Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Review
The Dragon Ball series has spawned near countless games, even more you’ve likely never heard of when it comes to Japan-exclusive titles. Luckily for Dragon Ball fans we get most of the games localised now, and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is the latest title in a long-running series of popular fighting games, only this one is a little different.
As you would expect, DBZ:BOZ features all the characters fans of the series would be familiar with, and pits them against one another, but this time 4v4 matches are the usual set up. In past DBZ games it was most common to have a 1v1 fight with your opponent in a very traditional fighting game style. Despite the 3D graphics and models, characters would battle facing one another, almost on a 2D plane, only stepping away from this to perform dodges and special attacks. DBZ:BOZ completely changes this formula, offering genuinely huge stages which your character can openly fly around.
Dragon Ball Z games have never before done so much to make the player actually feel like a Z Warrior, but this comes at the cost of the classic fighting game mechanics that many people loved about the series. Flying about the stage chasing down enemies, zipping around whilst dodging and shooting energy blasts really does make you feel more like the DBZ character you control, and from a fan perspective, it’s spectacular. From a gamer perspective, it leaves something to be desired…
Combo attacks are very, very basic. You essentially mash one button for melee attacks, and press another for energy blasts. Luckily each character has a small selection of unique moves available to make them feel more varied, but this doesn’t add that much complexity to the combat. On top of that, the large 4v4 style matches can make the game difficult when you are being set upon by multiple enemies, unable to dodge or defend from multiple attackers. Being ganged-up on is an easy way to become frustrated.
But away from the negative points the new game style brings, there is a lot to say which is positive. Flying through levels feels great, and pulling off the simple combos successfully is still very satisfying. It feels almost like an open-world game in the way you can move about freely, and almost makes me wish an open-world DBZ title really did exist.
The single player story follows the DBZ storyline fairly roughly, with little elaboration on what is actually happening. This will unlikely be a turn off, however, since most people interested in this game will have either played an earlier DBZ title, which would explain the story already, or would be a fan of the anime or manga. Single player missions allow you to select your own character and three characters for your team. The game allows you to be fairly creative here, allowing you to choose characters that may not even be involved in these battles in the canon storyline, making it a little bit more interesting for fans. Characters can be equipped with cards powering up certain abilities, and the cards can either be purchased with in-game points, or unlocked.
One aspect that I am yet to touch upon in the multiplayer. 4v4 has ripped open the possibilities for multiplayer in ways that I had not anticipated. One prime example being a Capture-The-Flag style game type where the first team to collect seven Dragon Balls and summon the dragon Shenron wins the game. Unfortunately, other game modes are essentially Team Deathmatch, and aren’t balanced well, leaving more powerful characters with an unfortunate advantage.
But the game looks great, with a lovely art style that is one of the more authentic anime-style graphical styles that I have seen. Goku’s hair sticks up wildly and looks how fans would imagine it, and other characters are all also well represented.
Character voices and sound effects are also high-quality, with the 360 and PS3 versions of the game including an option for Japanese voice actors, whilst the Vita only has an English voice cast. Sound effects seem to be straight from the anime, for the most part. Flying sounds like it does in the show, energy blasts sound almost like what they do in the show… It’s all incredibly authentic, and does a lot to make the player feel like a Z Warrior.