Dragon Ball Z: Budokai was a pleasant surprise. Until now every Dragon Ball game I've played has been mediocre at best. With DBZ: Budokai you get a simple and fun fighting game that does its name-sake justice.

DBZ: Budokia re-creates many scenes from the show using in-game cut scenes and the original voice actors. I especially enjoyed seeing the classic DBZ opening title scene animated in 3D. Budokia is full fan service, with a good polished fighting game at its core.

Budokia isn't breaking any new ground. In fact it has a very simplified fighting engine. That's not to say that hard-core fighters aren't going to enjoy it, because they probably will. I'm just saying that it is not as deep as a game like Virtual Fighter. One of my favorite gameplay elements is going Super-Saien in the middle of the fight, giving you a little extra speed and strength.

You progress through Budokia's story mode with your primary fighter, who is usually Goku. In-between each fight you get a cut-scene that advances the story, which goes pretty seamlessly into the next round. Atari did it's best to bring you into the DBZ universe with this title. They wanted you to feel as if you were in Goku's shoes, fighting the good fight against whoever is after the Dragon Balls.

We also get a good mix of modes. You can make your way through the tournament mode as your favorite Z fighter and claim your prize, or you can play versus mode against a friend. You have the before mentioned story mode. With DBZ: Budokia you can also upgrade your Z fighters by buying capsules which contain various items.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokia I felt like I was in the shoes of Goku and pals. I took the fight to the skies and knocked a few foes through a few mountains. My biggest problem was that just about every character played the same. Their melee fighting felt nearly identical, and they all had some sort of energy move.

If the characters were more varied, and the gameplay wasn't so repetitive, then Dragon Ball Z: Budokia may have become a classic. But we will just have to settle with it being a solid, fun, Dragon Ball Z fighting game, and I can live with that.