over my years as a professional reviewer, this attempt at a cash-in just hurts my feelings

DBZ: Extreme Butoden has good intentions, and overall is a polished fighting game. I just wish the execution was a bit better.

The Dragon Ball related games have not always had the most depth to them and sadly Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden somewhat falls into that category. The gameplay itself is fast moving and very fluid, while also looking gorgeous on the 3DS, but the lacking character roster and cut and paste gameplay across each of them holds it back from being a really good game. Dragon Ball fans can definitely find some fun here for awhile, especially with the large selection of Z Assists that span the entire franchise, but a far from deep experience will not keep you coming back for more with Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden.

Extreme Butoden is simplistic to a fault and won't bring anyone new to the DBZ universe, but fans will enjoy the weird stories and obscure characters that pop up from time to time.

Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden displays plenty of flair, faithfully drawing on the source material to deliver a robustly fist-pounding experience that fans will rightly enjoy. Concerns around graphics and audio detract, but Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden can be stand tall in achieving larger successes.

Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden is in an unfortunate position where the core game is kind of good, but everything surrounding it is kind of bad. If you have a friend that’s as into fighting games and Dragon Ball as you are, I could see Butoden being a worthwhile purchase. But with the lack of online play and any satisfying single-player modes it’s hard to recommend to even the most diehard enthusiasts.