REVIEW

Dragonball Xenoverse Review

by Dominic Coles, April 21st, 2015

If you were growing up in the nineties then you probably watched one of the biggest shows of the time. Dragonball Z grew to become one of my personal favourite franchises and as the series went on in TV land, the games were starting to take hold. As more and more titles released I was noticing a trend, it was all the same. The same story with the same characters and the same outcomes all of which we have seen a million times over. But now with Dragonball Xenoverse, the timelines we know and love are in danger and it is up to us to solve this mystery. Does the game give us something new to revitalise the DBZ games?

Starting off with something memorable and remixed is the original Japanese theme of the TV series “Cha-La Head-Cha-La”. This time composed by Flow, it is an immediate burst of nostalgia for anyone that is into the series as well as a great theme to rock out to when you open up the game. Upon start up you will have to create your own character who will be the main protagonist in the story. Yes, your own character in the DBZ universe. This is a dream come true for many fans as now you can put yourself in the shoes of Goku, Vegeta and the other Z fighters. The customisation options are few early on when it comes to clothing, but the facial and body touches have plenty to mess around with. You can also choose from a Human, Saiyan, Namekian, Buu or a Freiza species for your created fighter. Each one of these races plays and feels differently, with their own innate specialities in combat that you can either perfect or deviate from. The Saiyans have the ability to go Super Saiyan but only gain immense power when they are on low health. The Namekians may lack in strength but back it up with the highest stamina and stamina recovery rates for evading attacks. Freiza species have great speed and strike power with no ability to launch multiple Ki blasts. The humans are the most balanced race state wise and they have the best Ki recovery speed out of the races. Finally, the Buu species differ pending on their gender. The males have superior health but a lack in stamina whilst it is reversed for the females.

So what has happened to the universe? Turns out certain moments of history are being changed for the worst as a Demi-God by the name of Demigra is trying to escape from his time prison. This means that all the battles that we have either seen or played through multiple times in other games in the series have changed for the worse. Raditz defeating Goku & Picolo on Earth, Freiza stopping the legendary Super Saiyan, Cell decimating the competition and Buu eradicating the universe. All these scenarios and more occur throughout the game as characters become possessed with this black energy that increases their power levels. Luckily you are here to save the day, as your character is summoned by the great Shenron himself, legendary Dragon of the Dragonballs. But who brought you to this world to save time? None other than the first time traveller in the series, Trunks the son of Vegeta.

The beginning of the story is quite shocking at first for DBZ fans as you will witness fights play out in completely different ways, even having to do battle against characters that you thought would normally be no match for you. For new players, the story will both introduce you to the universe and show where every scenario changes from the original series. This is a great relief as now different fights and even tougher variations of battles will occur.

The controls themselves feel very easy to learn. You have one button for strong attacks, one for light attacks and another for KI blasts, which either come out as single shots or as a burst, depending on your character build. Then we get to the super and ultimate attacks that are mapped to the shoulder buttons on controllers. One opens up a menu that shows your available supers whilst holding both will open the ultimate moves. Very easy and yet tightly mapped buttons assist with making some of the flashiest combos imaginable.

After playing in the main story of the game, you will unlock parallel quests that will open up more challenges for you to take part in. This is where most of your game will be spent as you fight both enemies and heroes from the main story. Although they may not look important at first, playing and beating these missions will unlock many things for your created character. This can vary from items you can mix to help you in battle, new clothes with different stat bonuses and even super and ultra-moves from the characters you are fighting against. This in turn creates a sense of desire which makes you go back into the same mission over and over to try and unlock the things you want most. This can be a very monotonous task however if you are simply using these missions to grind up to the max level of eighty. Some of the missions will also have a chance of letting you fight a fellow guardian of time, who is someone else’s created character played by the AI.

Once you defeat them you may be able to obtain the legendary Dragonballs. Gather all seven and you can summon Shenron yourself to grant a wish. Wishes include new moves, more experience, new clothes and even new characters. With all the content here to go for, you will be going into all the missions over and over again to get your hands on everything that is available.

With all the unlockables available in the game, this is where one of the best parts of Xenoverse is given to you, ongoing character creation. Early on you do not have many options for clothes as stated earlier; however with the parallel quests you will gain new gear to help boost your stats. As well as fighting for these items, you can also buy new equipment with in game Zeni at the clothing store. These clothes can be direct rips from popular characters that you face in game or even clothing from characters that do not appear in game, such as Turles, Lord Slug, Bojack and Cooler. Then your character has even more to play around with as you can buy and unlock new moves, including the ability to go Super Saiyan. With all the varying options and unlockables available, your character can go through many alternate versions of themselves. Luckily the game also supports this as you are able to register your new equipment and skill sets as you progress. Making it easy to switch between which versions of your ultimate warrior you want to send into the fight.

On top of this great addition is the ability to learn some of the devastating moves of the game from the characters themselves. These mentors will pop up in the main hub of Toki-Toki city in between missions. When you pick a mentor you will learn a move after an initial sparring session. You will then have to use the move, as well as fight alongside your mentor in mission in order to maximise your friendship level. Filling up the friendship gauge enough will give you more moves and eventually reward you with their renowned ultimate move. The sensation of seeing these characters interact with yours is great for fans of the series, which sadly non DBZ fans will not feel. This seems to be the biggest problem with the game in general. If you know the series, the characters, the battles, the moves etc then you will enjoy the game from beginning to end. However if you are new to the universe and you are trying to learn everything for the first time, you may just be overwhelmed. With everything to take in you may just see it as too much and put the game away or just skip past any of the important plot points.

As well as playing solo, you can also play against or alongside your friends online. Whilst competitive gameplay would have you and your friend doing battle as either your created characters or your unlocked ones, the co-op leaves much to be desired as you are only able to play co-op through the parallel quests. This is handy as you can help each other grind for items or face the more challenging missions. However, with no cooperative story experience to take on Demigra or any over villains, the co-op experience does feel lack lustre. It is also frustrating at times to get a team organised with your friends as you have to go to a team registration booth to sort out the whole process. Which leads in to the problem with Toki Toki City, the main hub world of the game. Although it is nice to explore and see other created characters, it is incredibly trivial to traverse. Constantly walking around just to buy, sell and organise new equipment and teams when most of these choices could be made through the main menu.

With everything the game does right, there always seems to be one or two areas where it goes wrong. Even with its problems, Dragonball Xenoverse is one of the best DBZ games of recent times. With the inclusion of character creation as well as mentors and unlocks, there is plenty of replayability here. If you are a fan of Dragonball and you want to fight against some of the well-known villains, then you will adore this game. However new players may be put off by the sheer amount the series is giving you. I hope more games like this come out for the series in the future, possibly including the likes of movie heroes and villains to add more of a nostalgic feel.