Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotgives gamers everywhere a chance to experience the world-famous saga of the Saiyan Goku (a.k.a. Kakarot) … for like the sixth time, now? There’s the original manga fromAkira Toriyamathat first arrived more than 35 years ago; then the fan-favorite anime adaptation that has seen its original release, a variety of Westernized dubs andcensorship oddities; a number of edits and re-releases to streamline storytelling and boost Bandai sales; and a ton of video game releases that have retold the world-famous story again and again in different ways. Somehow, the tale of Goku and his battle against invading Saiyans, evil emperors, and power-hungry villains remains timeless and endlessly enjoyable, as evidenced by just how much fun I’m having playing this latest release. (And yeah, I bought this one myself; no free review copy here.)
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotpresents that same story but tells it in a new way, allowing gamers to step into the martial arts-appropriate shoes of their favorite fighters to participate in the battles, friendships, and exploration of various worlds. It’stechnicallyan RPG, but it’s not super customizable; it’s basically a hand-holdy/guided RPG on rails that tells you which character you’re going to play (and, by extension, when you’re able to upgrade that character’s stats), where you’re going to go and when. Those restrictions are the downside that comes with following a preordained story that plays out episodically, broken up only by “Intermissions” that give you a little more freedom to play around, complete side quests, and pump up your stats. (Oh and you’re able to totally miss side quests because they’re time/episode-dependent, which sucks.) It’s a little frustrating that you can’t veer far from the narrow storyline, but the slight reward here is that you get a chance to visit places like Orange City, Goku’s home, Yamcha’s desert hideout, and Gohan’s high school. It’s not a fully immersive RPG experience, instead offering a slight nod of the head towardsDBZfans. (For what it’s worth, I’m having a blast revisiting the story, even though I’ve only got about 12 hours invested and am in the first half of the Frieza saga.)
Another aspect of the game that pulls back from the RPG tradition is the combat style; it’s closer to a fighting game (one of many in theDBZuniverse, either on PC/console or mobile), which makes sense considering developer CyberConnect2 made its bones making fighting games for theNarutofranchise. When the fighting isn’t a little frustrating (wandering camera angles that always seem to keep enemies off-screen, wonky flight controls, and janky combat mechanics that are more obtuse than necessary), it’s a pure adrenaline rush. Early fights are clearly for tutorial purposes, but boss fights force you to pay attention, strategize, and maybe even retry the battle a few times. (I may have had to fight Radditz like three times…) And as soon as you get the hang of fight mechanics in one episode, the next episode will quickly kick you in the teeth and strongly encourage you to change tactics; the sense of difficulty and progression here is palpable and it makes fighting fun, even as it increases in frequency.
If you find yourself getting manhandled (or … Saiyanhandled?) by even low-level enemies, verify you’ve been building up your skill tree and assigning both moves and knowledge traits. The game never mentions either of these necessary mechanics, even in the encyclopedic entries. In a world where video game manuals no long exist in the physical sense, gamers are increasingly reliant on dev reports, early reviewer write-ups, and scads of how-tos on blogs scattered across the web; it’s a messy system, but the info is out there.
Other early tips include:
Some other minor setbacks in this title include the occasional wonky bit of dialogue (though I did enjoy Krillin telling Bulma to go back to Earth twice in a row with two slightly different inflections), slight story changes (it’s no longer over 9,000), and some strange performance gremlins (every time there’s a lot of particulate matter–like big explosion or full-screen dust cloud… which happens alot–my PS4 Pro sounds like it’s about to take off). Despite these flaws,Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotis an absolute blast to play, a nostalgia-fueled action-RPG that is tailormade to theDBZfans out there.
I’ve listed just about everything that doesn’t quite work right in this game, but the more intangible parts ofDBZ:Kwork incredibly well. Revisiting the personal stories of Goku and Gohan (which feels like a rushed, sillier version of Kratos and “Boy”), the rivalries between Goku and …everyone, and the heroic sacrifices of the Z fighters was more emotional than I expected, especially when it came down to Piccolo and Gohan. (I’m happy to say that the early stages of this game focus more on the youngster than his dad, and as a longtime Gohan fan who feels like the character never lived up to his potential as the series went on, this was a nice touch.) It’s worth playing this game just for the little in-between moments: You find out what Chi-Chi is up to when she’s at home (which is more than just cooking for Goku and Gohan, thankfully), you’ll visit Capsule Corp in West City (where citizens offer hilarious commentary on all the destruction caused by Goku & Co.), and get to hunt as many dinos as you want. (Okay the cooking system is delightful, and a modern staple of Japanese anime games, but the “hunting” system is downright hilarious; you basically ki blast dinos and punch/catch other animals to get their meat, thankfully without skinning animations. Fishing is even sillier thanks to a prosthetic “fishing tail” for Goku and Gohan, developed by Bulma. Vegeta is stuck with a basic fishing pole.)
I don’t know how folks who aren’t familiar withDBZwill respond to this game, but I can’t imagine it has a lot of appeal for them above and beyond what other action-focused RPGs offer.Kakarotis a nostalgia play, through and though, and it excels at that. It’s absolutely gorgeous, arguably more dynamic and powerful in its epic moments than even gasp the anime itself. Sure, the pacing is quite a bit faster than the anime, so there’s not as much time in the build-up to those powerful and sometimes heart-breaking turns, butmando they pack a punch.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotmay not be the most technically refined or user-friendly, especially for newcomers to both the narrative and the playstyle, but it’s hands down my favorite franchise experience since the original anime. This one’s for the fans.
