The world tournament is back
Anime games have been quite plentiful this year, as in the past few months we’ve seen titles from franchises such as Spy X Family, Jujutsu Kaisen and even the relaunch of one of One PieceHowever, almost all of them fall short, as they don’t put much love into the gameplay, as they are basically put up for sale to satisfy and sell to fans. Within all this filler, we have a ray of hope: Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zerowhich promises to return fighting shoots to their greatness. It picks up the franchise that culminated in the era of Wii and PS2with an excellent video game full of characters to select, including even special guests such as Arale.
Fortunately, we are just a few days away from it going on sale, for all those who are already biting their nails to play with their favorite warriors. Bandai Namco has been responsible for increasing the hype by releasing many promising trailers. In fact, until now the entire trailer has been released. roster of the title, which suggests that they have listened to the requests of the fans. With this in mind, I am pleased to tell you that they have invited us to give it an early try and learn a little about its content, especially in the battle section. This allowed us to play for approximately two hours, in which there was no shortage of special technique launches and good punches that distinguish the series.
Of course, I’ll also tell you about the modes we’ve had access to, so you can get an idea of what you’ll find in this highly anticipated title, loaded with nostalgia for millions of fans around the world. I’ll also mention how the game performed in the experience of the person writing this and whether, from a technical point of view, it’s already playable. It should be noted that these are just preliminary opinions, so a final verdict will not be given at this time. We’ll have that a few days before its release, in early access for those who purchase the edition deluxe. Here we will only comment on what we saw in the controlled environment we had when visiting the offices of Bandai Namco.
Now with all the rules clear, let’s get into it. Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero and see if this little taste has left us wanting more fights in the company of Goku, his friends and enemies.
What is Sparking?
First of all, many will surely wonder why this game is not named after Budokai Tenkaichi like the previous ones, and that’s because that’s its original Japanese pronunciation. Therefore, it could be considered the fourth title in the franchise that was born in the PS2 era, with a name change to become more universal.
I was also one of the users who was surprised to hear the new name, but knowing the background, it made sense to me that they changed it, all to have an established franchise and so that no one gets confused. In this case, the Japanese stuck with what they already knew, and we are the ones who will have to adapt.
I’m a big fan of the latter title, having put many hours into it back in the day, and that’s because it offered a wealth of options, from time-based mode to classic knockout. So when I saw the announcement two years ago at a Dragon Ballmy excitement certainly reached the sky.
Fighting is the main thing
Moving on to what I reviewed in the previous section, we had access, first of all, to what everyone wants to play from the start: the combats, in which we have at our disposal the different warriors of the franchise. The best thing is that they can be selected from their base stage to the last, to start dealing blows without remorse.
As in previous games, in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero It is possible to enter with teams of several characters at once; in this case, we can choose up to five at most. The best thing is that, if some of them are in their base form, we can transform them during the fight. Even if there are characters that fuse in the series, it is possible to give them the transformation if you have them in the team.
After you’ve selected each player (only two users are allowed, whether online or offline), it’s time to move on to more options such as the stage and even selecting the music. The repertoire includes original themes from the game and the anime, which can cause legal problems if you want to upload content to the internet.
In combat, the movement is very similar to that of the previous games in the series. That is, we move the characters in a 3D environment where we can make them fly with the stick and launch blows that extend into combos. There are also special techniques that can be used by accumulating Ki; the strongest ones are activated by having more bars filled.
Finally, as far as the basics go, there is the blow Sparkingwhich is achieved by accumulating energy that goes beyond the bar we already have. Blue energy is added and, when it is filled, we only press the trigger and the circle (in the case of PlayStation) to launch the final attack. Of course, the rival can dodge it if he is out of range or uses the dash precisely.
It plays very similarly to what many are already used to, so it won’t be problematic for those who haven’t let go of the title that has been kept alive thanks to the fans. In those first few minutes that I played, the control felt intuitive, so I didn’t need to enter training mode.
Needless to say, the movement feels fair and snappy, but those are details I’ll get into when I do the full review. Also, I experienced a little bug in one of the battles. It didn’t happen in all of them, but it’s striking that there are still certain details that need to be polished.
Episodes of history
In case anyone was wondering, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero It does feature a story mode, though this one follows a slightly different path, as we get to experience the viewpoints of several characters. It goes through their major battles throughout the anime, leading, presumably, to the Tournament of Power.
We had access to two tests. The first was Goku’s, where we started by controlling the Saiyan raised on Earth from his fight with Raditz to the final confrontation with Jiren. But unlike all the games of Dragon Ballsomething interesting is added here: the “What if”, with alternative outcomes.
For example, we can choose to go with Piccolo to save Gohan or go alone, and depending on the player’s performance, it will be possible to reach a point where Goku never dies and, therefore, stays training with Gohan for the arrival of Vegeta. This is a breath of fresh air for those who are already tired of reliving the story over and over again.
Another element of surprise in the episodes is that, in the roster In terms of characters, we also have the villains. That’s right, for the first time we can see their point of view, beyond a mission or multiplayer mode. I chose Frieza for this preview, but Black Goku was also available, which is very interesting.
Something that caught my attention is that certain fights can be altered from canon. For example, with the first villain of Z I followed the events set up in the story, and upon reaching Goku in Super Saiyan mode, I was intrigued to see what would happen if I beat him. But unfortunately, an event is triggered when he loses all his health, in which we are defeated due to plot issues.
I didn’t try out any more characters apart from those, so I’ll wait to play the full title to give a more detailed opinion. For now, I can say that it’s interesting, but it remains to be seen whether they explore this mechanic in depth or if it’s just small events.
Training and customization
There was also access to the training mode, a space where we can master the controls, with explanations about the function of each button at our disposal. In fact, in the options it is possible to modify the controls, designed for those who prefer to play differently than they did in previous installments.
At this practice site, you can choose all the characters available when trying out the game. Although the total number of characters has already been revealed in videos, not all of them will be available from the start. Some will be unlocked by progressing through the stories, while others can be purchased in the store with in-game currency.
To complete everything available in the preview, there is also the customization menu, where we can create a battle in which we select certain characters, as if we were recreating an episode of the series. It is possible to choose the dialogues, the music, the poses, and even details such as a title for the start and its respective background image.
These creations can be shared with the world via the internet, but they must first be surpassed before they can be uploaded. This way, more users can enjoy what we have created. Of course, there is also the option to download what other players upload, which will allow you to explore the creations of the community.
The powers are almost colliding
That covers the preview, which left me with a good taste in my mouth. I was left wanting to try out more characters, see their transformations and enjoy the animations of the powers. In addition, I hope to witness seemingly impossible encounters between canonical characters from the franchise and villains from the films, who return to the delight of fans.
It’s not long before the full game is released, so I’ll be 100% excited until we finally get our hands on it. This just goes to show that Dragon Ball It is a product that does not age and will continue to have an impact on future generations.
Remember that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero The next one will arrive October 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
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