Dragon Ball Z Kakarot review.
PS4 / ONE / PC
New year and new Dragon Ball Z video game, and this time it is not a fighting game in the sense that it qualifies as Action / RPG with all the necessary panoply therefore for this kind of game (even if the RPG side is not very represented).
This game offers to play the entire Dragon Ball Z series with several characters, with an RPG aspect, dynamic battles, original anime music and a good dose of fan service.
This title therefore has everything to please on paper, and this is precisely what we will check.
Strong points :
-The whole of DBZ to relive.
-Exceptional original music.
-The staging which is sometimes extremely faithful to the anime.
-Possibility to play several characters during the adventure.
-Very good life (30 hours to complete the adventure).
-Vast areas to visit which contributes to immersion …
-Encyclopedia Z and community space.
Weak points :
-… but which are quite empty.
-Censorship on certain scenes.
-Lack of emotion on certain important passages.
– Average graphics but far from being ugly.
-The RPG aspect too limited.
-Loading.
– Bad side quests.
Complete review Dragon Ball Z Kakarot.
While FighterZ came to show us that a good Dragon Ball game could be released, here is a new game based on the license of the famous manga of Toriyama.
Except that it differs from its predecessor by its gameplay, because yes Kakarot is a Dragon Ball game like A-RPG, and not just versus fighting.
And therefore, you will find all the arcs (Dragon Ball Z), from the coming of sayens to Buu.
Manga fans will be thrilled to be able to relive history and roam this vast, semi-open world.
A game faithful to the manga.
As said above, the universe is very faithfully transcribed, so you will find the famous NPCs from Dragon Ball through side quests or simply walking around.
But also cinematics which will accompany the story and which are of truly impeccable quality and fidelity.
And to finish the original music of the anime, to finish off the fans.
By cons big black spot in the game, which despite his loyalty to the anime, is sometimes censored certain scenes in the anime.
About the world, he too is extremely loyal to the anime, with its cities, plains and other mountains that make up this universe.
The achievement of the title may seem weak considering the consoles and PC capacities, but it is faithful to that of Toriyama, and you will have the impression of traveling in the Dragon Ball world, which makes a huge effect for all the fans from the Serie.
A slightly weak RPG side.
Who says RPG, also says side quests, and you’re going to eat it.
Suffice to say from the start, most of these are zero and uninteresting.
Indeed, except for a few quests, most of it are limited to FedEx quests, bringing an item, picking up a fruit, etc.
It is clearly not this part of the game that will make you love the game, even if thanks to these you can meet NPCs, or even unlock some interesting dialogues on certain characters of the universe.
You can also cook dishes to increase your stats before a fight temporarily or even permanently depending on the case.
Leveling up is a significant minimum, and therefore leveling will be a bit necessary otherwise you risk getting knocked down quickly, even against random enemies.
Your stats will increase along with your levels without you being able to choose the distribution on a particular stat.
There is also a spherier system that allows you to unlock skills using points.
This system works well, and will evolve your characters according to your desire to learn this or that ability.
Be aware that you would only control one character at a time.
This means that depending on the time of the adventure, you would control Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, etc.
Besides the spherier, there is also a community space, a kind of small checkerboard where you will have to place the badges of the Dragon Ball characters obtained, according to their relationships and their specificities.
There are several categories such as combat, cooking, etc., and each badge placed in one of these categories, if it is properly positioned, can earn you more or less significant passive bonuses.
This plus the huge Z encyclopedia, and you have an idea of how long it will take if you want to complete the encyclopedia and have all the badges in the game.
A simple but effective combat system.
The combat system by far resembles that of Xenoverse, that is to say a combat zone where you can move freely, by throwing balls, dodging your opponent’s attacks or being able to make big kaméhaméha.
The system is very dynamic with very beautiful light effects, which gives enjoyable games.
Chaining hand-to-hand attacks, teleports, boules etc … really gives a feeling of power, even if after a few hours of play there is a certain routine that sets in.
Sometimes in some combat, you will be accompanied by one or more support characters, so it will be necessary to take care not to forget to increase the level of these and assign them techniques to be able to use them in combat.
This part of the gameplay is therefore, even if it is quite simplistic and not very subtle, very pleasant to play and provides good sensations as it transcribes the anime’s battles.
Conclusion.
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is a game with a lot of good things.
Playing the whole DBZ saga transcribed fairly faithfully, even if some passages are not present gives the title a huge interest, especially since the anime’s musics that we all love are also present.
And even if traveling around the Dragon Ball Z world gives a good feeling, it must still be admitted that the graphic quality is average, partly because of certain slobbering textures or lack of detail.
The universe is empty and does not seek to give players the urge to explore to try to find a quest, treasure or other bonus that could have made discovering the world more enjoyable.
The side quests are numerous but few of them are interesting, which is also a shame because by offering a semi-open world, there was something with all the characters to do some much more fun quests.
The RPG part is also quite limited, by proposing for example just to cook dishes to increase your stats, to play with the badge system which is a good idea, or to customize your attacks…
And yet with all this, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is not a bad game, because it transports us into its universe despite its faults and thanks to its qualities.
If you hang on to the title, you will spend many hours before seeing the end, because it has a good lifespan, count around 30 hours to complete the adventure with a few side quests, etc.
For the 100%, it will be more, but you will have to love the redundant quests.
In the end, and with the faults of the game, I had a lot of fun redoing the whole history of DBZ, this game could have been much better, but a DBZ Action / RPG is really rare, and fans of the series will know how to forgive him for his wanderings.
If you know what you’re going to buy, and if you’re a fan, I think you’ll have a good time.
