Ah Dragonball Z. One of the only reasons I enjoyed getting up for school was to watch the next gripping episode of Dragonball Z! Even if it was just a whole episode of Gohan charging for a Kamehameha blast. This of course transgressed into playing the many games that come out to tell this amazing story dating all the way back to the PS1. Admittedly Dragonball Z Budokai 3 and Budokai Tenkaichi 3 were my 2 favorite entries. So here we are in 2020 more than a decade after Bodokai Tenkaichi 3. So how does the Z saga stack up in Dragonball Z Kakarot? well hopefully I can shed some light on that. Please be advised some mechanic and story spoilers may be present within this review. For those of you who have not seen the anime or played any Dragonball Z games I recommend proceeding with caution.
This review will be based on a completed story file.
Kakarot's Adventure?
Dragonball Z Kakarot follows a bunch of warriors who are always training to become stronger than their rival. kakarot is the main protagonist of the Dragonball world and is more commonly known as Goku. However the story focuses more on one particular character and in my playthrough I can tell you it definitely didn't feel like Kakarot. In fact for a majority of the story I found myself following the story Dragonball Z Kakarot as Gohan, Kakarot's kid through his childhood, Teen years and adulthood(ish). I for one enjoyed this. I couldn't imagine going through the whole game playing as Goku for the umpteenth time but I am also kind of disappointed that due to this many important Goku moments were left out of the story. In fact a lot of really cool well known parts of the anime were left out. I would say well over 9000..... OK that was lame but if you haven't watched Dragonball Z(I will now refer to this as DBZ or DBZK for the game) this game would not help you with that reference albeit the most popular reference in the series in my opinion. This left me feeling like some of the story was rushed. And indeed it had to be I suppose otherwise we would have a 4000 hour game on our hands. Exaggerating of course but it would definitely be a huge game!!
The game starts at the very beginning of the Z saga and ends at the end of the Z saga. I felt I needed to add this because I know that a lot of people wanted to see the more recent adaptation of DBZ shown in the game, Dragonball Super. Unfortunately at least as of launch there is no Super story at all. The game ends where most other DBZ games end, The Evil Buu Saga. However the game is split into sagas. These consist of: the Saiyan Saga, The Namek/Ginyu Saga, The Frieza Saga, The Android Sage, The Cell Saga, The Majin Buu saga and the Evil Buu saga. Between each saga there is an intermission where various sub stories take place and freedom is given to the player. I personally feel the biggest missed opportunity is the addition of Tournaments during these intermissions. My favorite thing to do in DBZ games is to play tournaments. I know that the World Tournament doesn't take place often but surely some exhibition tournaments could have been thrown where a little bit of Zenny or some rare items were up for grabs. But unfortunately this wasn't the case and I felt personally disappointed by this huge missed opportunity.
Fighter RPG... I think?
This game is a very interesting blend of fighter mechanics and Action RPG elements. Battles take place in a 3d environment where you control a character and choose to fight with melee attacks, fight at a distance with Ki blasts, use special attacks and dodge around enemy attacks. Every enemy you beat nets you experience which levels up your character and makes them stronger. Unfortunately I found this to be very lacklustre as a whole. Random enemy encounters net very minimal experience points and would require a lot of grinding even for a single level. I always like to level my character up to be slightly stronger than the recommended level but it was near impossible to do that in this game without putting in more effort than it's worth. Instead I found the experience gained throughout the story was enough to get me through the story with ease. The game also features side quests or sub stories. These are usually either fetch quests or battles resulting in some extra experience points which I suppose helped with being a level or 2 higher than the story but really made random encounters a chore and a bore. I have heard from a few people that this made the game more time friendly for those who don't have the time to grind out battles like they used to and I understand that but due to this I found the game to feel more like a fighter than a RPG and that the RPG elements were unnecessary and were more of a gimmick.
Orb Haven
DBZK features a skill tree where you can spend orbs to learn new abilities. Outside of battles and story content DBZK lets the player explore the world around them with relatively light restrictions. The game is not open world but instead features very large zones to explore. Areas are littered with orbs everywhere for you to collect. I found this to be a huge chore I really got bored of this very quickly. Luckily there was another way to earn massive amounts of orbs.
Community Center
Possibly my favorite aspect of this game is the Community board function. Throughout the game and it's various sub stories players earn soul emblems. These emblems can be placed on a number of community boards which net points towards that specific board. When enough points are earned various buffs and boons are activated such as more experience from battles(still minimal against random enemies), Item drop rates, food success rate etc. This encouraged me to complete every sub story in the hopes of obtaining all soul emblems.
On The Next Episode Of Dragonball Z
One thing I was hoping for was some form of end game content and this game does in fact deliver on that. Extra sub stories and battles are available post game but again, and I hate to mention it again, no tournaments are active. Dragon balls are on a 20 minute timer so the addition of a tournament could surely be implemented hourly. But maybe that could be added in a future DLC. We will find out on......... The Next Episode of.... DragonBall Z.
Final thoughts
DBZK is a pretty solid fighter game and tells the age old story of Dragonball Z. Current gen graphics help the game look stunning and the effects are great. The RPG mechanics are lacklustre but are definitely there. Orb hunting is a chore but thankfully there are easier ways to net large amounts of orbs. Battles feel repetitive and by end game my Vegeta could spam one move and win any fight. The community board is fun and has some fun interactions. I enjoyed the story and end game content. This game is great for long time fans and newcomers alike. Those who are looking for a deep RPG experience may be quite disappointed by this game.
7/10
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