FighterZ Review
This review has been a long time coming. After finally getting into DB Super with the English dub I figured I would finally get around to talking about this game. As a heads up, slight bias opinion as my childhood completely revolves around this show. So take what you will with a grain of salt.
Rather than talking about the full game as a whole, I broke it down into categories so it's a little easier to digest.
Let's get into it.
Gameplay - Three vs Three battle system almost identical to Marvel vs Capcom. And those wishing that MvC Infinity was better in almost every single way will be very pleased with the content and art style of this game. You can go as deep as you like with this title. "Easy to learn, difficult to master". You may have already seen this phrase associated with FighterZ. No truer statements have been spoken.
The game teaches you how to effectively button mash. This will get you through the story and the Snake Way arcade mode. Beyond that, you are going to start wanting to better yourself. It goes deeper than "How did that character do that move?" The flashiness and fan service makes you want to be able to perform these combos as easily as the advanced AI makes it look. You'll learn how to bash Square and Triangle to pull off some flashy moves, but you will spend time in practice mode to learn how to switch out your partners and pull off multiple flashy special moves all at once.
The game teaches you how to effectively button mash. This will get you through the story and the Snake Way arcade mode. Beyond that, you are going to start wanting to better yourself. It goes deeper than "How did that character do that move?" The flashiness and fan service makes you want to be able to perform these combos as easily as the advanced AI makes it look. You'll learn how to bash Square and Triangle to pull off some flashy moves, but you will spend time in practice mode to learn how to switch out your partners and pull off multiple flashy special moves all at once.
You'll participate in such activities as Tournaments, Local Play, Arena, Story Mode, Arcade Mode, and Practice. You will even have a lobby avatar where you can walk around and interact with other players online. The lobby space is very similar to Destiny's tower. Different vendors that allow you to participate in any of the mentioned activities. Any fighting game expert will fill most of their playtime in Practice Mode at least for the first few weeks of the games release.
Story - In this story mode the real main character is you, the player. You inhabit the mind of the character that you are playing as. They will even have conversations with you as you progress through the story.
If anyone has played DBZ Budokai 2 specifically you will understand the board game idea. Similar but not nearly as fleshed out. You will be presented with a board, different enemy icons on the screen that let you know that if you advance on that icon you will engage with that enemy.
There will be a boss somewhere on that board that you will have to advance to in order to progress through the story.
The story introduces a new villain Android 21. She is a Majin android who's personality is very bratty. Just like Buu before her, she turns people into treats and east them to gain their powers. After completing the lengthy story mode Android 21 becomes a regular in your roster.
Arcade Mode - Crushing difficulty spikes. For those wishing to earn SSGSS versions of both Vegeta and Goku for free (As opposed to the $3.99 you can purchase them for) are in for a rough challenge. To some that will seem very appealing. For others it will be a challenge that will cause a ton of headache and frustration for those players looking to simply have fun and not want to learn all of the complex combinations the game seemingly required to best the tougher Arcade Mode. Not only are you required to beat the two harder Arcade towers, you must complete them with an A grade. Only bested by a S grade.
Personally I have found that I always sweep the first match with a Perfect, but as you do better in Arcade Mode, it pairs you up with much tougher fights. That's where the difficulty spike kicks in. FighterZ seems to believe if you can best the novice AI then you are ready to tackle the Godlike AI (Yes, pun intended).
It is not completely discouraging, it did make me want to "Git Gud" for lack of a better term. And spend a significant time in training mode (Which will get touched on later in the review).
Training - At first glance, training mode seemed lacking. With bare basic tutorials advising you how to dash forward and back, double jump and do the most basic of combos by mashing the same button until you see the flashy animation. I absolutely do not fault FighterZ for this as they clearly designed the game to be enjoyed by everyone. It did, however leave more to be desired as far as learning all the complex combinations that you will constantly be destroyed by in Online and Arcade Mode.
I was surprised that even though all of the button combinations are the same for all of the characters (i.e: Quarter Circle X, O, etc) each move is vastly different and leave the opponent open to different attacks depending on who you are playing as. There is a Practice mode tutorial for each individual character, this allows you to learn how each combination makes each character react in the ring and gives you a good understanding with every single character.
I highly recommend spending some time in Practice, there are some PSN trophies to earn and you can earn a decent amount of Zeni (In game currency).
In Game Currency - Zeni! Any Dragon Ball fan should be familiar with this term. It's just the Dragon Ball world version of money. In game you will use your Zeni to purchase Capsules. This is DBF version of loot boxes. Fret not though, as of the date I am writing this, there is no way to purchase these with real money. Also, they all seem to be purely cosmetic. From Lobby Avatars and their different color variants, stickers, and actual colour variants for the fighters to be used in Arcade and Online play, you wont find much else. Aside form that, Zeni comes in very often. There are a wealth of tutorial quests which will net you 2000 Zeni each (It cost 1000 Zeni for a loot box). You will earn Zeni for participating in practices. You obtain Zeni for basically every activity that you do. You'll never run out of Zeni. I promise you.
Visuals - Visually this game is amazing. I cannot stress this enough. You have never played a Dragon Ball game that has looked this good, ever. This game looks how your Nostalgia makes you think Dragon Ball Z looked. The game play looks flashier and smother than the cut scenes.. This is very rare among games. Especially fighting games. This game visually as a fighting game goes in the same category as Injustice 2. While Injustice 2 was visually impressive "for a fighting game", FighterZ is visually impressive as a game in general.
For fans of the series the best compliment that I can give it is that it looks just as good as the later episodes of Dragon Ball Super
Future - My favorite thing to look forward to in a fighting game is the future of that game and how it appears that the developer will support it. Currently as it stands there is a season pass that says it will include 8 more fighters as the game continues. I can see FighterZ getting a potential Season 2 pass. I would love to see the game take on the same model as Street Fighter. Support the one game for a few years before getting the sequel.
It seems that this game a very bright future with it taking MvC's spot at EVO this year, and the great reception it has already received.
Alright. Final reception of this game.. I wont give it a number. But I would highly recommend picking this game up if you are either a Dragon Ball fan, or a fighting game fan. And you need to buy it now if you are both. With a promising future, amazing visuals and addicting game play for fighting game fans, I personally think you will be very glad you picked this game up as early as you did.
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