It’s been fifteen years since Dragon Ball fans received a new entry to theDragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichiseries of games. These games are known for reliable gameplay paired with players going through stories we’ve seen in the anime and films spread throughout the series' history. Showing off the classic 3D fighting action and what-if scenarios, and giving fans all the matchups we’ve ever wanted,Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zerois seemingly exactly what long-time players have been waiting for.
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A New Power Awakens
As is expected from Dragon Ball games, fans will be playing through characters' stories via the Episode Selection after finishing the tutorial. This will give the cast’s perspective as you go through their story, starting with Goku. You will begin with Goku’s journey from the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, fighting Raditz and teaming up with Piccolo to defeat the evil Saiyan. There are also optional side objectives for you to complete, which can end up giving you new fights, new variations on arcs or endings to specific events. The story mode is all about the iconic fights we see within the series. All the lead-up to each one is given briefly before tossing us into the action. Each character’s story will take them through various parts of their journey.
Each story is bare-bones and there’s a lack of in-depth storytelling taking place, but it can be argued that fans have seen most of this already with recent games likeDragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Each character’s episode is limited to their perspective with minimal points of view from other characters. There’s no real harm in streamlining what happens in the series to give fans the fights they want. Anyone familiar with the series already knows the plot points, so it doesn’t do us a disservice to lessen how much goes on in favor of the action. It is a fighting game after all andDragon Ball: Sparking! Zerodoes deliver on those fights. The only thing missing that could make the story more fun is the classic Dragon Ball narration for each of these in-between sections.
The arcs and how they play out now are a set of images and text leading up to each fight, with a few cutscenes when a fight starts or ends, which is reminiscent of theTenkaichigames. But some of the most iconic moments in the series have been whittled down into just being given to us in a small set of still-frame scenes. This can take you out of the action you were just in and, instead of having you earn the victory, it’s given to you in the form of a still-frame set of cutscenes.
It’s an odd way of handling the game in the modern day. In some of the other recentDragon Ballgames, you’ll have to fight and earn everything in the game with a nice scene playing out in its full glory afterward. What makes up for the lack of story depth is the number of what-if scenarios that are provided. There are spin-off arcs within every episode for each character within the game, and it’s genuinely awesome to see these come back in full force.
Pushing the Limit
The gameplay forDragon Ball: Sparking! Zerois much like how it was inDragon Ball Z: Kakarot.You have your basic attacks, ki attacks and special attacks. With the Skill Counter, you’re able to overcharge your stamina past its limit. This will grant you a boost to your attacks as well as give you an ultimate move to use in battle. In certain story missions, an ultimate attack may be unavailable for a given time, but it will still give you a stamina boost for you to utilize in combat.
Fighting is simple, and you grow more as you continue learning the mechanics and how to best fight enemies that show up within the story or even multiplayer battles.
At various points in a character’s episode, you can use different transformations, but these are limited due to what is going on in their story at the time. When completing certain side objectives in fights, you’ll also trigger something called a “Sparking! Episode,” which has elements of both the canon events and new variations, combined to give a new way for the story to take off or end. The Custom Battles allow players to create a custom fight with new rules and character actions within the game, allowing them to recreate fights or even create the epic scenes they’ve always wanted to see fromDragon Ball. Giving out more replayable fights and challenges for players to create for the community.
The combat is entertaining and is where the game shines. Attacks are something you have to predict and dodge, avoiding damage and dealing as much as you can back at your enemy. Some issues seem to pop up though, as the camera tends to break or the automatic targeting doesn’t work. If you get hit just right on a map seam, you can fall through the map. This issue with map clipping only happened once in the first 25 hours of gameplay and never popped up again, however, so it might not be a common occurrence for most players. But even with these problems, this is a fun entry toDragon Ball.The combat is simple to learn and can take time to master. Allowing players to learn, adapt and improve upon how they play the game.
Closing Comments:
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zerois a game that many fans have wanted for fifteen years, and while it was delivered to us, it does feel like it is lacking in some areas. There are issues with the camera and combat at times, but the game is still fun, flashy and over the top like fans deserve. Fans may also find newer stories missing somewhat frustrating, with some story arcs missing at launch or otherwise unavailable until a further date. Out of the box, this is still a solid game with a huge cast of characters and a ton of optional content available to the player. This was made for the fans ofDragon Balland might not end up being for everyone.
But on the other hand, if you’re interested in the series, it can also be a solid starting point. You get most of the plot fromDragon Ball Zup toDragon Ball Superin a quick and precise way with almost no filler. The sheer number of characters available, customization options, new scenarios and custom game modes make the game stand out and enjoyable for fans of the series. Despite some of the issues with the game,Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zerois a solid arena fighting game that has tons of action and content available to players on day one and is worth a shot for fans and newcomers alike.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Version Reviewed: PC
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is an arena fighter fifteen years in the making following DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI TENKAICHI. The latest game is exclusive to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC and runs on the Unreal Engine 5.
