Here it is guys! After seventeen years, we finally have the long-awaited fourth installment in the Dragon Ball Z franchise: Budokai Tenkaichi. Dragon Ball: Sparkle! Zero is one of the most hyped games of the year, and with good reason. Expectations are high as the franchise has expanded massively since the last Budokai game came out. There are dozens of new characters added to the game. After getting an excellent 2.5D fighting game in Dragon Ball FighterZ, can they achieve the same level of interest in an open 3D fighting game? The answer to that question is yes—with a few hiccups here and there.
© Bird Studio/Sheisha, Toei Animation. ©2010-2024 Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
Dragon Ball: Sparkle! Zero is what you expect from classic Budokai games. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? You have two standard attacks, ki blast and special moves that can be used after charging up enough ki, which you can charge up by hitting opponents or by holding down the charge button. Ideally, it prevents your opponent from gathering ki, but ki can also be used in a variety of ways. Do you want to keep your distance and max out your ki bar to perform the most powerful move, destroying three of your opponent's health bars in just one hit, or do you want to use your ki to teleport behind your opponent? and unleash a combo attack so they don't have time to recover? Some characters have special abilities or attacks related to their ki, which can make them better than others. The game is not always balanced, as if the developers were trying to take into account the character's lore, where some are far superior to others in terms of strength. I haven't had a chance to test out all the characters at the time of this writing, as the campaign is quite long and unlocking all the characters requires a few playthroughs. However, I'm curious about which character will see more play, especially in the online and competitive scenes.
You fight opponents in one-on-one or occasional team battles in open 3D environments based on iconic pieces from throughout the franchise. All of these locations are rendered in beautiful shaded 3D. The character models are highly expressive with just the right amount of exaggerated movement in their attacks. The particle effects are rich and I like the lack of attention to detail both inside and outside the battles. There are certain dialogue interactions that open up when two characters are paired together, and one of my favorite little touches is seeing things like the Ginyu force doing silly poses whenever do they enter a charged state.
© Chim Studio/Sheisha, Toei Animation. ©2010-2024 Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
Dragon Ball: Sparkle! Zero covers everything from the first Dragon Ball Z to Dragon Ball GT, including Dragon Ball Super. You get a chance to play through the story with playable characters. However, you only participate in battles involving the selected character. For example, if you play through the story as Goku, you'll play through the battles Goku participated in during the story, and everything else is covered in stylish stills that usually don't come with narration. art. It's a shame because otherwise it would have made the story more engaging. Luckily, important plot points involving selected characters are accompanied by lovingly recreated cinematics.
In story campaigns, some moments offer the opportunity to pick out small deviations in the story. For example, at the start of Dragon Ball Z, Goku can fight Raditz with Krillin instead of with Piccolo. I'm excited about this because I think we're going to get some interesting branching paths. Some of these moments present unique battles and scenarios, but ultimately, a lot of the encounters I experienced didn't change much about the combat or the progression of the overall story. A lot of scenarios are saved outside of the campaigns where you can do some custom battles that will be unlocked as you complete more of the game. These are more isolated wacky matches with little story context behind them. Some lazy words, like somehow Turles survives the end of the Tree of Might movie and comes back to find Goku before the Buu story begins. Others are cute, like the Great Saiyaman who is filming a kaiju-related movie in which he will have to face off against three huge characters on the roster. These are a lot of fun and add a lot of value to the game if you find yourself getting tired of playing through the same three decades old Dragon Ball scenarios.
It feels like the difficulty curve is right up against the CPU with only a few notable moments of challenge. In one-on-one matches, your speed is tested more than anything else. A standard approach is for the CPU to try to juggle and follow you, prioritizing teleports and quick movements over big dramatic finishes. Guarding and dodging will also be your best friends, as there are button inputs that allow you to counterattack at specific frames to potentially end a juggle and recover mid-air after you get knocked back, which is a great way to save yourself from taking a beam to the face.
© Bird Studio/Sheisha, Toei Animation. ©2010-2024 Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
That being said, balancing the game's difficulty is a bit difficult with certain characters. I never liked fighting giant characters in this game because even though they are bigger and therefore their hitboxes are technically bigger, some of them have speed and blocking abilities Similar attacks to smaller characters. They also hit a lot harder. I can't tell you how many times I had to redo the fight against Vegeta as a giant ape because his encounter started with a beam to the face and he could easily easily carry you up a mountain. When it comes to specific story moments, the game will only ask you to confront three characters with the same health bar. The story makes sense, and the game will let you adjust the difficulty if you lose too many times before starting another match, but it's not a graceful difficulty curve.
Some of these battles have been made a bit more difficult by game optimizations. I played the PC port of this game, and I think my PC is a little more powerful than most because I stream and sometimes handle six different shows at once. However, the game's frame rate is unstable. This is most noticeable when transitioning between story scenes and battle scenes, but occasionally you'll be caught in the middle of a heated exchange of blows. The camera is also surprisingly difficult to use at times. Most of the time, it will lock on your opponent and you are always facing them or rotating around them. Sometimes the camera gets stuck, sometimes you can see through the floor (disorienting), or the camera will completely stop locking onto opponents. What's really strange is that I encountered these problems mainly when playing in story mode and not in online mode. Although the matches took a long time to load, the results weren't that bad. The game is unplayable but it's not as optimized for the PC port as I would have liked.
© Bird Studio/Sheisha, Toei Animation. ©2010-2024 Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
The game's soundtrack and voice acting are an absolute highlight. Whether they are new actors or returning actors, everything looks right. I liked how well-written some of the scenes were, as it felt like they had a little extra punch than what we were used to. The game's music sounds amazing with many familiar themes that tap into the nostalgic soul of long-time fans, while also introducing some demos and newer tracks that give the game a sense of like a modern day Tenkaichi game.
This is a Budokai Tenkaichi game that is expanded and updated throughout. If you've never been a fan of those games then I don't think Dragon Ball: Sparkling! Zero will change your mind. Even though there are dozens of characters, most of them feel distinct from each other in terms of moves, pieces, and finishing moves just like in Toriyama's manga. The “what if” scenarios are fun and there's a lot to unlock, from different outfits to playable characters and a battle system that allows for different playstyles each other. Several things are holding the game back from achieving a perfect score, such as overall character optimization and balance. However, since the game feels more like a tribute to the franchise than a well-rounded fighting game experience, I have to give it high marks. I've spent dozens of hours in the game, and I can already say I'm about to immerse myself in even more.
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a minority, non-controlling shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.