I’m a fan of the Dragon Ball Z franchise, ranging from the anime to the video games. There were a few video games while growing up that I thought were total crap, of course, so I crossed my fingers and hoped that the Dragon Ball Z HD Collection would end up doing well. In the Dragon Ball Z HD Collection, Namco Bandai has released updated versions of two of their classic titles: Dragon Ball Z Budokai and Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3. Does having both of these on one disc for the Xbox 360 do them justice? That’s what we’re going to find out in this review.

I can state know it’s pretty nice to revisit past games that I grew up with even if I get my butt kicked. Is the Dragon Ball Z HD Collection worth buying, is it playable and fun? Keep on reading and find out.

I know in most of my reviews I go into a bit about the game but since this is a HD Collection there really isn’t a story. Plus if you’ve watched the series you pretty much know the basic story for the Dragon Ball Z franchise. In each game you’ll play up until a certain saga. In the game Dragon Ball Z Budokai you’ll be playing up until the end of the Cell saga. This will grant you the chance to unlock 23 playable characters. It’s always nice that the Dragon Ball Z games include a story mode on top of the versus, tournament, and practice modes. As you play you’ll of course remember coming home from school to watch the series like I did. I’d say the one major flaw with the first game is ending at the Cell saga. Why do I say that? I’ve lost count on how many Dragon Ball Z games in the past ended there instead of going far past that up until Buu saga or more. I mean come on who doesn’t want to kick some ass as Goku in his Super Saiyan Ape form? When the GT saga started on TV it was pretty bad ass. Now what about Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3? When you start this game you’ll notice a lot of changes such as better graphics and more modes to play.

What’s this? A store to buy upgrades for your characters? YES! Have you been playing the story that goes as far as the Buu saga? Well as you play you’ll at times earn money from the game and when happen to play in a tournament and place in a top spot you’ll earn money. Anyways, you can spend this money to unlock new attacks, items and many other features in the game. This feature is quite interesting since it might help you later on in the story line. Maybe you need more attack power, a better attack, or just need to have some items to defend yourself. When it comes to the audio and graphics to this HD collection it all depends on which game you select. When you first boot up the game you’ll be given the choice to pick either game. If you happen to pick Dragon Ball Z Budokai you’ll be greeted with graphics from the old days of PlayStation 2. No joke! I knew from the start that I’d see something like this since it’s such an older game, as you can see in the picture at the top of the review. Looking at graphics today and playing a game with graphics from years ago you can clearly tell the difference. I’ll be honest in my head I’m thinking what bad graphics but again I had to take account I’m playing an old game so I had to overlook that issue.

What about when you boot up Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3? As you can see below this text. From the moment I clicked on that you can clearly tell a lot of work was put into that title. As I’ve told friends at Namco Bandai and near to me that they could have released Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 and I would have thought it was a current generation game. The graphics are smooth whether it’s during fights, traveling the world, navigating the menus, and as you see each character. The audio is pretty much right on the dot and provides gamers with both English and Japanese voice overs in the game. I do know in the past very few DBZ titles came with that feature until later on in the series.

Overall, for an HD collection of classic titles it’s a game worth checking out once the price drops. Why? Well HD collections are nice and all but tend to be over priced from the start. If you’re looking to revisit your past and like Dragon Ball Z games then buy this collection. Good things for this game range from revisiting your past if you grew up with the series, having a great time, and seeing what past games looked like. As for the bad I’d say that the price needs lowered slightly since it’s just ports that have been updated. Were you a fan of the series when growing up? If so we’d love to hear your thoughts or what you’d love to see Namco Bandai do with the Dragon Ball Z franchise.

Dragon Ball Z HD Collection was provided for review purposes. For more information on Dragon Ball Z HD Collection, please visit GAME URL.