Dragon Ball FighterZ - Brief Review

If there's one thing that I enjoyed so much while I was growing up, it's the Dragon Ball. I read all its comic/manga, watched all its series and play almost all of its video games. Alongside other awesome anime and manga during my childhood, Dragon Ball became an entertainment that I cannot live without, literally. I would anticipate the anime to be aired in the television and make sure I finished everything I need to do before watching it. I would also cry and beg my parent to buy the manga every month without failed. During that time, all of my friends and every kids my age that I know were so into Dragon Ball. We often mimic the famous Kamehameha from it and imagined that we shoot a ball of fire like how it was pictured in the manga.

Last year, it was rumored that a new Dragon Ball fighting game will be out and I was so excited! It was finally released in January this year and I didn't wait long to buy it from Steam. I've been playing it for about a month now, on and off. I enjoyed every second of it. It bring back all the memories from my childhood. It's not only about the fun of playing the game but also the nostalgic feeling that I have while playing it.

Missed the Super Saiyan Goku? Go get this game. You can get it in Steam for PC and it's also available for PS4 and Xbox :)

If you've played Dragon Ball fighting game before, you will know what to expect but this time they have made the game wider. First off you will start at a lobby where you will find other players there. from that lobby you can do things like joining a match, go to shop, practice and checking the ranking. You can also jump to other lobby (probably other server) from the current one you are at. This game now is more online-centric and you need an internet connection to play it especially if you want to join the World Match, Arena Match or Ring Match.

There are more game modes to play instead of just the typical exhibition and battle modes, which is common in fighting game. In this Dragon Ball FighterZ there are seven modes you can play, Story Mode, Arena Match, World Match, Local Battle, Arcade, Ring Match and practice mode. I'll explain it briefly one by one below:

I. Story mode is typical in any fighting game to give the player a chance to play the game in single player. In this Dragon Ball FighterZ the story is very long. It was almost like watching a new Dragon Ball anime but you're actually in it. I mean you're literally inside the story lines because you will be possessing the characters that you choose, in my case, Goku. Along the way you will be transferred to possess other characters as well, mostly other fighters. You can watch my story mode first play video below where I played the first chapter of the story. The story might too draggy for some but as a fan, I enjoyed it so much. You can watch my play video of first chapter of the story below. It's more than 40 minutes in length so sit back, relax and watch it like you're watching a new episode of the Dragon Ball series and after that you can continue reading :D

Video: My first play video in Story Mode. I played the first part of the story, the Super Warrior Arc.

II. Arena match is where you fight against other player who are currently roaming the same lobby. The arena is in the middle of the lobby area and can be accessed by talking to a guy standing next to it. I haven't got much luck playing this mode and I only ever played it once because it's so hard to get other player to fight you. This mode is more of a casual fight.

III. World match is where you'll be competing other players from all over the world online. There two modes in world match, ranked match and casual match. If you're up to it you can choose ranked match and your fight result will affect your ranking. Casual match result won't affect your rank.

IV. Local battle is where you can play locally with your friends or other players. There are two mode in local battle, the normal versus mode where you can fight other player or CPU and tournament where you can have up to sixteen players competing. I've tried the tournament match and it's very hard to get others to play. If you have only three players in the tournament the CPU will fill the rest of the slot.

V. Arcade mode is where you will be playing through series of stages fighting the CPU with some kind of mini story attached to it. As you progressed the opponents will be getting stronger and stronger. If you lose it's game over.

Video: My first play video in arcade mode, playing the Snake Way Course.

VI. Ring match is where you can create a "room" for you and friend to play together. It's like creating a match in any online game where people can join in and play. The ring you set it to be public or private. If you set it to private you will have to set a password, this is good option if you just want to play with your friends. There are two modes you can choose on how the ring match will be, 1 on 1 or 3 on 3. If you choose 3 on 3 you also have the option to choose who's on each team and each player will control one character, much like a team tag battle. In one ring you can have up to 8 players.

VII. Practice mode is where you... well, practice. LOL! I suggest that you spend some times here first before you jump to more serious fights because you need to learn the moves and the key combinations on how to execute them. Unless you're a hustler like me then by all means go straight o local battle and play versus! You can watch my first play battles in the video at the end of this post where I went straight to it after finishing the tutorials.

Apart from those modes, you can also do and complete some quests. Most of the quest can be completed from the lobby and much like an extended tutorial for you. Completing the quest will give you a reward in terms of the in game currency which you can use to buy things called Z-capsule from the shop at the lobby.

Playing this game, you cannot just press any button you want, for some moves or special move you need to learn what button/keys to press to execute it, so my first tip is spend times practicing until you memorized the combinations. If you want to execute Kamehameha then you need to know what key/button combination to press for it. If you ever play any Dragon Ball fighting game before the key or button combination might not be same anymore. But the combination here in this game is pretty much the same for all characters, maybe only a few differences for some characters. So if you memorized all the combination sets, you're good to play any character you want.

One of Vegeta's special moves in this game.

Another tip is that, if you're playing this game on PC, play with controller. It will make your life easier than using keyboard. Like other fast pace, action packed fighting game, playing this game can be "harmful" to your keyboard because you will mashing those keys so hard. If you've played games like Tekken or KOF you'll know what I mean... LOL! So playing with controller is the best option as it also give you some advantages if you want to execute those combos as compared to keyboard.

If you intended to play a lot of online matches you need to have a very good, consistent and fast internet connection. What irked me a bit is when I'm in the middle of online match and suddenly the opponents connection disconnect or my connection is gone, it can be kind of frustrating in some ways.

Kamehameha battle, a common scene we always saw in Dragon Ball manga and series. It was the most intense moment in those but not in this game because it happen so fast!

Graphic wise, this game has a very good one. I'm impressed with it although it's not a 3D fighting game like Tekken. I read somewhere that this Dragon Ball FighterZ is actually a 2.5D fighting game. It make me frowned a bit but if that's what it is then I have no problem with it. 2.5D... pfftttt! so close to 3D that is... :D

The characters available in this game are those familiar faces from the manga and its tv series. If you watch and read those then you know who to expect. All of the character from DBZ are there plus some from other series as well. There are some variants and special character that you need to unlock or buy as DLC.

Familiar faces, isn't it? If you grew up watching or read Dragon Ball series you know all those characters in that picture.

I'm on a mission to unlock this SSGSS but not yet successful so far. It will be cool to unlocked those two special characters.

The versus mode of this game is generally in a 3 vs 3 format. You will choose and control three characters and you can switch them while in the fight anytime although there seems to be a cool down period between the switch. One thing that excite me is the feature where you can call your other character to help or assist you in the battle but it won't switch it. After landing a move or a combo, that character will be back in the queue. This feature is very helpful in a lot of ways. If you watch my first play video at the end of this post, you can see how the CPU use this feature efficiently beating me down.

3 versus 3 fighting format with assist feature.

All the stages in which you can have your fight at are also familiar to those who watch and read Dragon Ball series. Remember Planet Namek?

I love this game so much so far. My only complaint is that it is kind of difficult to get opponents in online match especially in the World Match mode, the waiting time can be very long. If you're tired of waiting and you play other mode, you will be taken off the queue and you will have to start over again. But it seems that it has been fixed now, hopefully it will not have any issues anymore. Even for the arena match, it also quite hard to find opponents but that's okay because it all depends on the other players at the same lobby.

All in all, this game is so fun to play despite some issues it has. If you growing up watching or reading Dragon Ball series or playing its game or simply just a fan, this game is for you. You should play it, I'm pretty sure some ways, some how it will bring back all those memories and nostalgia. You won't regret it, at least I know I didn't. I have many reasons to play this game but being a big fan of Dragon Ball is enough for me to get it and enjoy it. I'm pretty sure it will improve in some ways as it goes on because it has been so long we are waiting for it.

If you're beginner and just started to get to know Dragon Ball and interested to play this game, this game is also for you. As long as you have fun and enjoy it, just play it.

Video: My first play video. I jumped straight to the battle after completing the tutorial because I cannot contained my excitement! I was thinking of playing 5 rounds and winning best of 3 but.... LOL!

Goku approved! So, have fun and game on!