First off, what the heck is asymmetric multiplayer? Well, as the name suggests, it’s a multiplayer video game where, unlike usual, each character has different abilities. The game is deliberately unbalanced so it’s one versus all, evil versus the power of friendship. And hence the asymmetry, the solo player has incredible power and has to kill the others who have to play strategically.
The strange life of the NPC
The game begins with our character waking up after hitting the ground. Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma’s son, wakes us up to explain that we’ve gone through a temporary glitch and the evil Cell is about to kill us. To survive we must find some keys that will activate the time machine that can save us. In this short tutorial, Trunks explains all the resources that we have at our service, including the possibility of becoming a Super Saiyan if we have enough energy. Shortly after, we’ll meet Bulma and Ulong, characters from the original series who spent their lives running away when one of the big villains attacked. And that’s the summary of Dragon Ball: The Breakers. Have you ever wondered how one of the countless victims of great villains like Frieza felt? Well now you can.
Of course there will also be games where we can put ourselves in the shoes of one of the great villains. Following the classic plots of Japanese manga, first of all our mission will be to absorb all possible power that will allow us to level up. In this way we can see the different transformations of the anime villains in ourselves. Cell absorbs people, Majin Boo swallows them, Frieza exploits us like Krillin… The references to our childhood shows are everywhere and much appreciated.
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Dragon Ball Xenoverse, is that you?
Artistically, Dragon Ball: The Breakers hits the nail on the head. It shows that he understood the vibes of the series and executed them with ease. The scenarios mix different places from the episodes and whenever we hide we will find there places that are familiar to us.
As usual in Dragon Ball games, the graphics explore the technology cel shading, which goes great with products with anime aesthetics. Something that we can first explore in the character editor, where we can choose between all the features and elements that have made our characters characteristic. And here we find the first but to The Breakers who shine after reusing the character editor from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 without mercy. There’s nothing bad to say about this editor, but remember those crazy scenes of earthlings running away from a threat? They are one of the most characteristic aspects of Toriyama’s works, in which human characters, anthropomorphic animals, aliens, etc. are mixed. Given the game’s theme, it seems that Dimps missed a perfect opportunity to expand this universe.
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Mucho The Breakers, poco Dragon Ball
There are already many games of this type that we can find on the market. They’re fast, fun, and easy to understand, what makes Dragon Ball: The Breakers different? Well, unfortunately not much. Of course, the aesthetics of colors and animations make it more childish and approachable. It’s pretty cool and nice that not all games of this type are based on horror movie themes. In addition, there are many options that the survivors have to win the villain, in fact, the villain rarely won in the games we played.
For example, one of the alternatives in the fight with the villains is being able to turn us into a warrior of the saga and fight us with the villain. The reference is perfectly understood and appreciated, but the truth is that the combat system is enormously archaic. In his desire to simplify it and make it more accessible to all, evil will be or a warrior will be summed up in pressing the punch button without the possibility of aiming, confident of hitting the opponent. The game has a slight auto-targeting system for launching energy balls, but that doesn’t stop things from getting absolutely chaotic when multiple players join the fight.
The multiplayer experience
The game is completely focused on its online games, so paying for online gaming services is mandatory depending on the platform you are playing on. We played on a Play Station 4 Pro, which performs perfectly. Both textures and characters load perfectly and the frame refresh rate is completely smooth, giving a feeling of a stable 60 frames per second.
The game takes place in a room where we can choose different options, from visiting the shop or the hairdresser to get aesthetic elements for our character, as well as practice and training rooms that we strongly recommend that you do before starting, unfortunately The tutorial doesn’t even explain 50% of the possibilities that the game offers.
Game seek times rarely exceed two minutes of waiting time, so you rarely feel like you’re waiting more than you’re playing. The game offers three matchmaking methods: Survival mode, you want to be one more; the mixed mode, you don’t care what you get because you want to play and that’s it, and finally the villain mode, which is a bit more complex. As you can imagine, being a villain is inherently cool, so the game allows you to play it whenever you want, but it won’t be that easy. You can choose to be a villain on every game you start, but an artificial queue is set up in the lobby itself: every game you play and you’re not a villain, the game increases your chances of becoming a villain be. It is the most honest and legal system I have seen so far.
a missed opportunity
It’s the feeling that Dragon Ball: The Breakers leaves in your head. It’s a risky bet on the franchise’s part to release a game that isn’t based on the same thing as always, but then it begs the question of whether we really want something different. This type of asymmetric multiplayer is hugely addictive, and in the case of The Breakers, the sheer number of ways to defeat the villain makes it almost more entertaining to be just another survivor. Collect the Dragon Balls, collect the keys to activate the super time machine, drive the emergency time machine or, best of all, beat the villain together.
Dragon Ball: The Breakers hits hard and hits the mark, but I have a bittersweet feeling it could become a very lasting mark in later installments or with enough patches.
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