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Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
Out now for just over two months DragonBall FighterZ (DBFZ) has taken the gaming world by storm. Within its first two weeks alone, DBFZ managed to sell over two million copies worldwide, and that number has only continued to rise in the last month and a half. Praised for its wonderfully chaotic gameplay, beautifully detailed artwork, and the way in which it pays homage to the source material - DBFZ is a game that I've had my eye on for quite some time. So, last week I decided to try it out for myself, and I was not disappointed.
It only dawned on me after getting it that I hadn't played a Dragon Ball Z game since "Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi" was released back in 2011. While there were many aspects of the game that were entertaining, the overall repetitive nature of the gameplay left me underwhelmed; I play fighting games for the fighting component and "Ultimate Tenkaichi" just didn't deliver in the way that I hoped. So, as a result of feeling burnt by the DBZ games I made the decision to avoid the newer titles.. until now.
Ever since the first clips started appearing on my feeds, I was in awe of this game. It seemed like a callback to the DBZ games of old; you know the ones I'm talking about. Before Xenoverse or Battle or even the old Tenkaichi titles; I'm talking about the genuine article, the standard on which all DBZ games were built off of.. the original Budokai series. These three games (though mostly the first and the third) truly set the standard for what a great DBZ game should be. While rather dated now, at the time these games were incredible - so much in fact that they were the only PS2 titles to receive an HD Collection for the newer consoles. But enough about the older games. Let's answer the real question - how is the new DBFZ game?
In short, it's pretty damn amazing.
I'm actually going to switch things up and start with what I didn't like, which mainly deals with the story mode. Frankly, it didn't really do much for me. While I appreciate them choosing not to repeat the same tired trope of either a.) retelling the entire story of DBZ or b.) trying to create some unique story that involves a new character (of your design) entering the DBZ universe to make changes to the established continuity. Instead, what this game does is introduce the idea of a "soul" - which is literally you, the player - that jumps from body to body to fight on behalf of the characters due to a outside force sapping them of their strength. While definitely a unique approach, it didn't necessarily work for me. I found it to be too much of a fourth wall break for my taste. I'm not saying it wasn't creative - because it definitley was - I just didn't care for it too much. The different "arc's" did serve to spice the story up somewhat, though.
In addition to that, while some might call the creators lazy for this, I can't help but respect the idea of making the enemies of the campaign "clones." I imagine simply greying characters hair and skin (as well as adding red eyes) saved them a lot of time in regard to their creative process. They didn't have to bother crafting a larger roster of characters because there was an army of clones that players could repeatedly fight. It's actually a rather brilliant way of beefing up what could have been an otherwise short story mode. However, they could have dialed it back somewhat - with almost a half days worth of fights to push through (most of which add nothing to the story), it would have been nice to see either more variety in terms of who I'm fighting.. or just less filler fights.
I will say that one of the most entertaining aspects of the story mode comes from the interactions between the characters. Whether it's the bickering between enemies, or genually comedic moments between old friends, DBFZ does a great job at servicing long time friends of the franchise. Kudos to them for that.
Did I mention how beautiful this game is yet? DBFZ is honestly the best representation of the series to date in terms of the ways in which it pays homage to the original manga/anime. It's obvious that the creators are fans of the series themselves, as they made sure to include an abundance of detail to each of this games twenty-four (and growing) chracters. It's honestly the best aspect of the game.
That being said, the fighting is a damn close second. "Easy to learn, difficult to master," is the first thing that comes to mind as I think of the gameplay for DBFZ. While it'll take a few matches to get the hang of everything, you'll probably start feeling that you have a decent understanding of how to play within a half hour of playing through the story. The first battles of the story are ridiculously easy and don't do much to offer any sort of genuine challenge - instead they allow you to get a solid understanding of the games mechanics so that when the battles eventually get harder, you'll have had plenty of time to practice.
I also want to add that, while I've never been a fan of second (or third, depending on who you ask) tier characters such as Yamacha, Tien, or Krillin, this game manages to make them all feel worthwhile. I've come to understand that this is partially due to the fact that all of the basic attacks are similar for each character, so whether you're playing with Yamacha or Beerus, the experience doesn't differ too much. I like that aspect because, before playing this, I wouldn't have imagined I would have enjoyed playing as the three of them as much as I do.
If there was one thing about the characters that I have a qualm with, it would be the lack of certain character transformations. For example, as cool as SSJ2 Teen Gohan is, I have always preferred his SSJ1 form, as I loved the style of his hair during the Cell Saga. The same goes for most of Saiyans - as I'm forced to fight as them in their SSJ forms or SSJGG forms. I miss the days where I had the choice of swapping in and out of forms at will. But, first world problem, right?
After spending a few hours on the story mode, and mastering the controls, I decided it was time to test my mettle in an online brawl. I understood that the confidence I had in myself might have been slightly exaggerated due to the fact that the enemies in the story didn't exactly require too much effort to take down, But, I honestly felt confident that, even if I didn't necessarily win the match, I would at least prove to be a challenge for whoever crossed my path. But, boy oh boy, was I wrong.
The online community for DBFZ (PS4) is to be reckoned with. It could be that I'm just not all that good (yet), but if you are a beginner playing this game I definitely recommend putting in the time to train before jumping in. In terms of gameplay, though, I didn't have any real problems with connectivity or lag. That might change, as I've only played a few matches so far, but I don't expect it to ever get ridiculously bad - Bandai typically is good with their online gameplay.
All in all, DBFZ is a whole lot of fun. It does well as not only a kick-ass fighting game, but also in how it pays homage to not only the original DBZ anime, but also old-school fighting games as well. Also - and I felt this was especially important to add - it only takes up five or so gigabytes of your consoles memory. It's strange to find a blockbuster game (or any game really) that doesn't take up and abundance of space on your hard drive these days.
My rating: 8/10
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