Dragon Ball is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Unfortunately, this important celebration will take place without its original creator, Akira Toriyama, who died in March 2024. To honor this legendary license, several projects must be released this year like the new Daima series and, after 17 years of wait, Budokai Tenkaichi 4 aka Sparking Zero. An announcement that shocked the community. Will this highly anticipated return disappoint or fully satisfy fans? We played it and here are our first impressions.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is still one of the best games ever released, and that won’t change. Even with its flaws, particularly in terms of single player, the title is a reference from a visual point of view, the universe and the gameplay. It is, however, a demanding fighting game that, if you don’t give it the time it needs, can be off-putting. But rest assured its antithesis, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, arrives on October 11, 2024 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
A faithful and unique single player campaign at the same time
That will have taken a long, long time, but Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is well on its way to giving fans what they’ve been waiting for for almost twenty years. Before sharing our impressions of the Summer Game Fest 2024 demo, we have some valuable information on the game’s features. To avoid prolonging the suspense for too long, no, it was not an error, we have been confirmed 2-player local mode. It will be accessible upon release and very early in the game by going to the Room of Spirit and Time. No need to pay for DLC or wait several months after launch. Seventeen years after Budokai Tenkaichi 3, we will finally be able to compete against friends and see who is still the best. On the other hand, we cannot tell you more, because it was not available during our gaming session.
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero also benefits from a single player mode for “relive your favorite moments from the series” through eight points of view. With Goku, we will have access to the battles of DBZ, from the beginning, to those of Dragon Ball Super. These “Episode Battles” therefore retrace the biggest clashes and scenes from the anime or manga, such as the sequence at Kame House where Raditz, Goku’s brother, kidnaps young Gohan. The staging is good, the rendering is impeccable and up to par with all the videos, but the game actually seems to be well censored. We will have to see with the final version, but the summary from the classification body ESRB already announced the color, and it is very disappointing. We still waited for the moment when Piccolo kills the two saiyans with his Makankô Sappô to be sure, but we were deprived of this cult passage in order to show one of the new features of this episode: the change of perspective. For more immersion, you can now switch to first-person view when Goku holds Raditz so Piccolo launches his attack. On the one hand, it’s really well done, and on the other, it takes away from the point of this scene. But it’s optional, so no one dies.
This campaign with the events of Dragon Ball Z, and even beyond, is not entirely fixed, and we can decide how it unfolds with the principle of “What if?” “. For example, for this kidnapping sequence, you can refuse Piccolo’s help and it will be Krillin who will fly alongside you to Raditz. What does it change ? In this second scenario, Kamé Sennin also intervenes at the end of the fight to gain time and let Piccolo perform his Makankô Sappô, which no longer pierces Goku. During the Summer Game Fest 2024 trailer, we also notice that Trunks and Vegeta can unite for a father-son Final Flash against Cell. Single-player battles can also have conditions that change everything. For the duel against Raditz, we can either play for time until Piccolo intervenes, or beat him ourselves. During certain episodes, one is also allowed to take possession of another character during a duel.
Personalized battles
This à la carte experience is not just limited to “What if?” » since Dragon Ball Sparking Zero has “Custom battles”. Thanks to this mode, it is possible to make your own fights, including intro and outro, and share them online. The cutscenes are fully configurable with a selection of dialogues to display at the start, the choice in the placement of the camera and its movement (slowmotion settings for example), sequences can be triggered under certain conditions – such as when a character is defeated with a specific attack -, and obviously, the decision of the environment (Namek, City, the Cell Game ring…) is up to you. We’re curious to try this mode for ourselves to really gauge interest, because it seems promising.
After this presentation, we had the right to touch Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, and all our good impressions of the trailers were confirmed. It’s going to be tough for all fans of the license and Budokai Tenkaichi. We really find this old-fashioned feeling, but brought up to date with graphics that beat the majority of the time. We can find fault with the textures of the scenery, but the spectacle is assured and we only really pay attention to it during the cutscenes. It moves quickly and the camera surprisingly doesn’t stall that often. Getting started is immediate with the choice of a new key configuration or that of previous games, but be careful. Just because it’s significantly easier to play than FighterZ doesn’t mean you’ll be able to indulge in pressing all the buttons. As in the other episodes, you will have to somewhat master all the mechanics, starting with movement, including teleportation which is activated by pressing two buttons.
But we’re in a Dragon Ball game, so any major movement requires a sufficient dose of Ki. It is through this that you will be able to launch big attacks like the Kamehameha. There is also a skill meter which determines the number of abilities that can be used to blind your rival, such as the Solar Flare, or provide a buff to one of your characters. Sparking mode, which is linked to this and to Ki, allows you to unlock access to other moves like the iconic Genkidama.
There is also a transformation counter which, surprise, acts as a guard for state changes (eg: Super Saiyan Blue) or fusions. It takes a little time to adapt to get back into the swing of things and assimilate all that, but in the second fight, we were already better and the pleasure of the game was totally there. So much so that we didn’t particularly want to leave this preview. We really find the sensations of the time, at all levels, and we quickly find ourselves trying to reproduce the sequences that we knew by heart before. But this is not surprising since the original development studio is handling the project.
The clashes can be very punchy and intense once you get the hang of the gameplay. The fact that it is a 3D fighting game, and not 2D like FighterZ, with all the movement management thanks in particular to the dash allows you to be at the heart of a Dragon Ball fight like in the anime. We are much freer in our actions, which is what makes this saga so exciting, and the battles are more evolving with the destructible landscapes. If there is no blood when the characters are injured, the fighters will have marks and their clothes may be torn. An excellent point for immersion.
As we have said, it is (very) beautiful, but also very well animated. Whether it’s during the cutscenes or the fights, in terms of the movements or the appearance of the characters, it’s of a high level. Finally, as said previously, what is annoying is the absence of blood given the blows dealt. We will end on a more negative note: the soundtrack. Don’t expect to play along with the anime’s music on release. It will be possible at some point, but you will have to go through the paid pack box, as Dragon Ball FighterZ did in its time. For now, it’s a disappointment.
We’re waiting for Dragon Ball Sparking Zero… like nostalgic people
It “wasn’t better before”, but it must be admitted that some things from the past can be missing and the Budokai Tenkaichi saga was one of them. After this session, we can say that Dragon Ball Sparking Zero should be the crazy thing seen in the trailers. Everything comes together to make it the worthy heir of the series, whether in terms of graphics, but above all gameplay, the roster and the care taken to bring this saga back to the forefront. Now we’re looking forward to seeing it again and digging deeper. As a reminder, you will be able to treat yourself to a nostalgic trip from October 11, 2024 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.