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Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Review for Xbox 360

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Review for Xbox 360

Another Dragon Ball Z Disappointment

For years I have waited for a Dragon Ball Z game that could capture the essence of the series. A game that could bottle the sheer power, grit and fighting that spans several planets, dimensions, and times; a worthy game for a great anime series beloved the world over. Sadly, it looks like I’m going to have to keep waiting, because Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is not that game.

Not that I expected it to be, as I have a lot of experience getting let down by DBZ games. The only ones to ever emerge that were worth more than the disc they were printed on were the Budokai games and maybe a couple of the older GameBoy Advance titles (like the Legacy of Goku series) that functioned kind of like a top-down RPG’s. I mean, is this not clear to everyone in the gaming industry? Namco Bandai has an amazingly popular franchise with Dragon Ball Z , full of rich characters and storylines that could go on for an entire game series if done properly. But, for whatever reason, nobody has been able to nail the formula for the definitive DBZ game.

Battle of Z is no exception to the rule either. It is bland, boring and relatively poorly executed.

Prior to playing the game, I had a semi-optimistic outlook on it. I had heard that this game actually included story, had tons of characters, open-area fighting, and used cards like those from the CCG (Collectible Card Game.) Sounds pretty good right? Well, let’s start with story.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Screenshot

The story of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is only a story in the academic sense. There are things that happen, people speak words, ya’know that sort of thing. But it’s about as interesting as staring at the sun for long periods of time, and almost as painful. Yes, Battle of Z does follow the story of the series, but following the story in this game is little more than a string of fights and boss battles that largely play out the exact same way every time. If variety is the spice of life, then Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z died in production.

The saddest part about this game is that it could have been good. If only it were more than selecting a few characters to go into pre-determined missions, on maps that look almost identical, for hours on end. Give us an open-world Dragon Ball Z experience please! Let me fly around as Goku trying to find all seven Dragon Balls; now that would be a game! But I digress.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Screenshot

There are several game mechanics that could have lent a helping hand to the waning game, if only they were utilized properly. Most notably the team focus that’s woven into the game. On each outing, you will be able to select other Z fighters to aid in your battles. You can select up to 4 characters to face any mission, and while the extra firepower is welcome in some cases, in most it is wholly unnecessary. Most times, your cohorts will basically act as meat-shields or medics, healing you and taking damage so you don’t have to. Sometimes they will send some energy your way so you can use better attacks, but never when you want them to and certainly not when you need it. Instead you will be cursed to use the same basic ranged Ki attacks until you recharge your energy meter enough to do some more damage. You can change the attack posture of your fellow fighters from aggressive to defensive and such, but I saw little difference in how they operated, so I never really found it necessary.

The card system that comes from the games CCG origins was a welcome addition, for about an hour. After fiddling with cards endlessly after each mission, switching them from character to character and trying to make sure the best cards were equipped, I just got tired of it. Not to mention to get cards that were even the slightest bit decent you had to spend Premium Points, which could only be earned by delivering Energy Requests after missions. Though the amount of PP you get from Energy Requests does go up with time, it is still a long road to get any of the really primo cards. Of course, these are cards that would’ve probably been banned from decks in the CCG world, but we aren’t playing a CCG are we? Are we?

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z Screenshot

Visually, Dragon Ball Z games haven’t really evolved much in recent years. While the environment has become a little more crisp and clean, the character models look pretty much like they did back in the PS2 days – rigid corners, with thick black lines for edges and little detail to speak of. Of course they look better than they did in the PS2/Xbox days, but not by much. Many would attribute this to the “cell-shaded” style of the game, but I would attribute it to an apparent lack of caring about the future of the franchise. Progress is necessary. Though the visuals are wearing thin, I will say that the character models function well and control inputs directed my Saiyan (or Namekian, if you prefer) around the open arena as I saw fit, but at the sacrifice of odd camera angles.

One thing that Battle of Z does right, as many other DBZ games before it have, is having the actual voice cast from the show doing the voice-acting. Without this the game would have felt completely generic, so I was truly glad to hear my favorite characters as I knew them. But that’s about where the success of the soundscape ends. While sound effects and score are done fairly well, they are extremely repetitive and become annoying quickly, which detract from their quality.

Overall, did I enjoy Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z ? Yes, I did. I know it might not have sounded like it, but I am an old-school fan and I’ll never pass up a chance to kick Frieza’s ass, no matter what form he’s in. Some fans will be disappointed, as I was, but will deal with it because they want to play a game in the DBZ universe. Some fans will love it, simply because of the tons of characters available to play. But anyone who isn’t a Dragon Ball Z fan already won’t be made a fan by playing this game. If anything, it will turn them against DBZ , which is a very sad thing. One day, someone will make the DBZ game we all want. Who knows? Maybe it’s you.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
Visuals look good and function well, but look the same as they have for several games in the franchise. 3.0 Control
Control scheme lacks any variety. Repetitive and largely boring. 3.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Voice acting is familiar from the series, but a repetitive score and stock sounds give little help to the tired soundscape. 2.0 Play Value
Playing as your favorite Saiyan is always a little fun, but it wears off quickly. You can play through several storylines from the show, but they are little more than a string of fights. All-in-all, pretty boring. 2.5 Overall Rating – Average
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

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