My Impressions of Dragon Ball Sparking Zero: Exciting, But Still Some Unanswered Questions for Fans - GAMINGDEPUTY (2024)

Published on 06/13/2024 at 4:00 p.m.

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DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is the game Dragon Ball fans have been eagerly awaiting since the release of Budokai Tenkaichi 3 in 2007.. If other fighting game licenses branded DBZ wanted to take over like Raging Blast or Xenoverse, Budokai Tenkaichi is still considered today as one of the best adaptations of Akira Toriyama's universe in video games.

So when Bandai Namco formalized the return of the franchise with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, a Budokai Tenkaichi 4 that doesn't say its name, the hype couldn't be higher. After numerous trailers and the reveal of the game's release date, that's it, I finally got to play Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and I have a lot to tell you.

Gameplay that modernizes more than it revolutionizes

Let's start with the heart of the experience: the gameplay. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is a 3D fighting game in which you can freely move around the arena, which adds to the charm of the experience. As in most DBZ games of the genre, we find a melee combo, ki spheres which act as distance attacks, a guard button which allows you to teleport behind your opponent with the right timing… Controller in hand, fans of Akira Toriyama's universe will be right at home as Sparking Zero takes all the foundations of Budokai Tenkaichi. We spin around the four corners of the map, alternating between combos, dodges, energy discharges, special attacks…

Sparking Zero does not revolutionize the formula of Dragon Ball 3D fighting games, it takes what has been done to bring some subtleties. For example, certain special techniques consume ki gauge, others use points called Skill Points which are recovered throughout the match. Enough to avoid spamming the same attack over and over again. As for team combat, we can do 5 against 5, which promises really long clashes. Here are some new features that I was able to note, but since I was only able to play during a short session of 30 minutes, I was not able to take advantage of all the new subtleties of the combat system and we will have to wait for the release final to get everything right. But if these few changes are small, but nice, it is on another aspect than the gameplay that the title revolutionizes the formula of DBZ games.

Dragon Ball more beautiful than ever in video games

Where Sparking Zero does better than its predecessors is in the visual part. Each transformation, each technique has been the subject of particular care with animations that are directly inspired by anime and films. On this side, the fan service is there, and this is not the only time you will hear me say it. Just for the modeling of the characters, we feel that they have been the subject of very special care, which is all the more impressive when we know that there are more than 160 fighters at launch. In addition, we were assured that each form would be entitled to its own signature attacks, which promises great richness in the cast even if we find many variations of the same characters like Goku and Vegeta. We can't wait to find out, even if certain gray areas of the cast still remain to be clarified like knowing if characters from Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT or even the films will be there at launch or not. Currently, only Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and Dragon Ball Daima are confirmed as DLC.

Among the nice details, I noticed that the clothes get torn as the fight progresses, which adds a little touch of appreciable fan service. And since the game runs on Unreal Engine 5, the title offers effects in all directions and in an effective cel-shading style which makes the clashes ever more spectacular… not without fault. As usual in this type of experience, the fights can sometimes be messy due to dashing in all directions and the camera sometimes has difficulty following, or even gets stuck in certain places. But hey, there's no reason to deny our pleasure in a game where we find the possibility of transforming and even merging in the middle of combat if we have the correct characters.

Content under the sign of fan service

In addition to being able to play Sparking Zero, I was also treated to a very interesting presentation about the storyline part of the title. Concretely, what we could call a story mode corresponds to the Episode Mode which offers to explore new possibilities of the Dragon Ball universe, that is to say What If? scenarios, for eight characters who remain to be defined. Before a fight, we can decide to follow the manga and anime route or discover an alternative that never happened. For example in Goku's story, before going to confront Radditz, you can choose to leave with Piccolo, as in the original work, or to leave alone to find out what happened.

This desire to bring something never seen before to Dragon Ball goes even further since even by choosing the so-called canon path, you can be entitled to new events. To continue the example, if during the fight against Radditz we manage to defeat him before the timer, then we are entitled to a new sequence. Even better, certain cutscenes which feature cult moments from the original work can be viewed in first person! If you were wondering what Goku saw while holding Radditz back, you're in for a treat. On the other hand, visually, I wasn't really won over by certain cutscenes which offer frozen and rigid animations which contrast with the care taken in combat. If we understand that cuts had to be made because the game covers the beginning of Dragon Ball Z until Dragon Ball Super, that's still a bit of a shame.

In addition to this Episode Mode, Sparking Zero offers Custom Battles. As its name suggests, these are battles personalized by the developers… but also by the players. Thanks to this game mode, it is possible to choose effects so that they intervene according to certain conditions, but that's not all. This tool allows you to create your own cutscenes before the fight, and even create title cards like we find in the anime! Obviously, all of this can then be shared online, which promises a lot of replayability to the experience.