37
Clearing My Backlog #7
This is an excellent recreation of the anime when it wants to be, but sadly it’s more focused on being “Tedium: The Game” with its exhausting RPG elements, shallow open world, and lackluster combat system; all of which just make me want to rewatch the actual anime instead of sitting through hours upon hours of dialogue boxes, with lifeless character models being dragged around the screen like JPEGs with expressionless faces. Genuinely baffling stuff. I get that they can’t possibly animate every single moment that’s in the anime, but when you’re being forced (I know you can skip them, but why would you unless you want to miss important story details) to watch so many of these atrocities, it really makes you wonder how people find this acceptable; especially when it was being sold for £60. The quality of the content in this game does not represent the price, and it’s strange that the game is still being sold for £50 — three years later — but I guess that’s Bandai Namco for you!
Like I previously said, the combat isn’t very good. There’s not much variety to it; and the way it fundamentally works is frustrating because enemies will spam super attacks, that make them resilient to your attacks; and so it creates this combat loop that basically comes down to: do one of two combos, then a super attack, dodge the enemy’s attack, and repeat process — with occasionally using assists. There is literally no skill ceiling here, I refuse to believe it. The combat gets so unbelievably dull halfway through the Cell Saga, that I found myself spamming the most effective attacks because I couldn’t be bothered anymore, and the same can be said about the RPG elements.
I didn’t engage with them at all. It’s all just standard RPG stuff, there’s nothing here that’s exciting or memorable, and I don’t think they belong in this game. The side content is the same too; it’s always “go there!”, “collect this!”, “do that!”, and 90% of the side quests are like this, they’re all so boring.
I’m not going to break down the story because… y’know, it’s fucking Dragon Ball; but almost everything about the anime that you love, will be here; whether that’s the story, the iconic scenes, the music, it’s all here. All of the actual cutscenes look stunning, and I wouldn’t mind the entire show being recreated in this style, because oh my god… it was incredible to behold. That opening intro in particular was phenomenal, and gave me a big dose of nostalgia. Not all of it is good though, as they do cut out a decent chunk of the iconic scenes that most certainly should’ve been in here; namely, Vegeta’s Final Flash, USSJ Trunks, Inside Buu, etc. There’s also some scenes that should’ve went on for longer, like Goku turning into a Super Saiyan for the first time; it just happened too quickly, and is missing a lot of the build-up that the anime had.
Overall, I don’t think this game is for everyone, I’d only recommend it to die-hard DBZ fans, as you’ll literally be watching 30+ minute cutscenes at a time, with occasional fights in between those (if you’re just going through the main story), which is probably going to bore most people.
Side note: I would absolutely buy the DLC and expansions for this game if they weren’t priced like fucking crazy, why would I pay £17 for one “expansion” that takes like 5 hours to 100%? fuck you Bandai Namco.
Playtime: 41.5 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Dragon Ball Z - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
2020 - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog #7
This is an excellent recreation of the anime when it wants to be, but sadly it’s more focused on being “Tedium: The Game” with its exhausting RPG elements, shallow open world, and lackluster combat system; all of which just make me want to rewatch the actual anime instead of sitting through hours upon hours of dialogue boxes, with lifeless character models being dragged around the screen like JPEGs with expressionless faces. Genuinely baffling stuff. I get that they can’t possibly animate every single moment that’s in the anime, but when you’re being forced (I know you can skip them, but why would you unless you want to miss important story details) to watch so many of these atrocities, it really makes you wonder how people find this acceptable; especially when it was being sold for £60. The quality of the content in this game does not represent the price, and it’s strange that the game is still being sold for £50 — three years later — but I guess that’s Bandai Namco for you!
Like I previously said, the combat isn’t very good. There’s not much variety to it; and the way it fundamentally works is frustrating because enemies will spam super attacks, that make them resilient to your attacks; and so it creates this combat loop that basically comes down to: do one of two combos, then a super attack, dodge the enemy’s attack, and repeat process — with occasionally using assists. There is literally no skill ceiling here, I refuse to believe it. The combat gets so unbelievably dull halfway through the Cell Saga, that I found myself spamming the most effective attacks because I couldn’t be bothered anymore, and the same can be said about the RPG elements.
I didn’t engage with them at all. It’s all just standard RPG stuff, there’s nothing here that’s exciting or memorable, and I don’t think they belong in this game. The side content is the same too; it’s always “go there!”, “collect this!”, “do that!”, and 90% of the side quests are like this, they’re all so boring.
I’m not going to break down the story because… y’know, it’s fucking Dragon Ball; but almost everything about the anime that you love, will be here; whether that’s the story, the iconic scenes, the music, it’s all here. All of the actual cutscenes look stunning, and I wouldn’t mind the entire show being recreated in this style, because oh my god… it was incredible to behold. That opening intro in particular was phenomenal, and gave me a big dose of nostalgia. Not all of it is good though, as they do cut out a decent chunk of the iconic scenes that most certainly should’ve been in here; namely, Vegeta’s Final Flash, USSJ Trunks, Inside Buu, etc. There’s also some scenes that should’ve went on for longer, like Goku turning into a Super Saiyan for the first time; it just happened too quickly, and is missing a lot of the build-up that the anime had.
Overall, I don’t think this game is for everyone, I’d only recommend it to die-hard DBZ fans, as you’ll literally be watching 30+ minute cutscenes at a time, with occasional fights in between those (if you’re just going through the main story), which is probably going to bore most people.
Side note: I would absolutely buy the DLC and expansions for this game if they weren’t priced like fucking crazy, why would I pay £17 for one “expansion” that takes like 5 hours to 100%? fuck you Bandai Namco.
Playtime: 41.5 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Dragon Ball Z - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
2020 - Ranked