Let’s cut to the chase. Dragon Ball fans, you’re going to be eating good with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. I was able to sit down and play around an hour of the game at Summer Game Fest 2024 earlier this month and it was a surprise hit for me. A platter of syrup-sweet desserts specially made for the Dragon Ball palate. It is the word hype fully capitalized, and the H is glowing and screaming at you.
I, like everyone else present, was presented with the features before getting to try out the versus mode. As such I can only really write firsthand impressions of the standard battle system, but for what it’s worth I feel the full suite of modes looks fantastic. A story mode allowing you to sit down and power through decades of Dragon Ball story arcs is something we’ve seen done before, but certainly not with this level of graphical fidelity. The game is a stunner, blasting vivid colours and nostalgia at you in a constant stream.
The team responsible could have left it here and people would have probably been content, but the addition of alternate scenario endings – special non-canon story moments that players can either opt into willingly or unlock through their performance in fights – is truly enticing. It’s a fun solution to a genuine problem with Dragon Ball games that goes back through the series’ history. You can only have fun seeing the Frieza saga so many times. Everyone knows what happens. But, add in a little spice, a little what-if, and suddenly there’s a whole new reason to do it.
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