Dragon Ball FighterZ Review
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Developer: Arc System Works
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Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
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Genres: Fighting
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Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
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Release date:
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January 27th, 2018
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Playtime: around 30 hours
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Reviewed on a base PS4 model
The Dragon Ball video games are always a complicated topic: on one hand fans are used to yearly releases of either a completely new game or at least a sequel; on the other hand, the games haven’t been that good in recent years (except for the stand out Xenoverse series). Enter Arc Systems and Dragon Ball FighterZ, a game that is accessible to fighting games newbies, but one that simultaneously allows skilled players to enjoy the game.
On the gameplay front, Dragon Ball FighterZ excels. On one hand, it is simple for beginners who aren’t used to the fighting genre, while on the other hand it remains challenging and tactical enough for the skilled veterans. From the get-go you can simply mash the light or heavy attack buttons and you’ll still be able to perform cool moves. However, thanks to the game’s steady learning curve, you can easily mix in some special attacks and dashes to make your fighting style much more refined and stylish. Thanks to this, adding a new combo to your repertoire remains fairly easy, making the game feel rewarding and keeping you motivated to improve your playstyle. On top of it, there’s the team factor: both you and your opponent can tag in a teammate at any moment, giving the outed character a chance to recover some health and perhaps turn the tables on your opponent with an unexpected switch.
Another factor that plays a key role in the gameplay is the technical diversity of the playable characters. While there’s a core of common moves and button inputs you can use with every character, some characters have exclusive moves, such as Frieza’s alternate special that allows him to transform temporarily into his Golden Frieza form or Android 16’s self-destruct special move. In the end, this allows you to experiment with new characters easily, but at the same time gives you the chance to find new strategies during battle thanks to the characters’ intricacies.
As someone that doesn’t play this type of games for the online multiplayer component, it’s always a bliss to know that a game has a story mode, specially in this case that lasts a good while. On top of that, FighterZ has plenty more on the single player front such as the arcade and versus mode. Thankfully, even if the story is rather easy, you can still expect a challenge in the arcade mode where you’re pit against one team after the other with ever-increasing difficult opponents. On the multiplayer front, there’s the traditional modes, such as ranked and casual.
Oh, and if you’re interested, the game also includes local multiplayer!
Recovering the topic of the story mode, there’s a couple of things that should be said. It’s true it lasts a pretty good time (I finished it in around 10 hours, but you could easily extend or decrease that) but it is due to the fact that there’s too much filler in between meaningful story progression. While I felt my overall enjoyment of the story took a hit because of this, the good parts easily outweighed the bad. From beginning to end the story was filled with clever references to the Dragon Ball Z series and even recent events in the ongoing Super anime. Plus, the cutscenes about character interactions were always fun and entertaining to watch. For instance, if you have Goku and Frieza or Cell on the same team, there were dedicated cutscenes to show how these characters feel about each other. If you’re already a fan of the series, you’ll be delighted to set up new teams to find dialogue you haven’t heard yet; if you bought the game because of the genre, then these moments allow you to learn more about the characters you’re playing with. To top it all of, the game introduces Android 21, an original character designed by Dragon Ball’s author, Akira Toriyama, that feels right at home with the rest of the cast.
Just as you can't dissociate last year’s Persona 5 from its aesthetic, Dragon Ball FighterZ's visual style also cannot be dissociated from the game for two reasons: it makes the game look that much more unique and original, but most importantly, it highlights the love and effort put into this game by the developers to make this the best Dragon Ball game possible for fans. For every small movement the characters make during battle, you’ll find that exact same move either in the anime or the manga. To further prove how good this game looks, it’s one of those games where you can pause at any given time and nine out of ten times you could use that frame as a new desktop wallpaper.
As someone that is a fan of Dragon Ball but just a super casual fighting game fan, this game managed to exceed my expectations. Between the accessibility of the combat to the variety of game modes (specially the single player portion) I found a lot to sink my teeth into. The roster strikes a good balance with “staple” characters and brand-new ones (looking at you Goku Black and Hit). Beyond the number of playable characters, the characters still feel like themselves and that shows in the different ways you can approach a battle with each character. However, at least for me, it still feels like other fighting games: once the novelty wears off, I will probably stop playing the game. The good thing is the novelty is lasting substantially longer than with its peers, most likely due to how good the game looks and sounds, but also because this is the best Dragon Ball in a long time, period.
If you want to see Dragon Ball FighterZ in action, you can watch the video below, which includes a couple of battles I played in one of the arcade mode's courses.