It is not the first time that RPG components conquer the brand of Dragon Ball Z, bringing customizations of all kinds among a multitude of characters, techniques and scenarios. Xenoverse has cleared this idea and it is now almost the norm to have your own original character (or one of the existing ones) customized with the right techniques, clothes and skills. We can't even talk so much about the "next level" of fan service as now every Dragon Ball fighting game has so many of those easter eggs that you can dedicate pages and pages to us. But then, what we have before us is yet another reuse of a brand that is now impressed on fans of the genre? Obviously not.
The right sequence
If until now the story of Dragon Ball Z has been taken for granted (in many of the brand's fighting games we find certain fights replicated without the right introduction), Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot takes the trouble to tell everything as it once was: this means that the game, despite being designed for fans of the series, can represent a reinterpretation of the narrative plot ranging from the Saiyan saga to that of Majin Buu with a different media. Already this, in itself, is a point in favor of the game, no longer relegated to the "niche" of belonging but appreciated by all. Obviously, old fans are not to be forgotten and this is there CyberConnect2 he knows it well.
In fact, in the game, from the initial titles to the various inter-phases, cutscenes complete with original voice actor and music, will introduce you to the plot of the game as it happened at the time with the anime: if this is not enough, you will also all the dialogues meticulously recreated (and sometimes improved in terms of comprehensibility). Precisely this desire to tell something already seen (dozens of times) this time as a video game already makes the title a must for those who love this type of content: let's talk about hours and hours of stories that, if on the one hand they will be able to leverage on the nostalgia of old fans, on the other they open the doors to the new public without barriers of any kind (they had already tried with Dragon Ball Kai).
For the rest, the title has a technical refinement unparalleled: the graphics perfectly replicate the style of the original, and the details can be seen from the different evolutions in the style of the characters (which however will change over the course of the various sagas) and from the facial expressions in the dialogues (no longer firm but dynamic based on to the words said).
Violent punches
The gameplay of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot It is divided into three major macro-areas: we have the phases of fighting, those of scouting (with side missions) and the system RPG. The beating heart of everything is the blows: actually in a game of fighting warriors, we can expect nothing but many punches, kicks and blows of the soul. The system replicates some of the dynamics of Xenoverse by reducing special shots to skills to be activated with a button, while for the rest combos remain very basic and the possibility of varying the strokes is reduced to a handful.
Obviously all this takes a back seat when in some boss fights we can see scenes recreated as in the original, or of the phases in which the fight turns into a kind of minigame where we will have to dodge the opponent's special attack. The game system then implements menus that allow you to choose skills, transformations e objects, as well as help through support attacks of one or two allies (who will be present in the fight, leading to basic attacks). During the game you can use various characters (almost always obliged by the story itself): Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta and Future Trunks. Each of them will have skills that you can enhance thanks to a tree-based skill management (upgradeable with an in-game currency divided by color) and with specific training (by spending the Medal D item).
As for the exploration system of the game, between one mission and another we will have to move (by flying or by means) between the various areas of the map: they replicate a sort of open-world, however portioning the various areas with a general map, easy to use but which takes away a little from the magic of being able to go "where you want". Wandering around you can find, in addition to the main missions, also secondary missions: they will be more abundant during the interphase, game moments that elapse between one saga and another. Reduced to simple fetch quests that are sometimes not very fun and uncomfortable to complete, they will give you useful upgrades in the RPG soul of the game. Unfortunately, perhaps a more in-depth approach to this part of the game would have given a better result.
The last part, not least, concerns the Customization: in the game we will be able to use various objects to improve the statistics of our characters. First of all, food will be very important for temporary (and not) upgrades, while some consumables will be useful during fights. The objects that you will find between missions and completion of narrative arcs will instead be used on the various characters within the communities: this system, divided into 7 parameters, will allow you to combine the Emblems of the Soul so as to receive bonuses and upgrades. These seven communities will be Warriors Z, Kitchen, Training, Creation, Divine, Adults e Exploration. Obviously each emblem (basically the Dragon Ball characters you encounter in the game) will have better and worse values, and the combination of these will not only give you improvements, but will allow you to recreate some bonus set thanks to combinations of characters (for example, putting Goku and Gohan close together will give you the +2 bonus linked to the “Father-Son Team”).
A new way
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is the game of the saga that was missing: the way in which he approaches the various adventures of the Z Warriors proves to be fresh and new although everything is always reduced to the dynamics of fighting games. The RPG component becomes vital to be able to advance in the game, and exploration - despite some really poor side quests - remains fun and will be fantastic for those who as a child dreamed of those worlds made of colors and fights. The real strength of the title, however, lies in the infinite way of approach now available: the title in fact presents new characters, some alternative stories and unpublished insights (such as the one between Gohan and C16) that therefore bring something new into the saga. It has been ascertained that there will also be some DLC related to the plot (written by Toriyama and unpublished), now the possibilities do not stop only at Dragon Ball Z, but open the doors to a deepening of the story of Goku as a child, the plot of the much mistreated GT and even the discovery of Dragon Ball Super.
