Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
- Game mechanics – 85%
- History – 85%
- Music – 85%
- Graphics – 85%
Summary
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero gives us a great return of the Budokai Tenkaichi series with a very fun and at the same time quite attractive fighting title that manages to make you feel in the shoes of the most powerful warriors in the universe
- Genre: Fighting
- Platform: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S
- Premiere: 10/11/2024
- Publisher: Bandai Namco
- Developer: Spike Chunsoft
From the first moment it was announced Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero as the great successor of the series Budokai Tenkaichifans couldn’t take their eyes off him. Any news about its playable characters and details of their changes were always widely seen before the premiere.
Now we are just a few days away from this long-awaited fighting title reaching all players. Since I had the opportunity to play it, and as a fan of the original Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy, here I share with you what I thought. Although I can tell you that they did a very good job.
The most important thing about Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
What is Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero about?
If you wait Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero You probably already know what it is about. It is a fighting game that lets us relive the most iconic fighting scenes of this beloved anime, from Z to the Tournament of Power that we saw in Super. Although of course it also comes with some surprises.
The ‘episode battles’ are practically the story mode of this game. Here they allow us to choose from several iconic characters, such as Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Gohan or even Goku Black, to control them in their most important battles. For example, with Goku you will relive his first fights with Raditz, Vegeta and Nappa, until you reach Jiren. While if you use Vegeta, his story begins with his battles with Cui and Zarbon until he reaches his big confrontation with Toppo.
To give a little newness to the stories that we all already know, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Sometimes it allows you to make some decisions that will affect the path forward. For example, you can choose to have Goku face Raditz alone instead of with Piccolo. Decisions like these give us alternate fights that can sometimes even unlock new characters.
Something I didn’t like about the way the story was told. Sparking Zero is that its developers seem to have not agreed. His cinematics jump indiscriminately between animation, still images, or a combination of both. Plus, you can’t skip them and they don’t decide if you have to press a button to advance or if they play on their own. I found this a little frustrating, especially with all the time I spent in this mode.
All the gameplay of Budokai Tenkaichi is there
But of course we are not going to evaluate Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Just because of how it tells stories that we all know, the most important thing is its gameplay. Let me tell you that it is a worthy successor to the Budokai Tenkaichi series that keeps that gameplay practically intact.
In my opinion, this series was always the one that came closest to giving you the feeling of being a true Saiyan in epic fights. Well, here you have the entire scenario for you and your opponent. They can fly around, hide to recharge their ki, teleport, transform, destroy mountains, and unleash huge power-ups that cover the screen. Best of all, it is done in a fairly simple way.
In my opinion Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero It is one of those games that is easy to play but complex to master. Anyone who is interested in playing and enjoying some fights can do so. After all, it lends itself well to being a kind of button masher. Just press square for physical attacks and your character will do some combos on his own. But of course it also has enough complexity to take advantage of it.
You have different types of counters that you can make according to different situations. You can teleport at the last minute to avoid an attack, enter a state where you dodge your opponent’s combos and even sort of combo breakers for when they keep you very overwhelmed. With all this variety it is guaranteed that no matchup will be the same.
Although the gameplay of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero It is practically the same, in my opinion it feels a little slow compared to the originals. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s at a snail’s pace, it’s still very fast, but he left it there for other fans.
There are many modes to keep you fully entertained in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
The main draw of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is of course the battles, but it has a good variety of modes to keep you coming back for more. I personally spent a lot of time in Episode Battles, which is like the story mode, but it’s not the only one.
You will also find the ‘Custom Battles’ mode. This lets you create your own epic fights complete with cinematics, soundtrack and even title cards like in the anime. You can choose from the characters that face each other to the conditions for the fight. You can then share your creation with the rest of the world over the internet for them to play.
Of course there is the multiplayer mode which I believe will be where you will get the most out of the game with endless hours facing players from all over the world. Of course, I recommend that you go to training mode first to complete the tutorials with everything you need. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero It lets you do things in combat and thus have more opportunities.
As if this were not enough, there is also a tab full of Zeno Sama and Whis missions that give you rewards. These range from characters and outfits, to zenis to buy more things. You can use the latter in the store tab to unlock skills, some characters, business cards for the online game, music and much more.
Lastly we have the Bonus Battles. These are a bit curious since they give you the characters you must use and also special conditions to complete them. So as you can see, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is a pretty complete package.
Graphically, it is one of the best Goku and company games
Obviously with so many years of distance and being a new generation game, expectations regarding its graphics were quite high. Well, they used all the technological advances very well in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, since it represents all the powers that we saw in the anime very well.
The transformations, fusions, and casting of powers all look pretty good. ANDespecially the most powerful of each character give us an unparalleled visual spectacle. I must also mention that its developers very faithfully recreated all the characters’ attacks, which with so many was surely a titanic task.
Despite so much praise, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero still has its weak points
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero It manages to capture the spirit of its PS2 predecessors very well. However, he does it very well, because there are several things that he kept the same for the worse. One of them is the camera, which with so much crazy movement tends to get stuck on objects on the stage or does not follow the action very well.
Speaking of getting stuck on stage, characters also do it very frequently. They can go through entire buildings and mountains, but don’t let a rock be put in front of them because they will remain there until the opponent knocks them out or they fly away.
Finally, I encountered many failures from computer-controlled players in my time with Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. Sometimes I knocked them to the ground and they made no attempt to stand up so I had to grab them to get them to react.. This makes it more advisable to play with someone else.
Is Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero worth it?
I honestly consider that the successes of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero They are much more than their mistakes. It succeeds by giving us an experience quite full of content where the main thing is the fun of the users. At the same time, it rescues gameplay that had been missing for years.
Even if you are not a fan of this saga, you will find a pretty fun title that, as I said, anyone can enjoy. Of course, for those who are looking for a little more from their fighting games, it also offers that, because truly being a super Saiyan in combat will require hours of training and perfecting all the movements you can do.
I think that Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero It has quite a bit of potential to grow beyond this official release if Bandai Namco decides to give it more content. Although with what it already offers you at the start you will have enough to have fun for a long time. Don’t forget to come to our Discord to set up the challenges.
We play Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on PlayStation 5 with a code provided by a Bandai Namco representative in the region
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