Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – Review

Over the years there have been more Dragon Ball Z games than one could keep track of. While most of these games usually get a decent reception, they tend to follow the same formula, over and over again, making them a bit bland for those who aren’t hardcore fans of the series. The games usually revolved around you plowing your way through one, or several, story arcs of the anime series and duke it out with friends if you were sick of the former. Last year however, we saw the release of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, which was pretty much an MMO version of the Dragon Ball Z games, and now, here we are for the second installment. After the great first part of this new series, we were hoping this one would turn out just as great.

Story

The offset of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is actually quite simple. Once again you’ll be able to wade through many of the events of the Dragon Ball Z series, albeit in a different format. This time the very essence of time is under attack, and you, as a time patroller, will have to make sure that no alterations are happening to the timeline as we know it. This means that you’ll be dropped in many different famous scenes from the Dragon Ball Z series, simply to help Goku and his friends to keep their ‘tales’ intact. More than often a grand battle is being foiled by someone who isn’t supposed to be there, thus you will have to fend off these stowaways or pitch in to overcome a foe that suddenly behaves differently. Overall things remain fairly simple, but the ‘time cop’ formula makes for a fresh breeze of air through the Dragon Ball Z landscape.

Graphics

While the game looks quite spiffy, the quality tends to swing both ways at times. The characters all have their typical cel shaded appearance, making them a 3D version of their anime/manga counterparts, thus there lies no issue with their appearance. It’s mainly the sceneries and the overworld that are sometimes a mixed batch of items, that are either very nicely made, or simply bland and dated. You’ll notice that in many areas there are hardly any details or extra clutter to make said environment feel alive. More than once, your opponent will see limbs go through obstacles and so on. Nonetheless, even with the many unique characters in this game, this title stays true to the source material.

Sound

As is common with the Dragon Ball Z series, the voice acting is properly taken care of, be it in English or Japanese. Even the dialogues are altered depending on who you choose to back you up in certain missions, which shows that the creators handled this part of the game with care. Nonetheless, the overworld does lack a certain amount of voice acting when talking to one of the characters you come across. Voice acting aside, the music does pack a certain punch as well, ranging from the very cheery tune you’ll hear on loop in the hub, to the more action packed rock-ish melodies when beating your foes to a colorful pulp. Nonetheless, the music is very varied, as you’ll also be treated to certain electro songs which might feel out of place first, but will soon grow on you.

Gameplay

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 still follows the formula of many of the other fighting titles in the genre, albeit with more RPG elements and a heavy focus on the MMO portion of the game. Unlike the other games where you’re often forced to choose a specific character, to stay in sync with the story that is being laid out for you, you’ll get to create your own unique warrior(s) in Xenoverse 2. From here on out, you’ll be going from one training session to another, to extra missions and of course, righting the wrongs that are pestering the timeline.

Simply put, you’ll be running around the overworld a lot, in search of training matches, checking out the extra missions in the ‘shop’ region and going to the ‘Time Nest’ to complete story quests. All of these missions will reward you with money, experience, items and even skills. Money will be used in a straightforward fashion, namely to buy items and skills. Experience will allow you to level up, and in turn it will reward you with stat points, which you can distribute in order to shape your warrior to your playstyle. If you like wearing out the enemy from a distance, you can invest in Ki, if you’re a fighter who likes to fight up close and personal, your basic attack stats might be a better choice. Basic stats such as health and stamina can also be an important choice if you tend to bite the dust more than often. Last but not least, the items in Dragon Ball Z Xenoverse 2 consist out of consumables or actual wearable items which will alter your appearance, but also boost your stats (and sometimes reduce other stats in the process). You’ll find ample clothing choices, making sure it will take you a lot of time before you collect a lot of different sets.

The controls are fairly intuitive, but it will certainly take you a while to properly get the hang of toggling between targets and remembering many different combos you can perform. The latter might prove the most difficult challenge the game gives you, as this is a game that, if you take a break from it, you’ll have a hard time remembering all the shortcuts on your controller. More than often you’ll have to press different buttons at once, to unlock new command menus, in order to perform more powerful attacks, use your scouter to take a closer look at your environment or simply to use items. That being said, the button bash approach will still get you rather far, or at least far enough to properly get the hang of the other commands. Overall the difficulty is manageable, but sometimes it tends to go up with leaps and bounds, making it a tad difficult for very casual players.

Missions mostly consist out of you bashing the skulls of your opponents, be it in the story missions, or the extra missions and training you can take part of. Those who don’t like the online portion of the game will rejoice when hearing that the game can be played offline rather perfectly, but you’ll have to keep in mind that your AI allies will not always help you out as much as you’d like. If you truly want to add an extra layer of fun to the game, it’s probably best to try out the game online, with or without friends, in order to overcome even trickier obstacles if you are blessed with proper team members.

There’s one big issue that hampers the overall fun experience of Xenoverse 2 and that’s the loading times. You’ll find yourselves looking at the loading screen a lot more than you’d like, taking back a lot of the initial rapid action fun. More than often the game will load for a ridiculously long time to present you with a few lines of dialogue, forcing you to watch the following, long, loading screen. In some ways it feels like a lot of these waiting times could have been reduced or at least performed during the earlier mentioned dialogues.

Conclusion

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is a proper continuation of the first installment and will offer you ample content in the form of online battles, extra missions, training and of course the many items you can collect. You’ll be able to create your own batch of legendary Dragon Ball warriors, allowing you to be in control of a Dragon Ball Z game, instead of arbitrarily being forced into a role to replay the same story over and over again. If you love the Dragon Ball Z games but have been yearning for some freedom, this title is certainly worth picking up.

ThaMofo

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