REVIEW – Videogame adaptations of anime series have been made since the old NES era, and as graphics advanced so did the adaptations. PlayStation 2 mostly was dominated by Dragon Ball fighting games such as the Budokai series that was later ported to the PlayStation 3. During the era of the PS3 other anime fighting games became more prominent and Dragonball started losing its edge unfortunately. One Piece with its Musou games and Naruto Shipuden Ultimate Storm provided fun and new interesting mechanics for players. While Dragon Ball was lagging behind in terms of quality new games.

Enter Xenoverse, a new Dragon Ball game to a new generation of consoles. Does it succeed and become Super Saiyan?  Or does it get owned like Krillin.. ? Find out here.

Time Squad to the rescue

Xenoverse features fully animated cutscenes and voice acting for the story. Which is a great way to immerse the players, plus it allows all of the noterworthy battles to be replayed by the player. All of the major battles seem to be turning out for the worst due, to the timeline deteriorating and the villains winning. This in turn leaves Trunks no choice but to summon a new warrior (the player), to send the player back in time and correct the alterations caused by an unknown malevolent force.

Thus the story truly allows players to start from the beginning of Dragon Ball Z (With the arrival of Raditz), and go as far as Majin Buu in the timeline. We’re allowed to customize our own character that can be a Namekian, Earthlings or Freeza esque race. There are a few minor advantages and disadvantages between the races to pick from but not too much. The customization however is really indepth and everything from height, weight, skin colour, face, hair can be chosen. An hour or so can be spent during this initial phase if you wish to create a really detailed character.

Then once you complete character creation the game starts…. with a really long tutorial hosted by non-other than Trunks. This is where the actual meat of the gameplay starts, or would start.

Is it an RPG?! Is it a fighting game?! … no it’s everything packed into one game and called Xenoverse…..

Unlike Budokai or the Naruto games, this entry of the next gen Dragon Ball series seems incapable of deciding of what it wants to be in the first place. An RPG? an online MMO? fighting game ? It seems to cherry pick features with varying degrees of success.

First of all there is no central menu, instead there’s a town hub, with all the options scattered around the town. This wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t have to walk every one of these options, and maybe have flying available. As currently it takes up too much time to get to one place on the hub. The hub contains the usual item shops, mission starter places, and a few important NPCs. This part of the game is also connected online, so you’ll be able to team up with players to finish missions together. So while the hub has it’s drawbacks (for instances losing a parallel match gets you transported to the central hub world instead of a retry option) it is really great to forge new friendships from all around the world.

In the hub you’ll also be able to choose parallel missions, or train under new masters such as Goku, Vegeta, or Piccolo. These missions are tough, with special conditions to succeed, however the rewards are plentiful, with item boosts, and ability unlocks.

This in turn incentives the player to complete every sidequest, every main mission as perfectly as possible to gain new skills/ attacks and ultimates for the custom made character. Progressing through the story also unlocks new characters that can be used in parallel missions. This is where one minor frustration occurred for me as, I was expecting most of the characters unlocked, however only Goku and Piccolo was open. After I set aside my initial disappointment, it turned out that unlocking new characters is fairly easy. Just complete the story mission and they’ll be automatically unlocked. Skills however are a different beast, and was really surprised on how the combat system works.

Press X to win.

Combat in Xenoverse is streamlined to the point where I understand why attacks have to be unlocked. Combos are active only for basic and heavy attacks. Everything else has to be assigned to four specific buttons and once enough points/stamina has been reached you can execute these attacks. So is it fun? Yes because the hit detection is great, and the shots / hits have to be well timed. Still it feels easy and sometimes cheap to just press two buttons and be able to deliver a special attack. It might cheapen the feeling of success for some, while for other make the game enjoyable.

People should expect this to be one thing only, not a fighting game, but a spectacle fighter with online functionalities. If you’re able to get through the small hurdles you’ll enjoy the gameplay.

It feels like Dragon Ball

The aesthetics and sound design is superb, all of the voice acting matches with both the English and Japanese dubs. Every attack, movement is 1:1 replica in both visual and sound. The developers did their best, and it shows. What’s even better is that all of the side/main missions have their own banter between the characters, so it never gets old. However sometimes the music seemed to be out of place, and a tense action scene is covered with a light synth music which results in a weird mashup. Regardless Xenoverse is a well-made game in the above two departments.

It grinds my Dragon Balls

Here’s where the game sort of breaks in terms of enjoyment. As mentioned before skills and characters need to be unlocked by completing quests/challenges. What happens is that challenges/ sidequests have to be replayed over and over inorder to unlock the wanted skills. This ends up becoming a really long and MMO like grinding situation, which annoyed me for a bit. Favorite skills can be behind S rank results, and characters that are loved may require special objectives to be completed. This can be aided by online co-op, but still at times it is too difficult to handle it.

A new era, a new way, time to resurrect an old franchise

Xenoverse might not be the best Fighting game out there, but it combines so many new elements that delivers a new and exciting experience. The fight scenes are pulled from straight from the anime series, and the online hub is an interesting way to handle co-op. Hopefully the sequel will streamline the hub city, and the menus more, not just the gameplay elements.

-Dante-

Editor: Bandai Namco Games

Developer: Dimps Corporation

Genres: fighting, action, 3D

Publication: February 2015