The year is young, but Dragon Ball FighterZ makes an explosive case for becoming the year’s best fighting title, as well as one of the best Dragon Ball licensed video games ever made. That’s saying a lot for an anime with dozens of terrific entries that vary in style, form, and substance, and FighterZ manages to outshine just about all of them in quite a few ways.
The fighting mechanics of FighterZ are familiar, but still fresh thanks to gorgeous Unreal Engine graphics and a few other surprises. Light, medium, and heavy attacks have their own respective buttons, which opens up your strategy to a wide array of combos, but FighterZ‘s most obvious flourish is probably its 3v3 tag-team mechanic, an obvious nod to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It’s as thrilling to discover new tag combos as it is to watch them unfold onscreen, and the game manages to be challenging enough for you to rely heavily on a balanced toolbox of moves and rotating roster of characters.
On the surface, FighterZ isn’t as comprehensive as some of the Budokai games, notably the third one. You’re limited to a smaller number of characters just peeking into the larger Dragon Ball universe, but the game manages to hone in on the personalities you probably care most about: Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, Buu, and so on (though Adult Gohan is my personal avatar for all things Dragon Ball, and he’s graciously here as well).
But for where it counts the most, FighterZ delivers and usually tops expectations. The story mode has appealing RPG elements, giving players the freedom to level up their characters and approach different battle scenarios with appropriate tactics. And you’re not limited to playing as the heroes, thankfully. I found myself far more engaged with the plight of Cell and Frieza, weirdly enough, and there are at least a dozen hours of story to get through before you’ve made it close to the finish line.
Truth is, FighterZ caters most to the hardcore fans, and it shows. There’s a deep learning curve for wriggling yourself out of huge combo chains that can wreck a player in a matter of seconds, while casual players can rely on auto combos and “Vanish Attacks” while still getting the hang of defense. One of my favorite aspects of the game is actually how they teach you important strategies and basic controls as you play, rather than through bogged down tutorials. While powering through the story, I was often reminded of general gameplay tips through non-intrusive “help” displays. This really helped me step my game up and try new, cleverer fighting combinations and perfect my dramatic finishes, which are some of the most satisfying experiences you can bring about in the entire game.
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At its core, Dragon Ball FighterZ represents most things I love about the various Dragon Ball sagas. It’s colorful, vivacious, and endearingly complex, and because no two battles are truly alike, you can find yourself pulled into a never-ending cycle of pulp action that leaves you wanting more in the best way possible.
Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
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Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One (Reviewed), Microsoft Windows
Release Date: January 26, 2018
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