Dragon Ball FighterZ is the latest attempt of a Dragon Ball fighting game and the first one for a long time to try something different. With a 2.5D style the game is developed by 2D fighting game masters Arc System Works who are known for the likes of Guilty Gear and Persona 4 Arena.
Featuring a team based fighting system similar to what people have seen in the likes of Marvel vs Capcom the game lets you pick a range of Dragon Ball characters to fight as. From the likes of Goku, Vegeta and Gohan all the way through to Freiza, Kid Buu and Cell.
The characters have some nice interactions between each other at the start of each fight and you can change the dub track if you’d rather not here them speaking in their native Japanese. The English dub seemed perfectly fine as well and it’s nice that you’ve got the option to choose.
At the time of playing the online servers aren’t working but we do have access to the lobby area still. The lobby works as a hub world where you can run about and pick out what you want to do, whether that be a casual online match or a ranked online match.
You can also watch replays you’ve saved which allow you to check out the button presses that occurred in the game. It’ll be a great way to review your mistakes and see how your opponent did certain things that will hopefully see you become better at the game.
Story mode feels fairly flat but is definitely passable. It works in a few more characters that don’t appear as fighters and helps to train you up in fighting. Dragon Ball FighterZ doesn’t really feel like the hand holding way of delivering it is needed though, especially as there is a training mode for those that want to improve, that just seems to recycle scenarios from the story. It is nice playing more traditional 1v1 fights though.
Arcade mode has various routes that you can do as you try and get the best score possible against a range of foes. It’s extremely fun and I feel that I’ll probably be spending more time playing this than I will do story mode going forward.
The most important thing though is the fighting. It’s great. It’s fast, it’s frantic and it looks beautiful. The animation work is wonderful and there’s loads of nice little touches that just make it flow together lovely. I came back from a 1 v 3 in one of my first matches and it hit me with that feeling you want from a gutsy comeback.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is a fun game, even if you’re not the biggest Dragon Ball fan. It’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master which could help it find an audience outside of the expected fanbase.
