It’s a nice enough world to look at, sure, but moving around in it and trying to fight in it can be bothersome.Įven the dialogue falls a little short of the mark. Switching between targets especially had me slipping up a bit in the early segments of the game. Even the targeting, while once again serviceable- isn’t great. The camera is serviceable in most situations, but after these combos the player is just disoriented and trying to escape the CPU- who will no doubt pounce and spam as many cheap attacks as they can on you, which is frustrating. It really is trying its darndest to keep up with the shifting fast hits that send characters flying across the levelm but you’ll usually get a nice look at someone’s crotch or the ground, and not so much the characters in the game or the action going on around you. While the graphics do look nice, the camera can become awkward.
But ultimately, it really doesn’t manage to do much of this right. The game really tries to charm the players with the classic music, the cel-shaded graphics emulating the show’s look, and having dialogue and acting from our cast. It’s not hard to understand why such an approach is used, and while it may be somewhat lofty, ultimately the end result is a bit of a wash.
Now, this opening theme is a pretty apt set up for what you can expect out of the game as it really does try to pull at your nostalgia for the franchise while at the same time trying to be something new. Moving away from the gameplay and getting back to how the game knows its audience, the first thing you are greeted with before the start screen is a brand new opening anime theme song featuring our favorite heroes and villains from Z duking it out over an auto-tuned version of the classic Cha-La Head-Cha-La theme and then topped off with Super Saiyan God Goku fighting God of Destruction Beerus-emulating the film that just came out. And if you manage to fill up this communal gauge, you can unleash special attacks. You and your teammates can place energy into the gauge or draw energy from it to resupply your own energy meter. On the top of the screen is a giant energy gauge that is communal to your whole team. That’s right, the name of the game is having the best team that you can use. This is a good thing, since the game places importance on your team. With these four types, alongside character-specific specials, and the minimal character customization via the cards, building a team offers the player a decent level of customization and strategy depending on what they want their team to play like. You are also rewarded with cards in game that can be placed on your fighters to give them special bonuses and stat boosts. Alongside that each player also has his or her own special move such as Goku having his signature Kamehameha attack. Depending on if you are on the ground or in the sky, and your distance to your enemies, gameplay changes up a bit.Įach character has their own move type that ranges from Fighting (the melee specialty characters), Ki Blast (the long distance shooting characters), Support (health regenerators), and Interference (the characters that stop enemy combos). You travel around the field in a team of four until you find enemies and then duke it out with Ki blasts and punches, as well as dash while on the ground or fly through the sky. The franchise is a nostalgic staple now, and the newest game, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, knows this well, for better and for worse.īattle of Z moves away from traditional fighting games and is more of a beat-em-up in a 3D arena.
#DRAGON BALL Z BATTLE OF Z THEME SONG MOVIE#
The phenomenon from the ‘80s and ‘90s still continues to push out new releases such as the Battle of the Gods movie last September, the announcement of the upcoming reveal of Goku’s mother, as well as the just announced continuation of DBZ Kai covering the Buu saga airing this April in Japan.įans have plenty of screaming and ridiculous power levels that are over 9,000 to look forward to even after the conclusion of the manga in 1995.