For an entire generation, the Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy was the culmination of Akira Toriyama’s work in video games. Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero picks up that baton and updates it for long-time fans and new ones, putting one foot in the power of the Unreal Engine and the other in combining classic series and movies with the most recent ones. We know in advance that their fights will be amazing. Now we are also clear about how their battles and their replayability are going to be planned. And yes, from the outset I already confirm that split screen multiplayer is back, although there is a trick to it.
First things first, and this is essential: the next video game of Son Goku and his friends covers the entire anime from the beginning of the Saiyan saga of Dragon Ball Z to the apotheotic Tournament of Power of Dragon Ball Super and a little further: we will take the same battle that faced Broly and Gogeta in the movie theaters. Consequently, the character selection panel skyrockets over 160 powerful heroes, big villains, and whatever Mr. Satan is. Do you need a plot? Definitely yes. But you won’t have to stick to it to have a blast.
Three confirmed modes, endless excuses to fight
All Dragon Ball games are and should be synonymous with making tons of characters and transformations collide on the screen. Fights like Goku transformed into Super Saiyan against Frieza or the colossal clash of Kamehamehas between Gohan and Cell are more than guaranteed in this new title, but what would happen if that same bioandroid faced a God of Destruction? The good news is that Beerus will debut in the saga Budokai Tenkaichi and at Bandai Namco they know very well how to create interesting possibilities.
One of the most powerful experiences of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero are the Custom combats. To begin with, because it is from there that the options skyrocket when it comes to posing impossible battles and even imagining our fantasy combats. Not like in other fighting games, bringing characters together in any way, but aiming to replicate the exciting and great scenes that we saw on the small and big screen.
For fans of the saga and fighting games, the idea of Custom Battles It more or less explains itself, however there is an extra double distinction within this type of experience to take into account:
- On the one hand additional fights They give extra variety and content to the game by promoting confrontations in which the victory conditions will change. The most fun? Depending on who is fighting, we will be shown special cinematic scenes.
- Logically, the fantasy of the players when it comes to imagining unique battles is unlimited and for this it is Edit mode, which allows us to face the characters we want in the conditions that we like the most and, already, give color to the matter by choosing cinematics and visual and editing effects. And if the result is really fun or powerful, we can share it.
And what happens if what we simply want is to relive or discover through Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero the same story from the television series? Something like a playable super-marathon. That’s where The Episode Combat comes in.
Beyond the anime and Dragon Ball movies
The equivalent of the traditional single-player story mode of classic video games Dragon Ball could not be missed Sparking! Zero: Through Episode Combat we will experience all the anime sagas through the point of view of eight protagonists. As expected, Son Goku will have more episodes than Vegeta, but the interesting thing is that in addition to interweaving combats with cinematics, parallel stories are added. Something like the What If…? by Marvel.
Before you worry about the result you will be glad to know that you are the one who chooses whether to follow the original events or alternate the story. Sometimes through specific choices, we can choose to fight on our own or with different allies in key battles, but also giving rise to completely unexpected situations: as shown in specific conditions, Goku could transform into a Super Saiyan during his first fight. against Vegeta on Earth.
The way to access the story is pure nostalgia: in addition to the cinematics, we will jump between events and situations across a board. All in all, the way to resolve things as far as we have seen is always in the Saiyan style: knocking down the rival using energetic combos, explosions and energy cannon shots just as we have seen on television. That said, to the action of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero New perspectives have been added in more ways than one.
During the single player mode we will see the most iconic scenes from the point of view of the protagonists in the literal sense, so that the camera will be in the eyes of Son Goku and company in key moments such as the climax of the battle against Raditz or when saying goodbye to Gohan and his friends during the final stages of the Cell Game.
A substantial element of the experience, as we already saw, is how the Unreal Engine gives more emotion to the battles, the rhythm of the combats and, in the process, allows us to devastate scenarios or enables changes in the atmosphere and weather. With everything, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero It will not be a single player game. And that is precisely where Bandai Namco ran into the first barrier.
Split screen returns to Dragon Ball… but only in one scenario
We have one of lime and another of sand: if you have two controllers and a friend you can recover the couch battles of the classic Dragon Ball games. Those in which you could move so far away from the opponent that the screen fragmented in two. We experienced it with the Super Butoden saga, it was present since the Budokais and we will see it again in Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero. However, although we can choose between all the characters, we can only fight in one scenario: Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The explanation given by Bandai Namco is summarized in that by dividing the screen in multiplayer, a lot of game elements had to be sacrificed, including the time changes produced by the Ki charge, or the destruction of rocks and buildings. So the solution is to move the action to that mysterious completely empty place, isolated from time and the rest of the planet and located in the
“With all of the above in mind, it wasn’t easy to implement local split-screen multiplayer while retaining all those essential elements, so we developed the game with online multiplayer and offline single-player in mind. However, our goal “It has always been about trying to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy the game in different situations.”
After much thought, we have decided to implement split-screen multiplayer exclusively in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber scenario.”
In any case, Bandai Namco has not put all its cards on the table and still has a key issue to address: the online multiplayer experience. The good and the not so good is that he has time ahead of him to talk about her.
Release date and editions Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero
Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero It will go on sale next October 11, 2024 on PS5, Xbox Series X /S and PC through Steam. A very appropriate date given that it will be on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the first chapter of the manga Dragon Ball and, hopefully, coinciding with the premiere of the Dragon Ball Daima anime. What’s more, we will see characters from this new television series in the game after launch.
Following tradition, Bandai Namco announced several editions of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero. In addition to the standard ones, with pre-order bonuses that anticipate the arrival of a new character and early access to six fighters (Gogeta, Vegetto and Broly in different transformations), the Deluxe, Definitive and collector’s editions offer a Season Pass that will feature three lots that in total add up to more than 20 additional fighters, including the characters from the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and the aforementioned Dragon Ball Daima.
Very special mention to the collector’s edition, valued at 199.99 dollars, and which adds a spectacular diorama that pits Broly at 100% power against Son Goku Ultra Instinct. The two most powerful saiyans to date and, in addition, two new transformations to the already colossal repertoire of the saga Budokai Tenkaichi.
The definitive Dragon Ball video game? What is already clear to us is that Son Goku fans are going to have the greatest number and variety of characters and, in addition, the greatest capacity for destruction of the entire saga in terms of attacks and scenarios (except when playing on split screen ) with which it already has enormous advantages. However, it is always a joy to say that the bar is very high. Something that has never been an obstacle for Son Goku to surpass himself on consoles and PCs.
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