Review: DRAGONBALL XENOVERSE Is A Must-Own For Fans, Great RPG Fighter For Rest

If you’re a gamer who’s followed the DBZ series throughout the years, I can summarize this game for you in one sentence: DragonBall Xenoverse is what DBZ Sagas would’ve been if the execution wasn’t godawful. That’s a great thing, as the concept of an RPG fighter for DBZ was something I didn’t know I wanted to see again until I finally saw it done right. That being said, if you’re going into this game expecting a Budokai/Tenkaichi experience, you’re going to leave disappointed. While the game doesn’t have as tight a combat system as past entries, it does have a lot more that makes me rank it as my second favorite Dragon Ball Z title of all time. So what places this game a short second to Budokai/Tenkaichi 3 and a dethroner of the Legacy of Goku?

Story

Trunks uses the Dragon Balls to summon you to save the universe and fix the fluctuating timeline. Simple, straightforward, and good enough. Not remarkable, but you didn’t pick up the game for an in-depth plot line did you?

Graphics

Looks just like the show. It’s looked just like the show since PS2.

The High Points

Customization

The absolute best thing about this series is the sheer amount of customization available to your created character. With the five races available, you should really evaluate your play style and learn your preferences before you blindly mash Saiyan. I’ve been thrilled with the process of my Namekian, and his superior defense and stamina over all races really helps my lack of blocking when the going gets rough. Each race is fantastically balanced and while 80% of the community picks Saiyan I have yet to see a significant advantage one has over the other. Rest assured, my Namekian has beaten down many Super Saiyans in Kaioken mode so feel free to pick between Earthling, Frieza race, Buu race, and the two aforementioned as you please.

Once you settle on your race, you are given limitless ways to customize your character within your race. Any color, size, and drawing style within the universe is available at your fingertips. That coupled with the ability to unlock outfits from both Dragonball and DBZ, and by the time you’re done, it feels like Akira Toriyama himself sat down and drew you your very own character. It’s weird but it gives you a sense of pride when you see how well your character looks alongside the main characters of the show.

That’s just aesthetics though. The customization goes so much deeper with the stat boosts you receive from clothing options, the way you divide out ability points after leveling up, and the Z souls you acquire from various tasks. I cannot stress enough how great the customization is in this game and how it affects not only the way you play, but gives you a fresh experience with each play through. Even my friend (who’s never watched DBZ WTF I know right) loves the amount of control he has over his character.

Co-op Play

While the story is original and allows you to relive classic moments of the series, my favorite mode remains the “Time Patrol Quests." In these quests, your tasks can vary from battling the entire Ginyu force and Frieza, or Goku and Cell at the same time. Playing this mode solo can be all right, but absolutely shines when you coordinate with friends or even strangers on the Internet. Honestly it makes no difference between friends and randos you hook up with because the mission is always a straightforward beat em up. Mic or no comms, you’ll get from point A to point B with little quarrel should you not have any friends.

Connection from lobby to game is always fast and reliable, and I’ve experienced little to zero lag on my Xbox One. Considering many of these missions have to be grinded to acquire certain items exclusive to the mission, you’ll take solace in knowing the addition of other players certainly keeps the process from being monotonous.

While I’m about to dump on it here in a bit, Co-op also shines a dim light in the PVP experience. 2v2 or 3v3 battles have been my most entertaining endeavors so far and easily the most “fair” experience you can have as far as PVP is concerned.

The Low Points

1v1 PvP

While the multiple fighter matches have proved entertaining so far, the 1v1 experience is awful to say the least. This isn’t due to gameplay mechanics however, just the community. 9/10 matches the guys you’ll run into in PvP are move spammers who exploited the game for the quick super moves that require the least amount of ki. When more players are in the fold, these players are quickly taken down due to the multiple targets, but 1v1 they’re the toxic gamer you run into in just about every game like this. The match begins, you get hit and hit and hit, and the minute you bounce it’s over.

Typically this mechanic is meant to reward quick players. You’ll notice when you hit the ground you bounce once then fall flat. In an optimal situation this gives the player an opportunity to hit you with one more attack before you fall flat and have a period of invulnerability. The invulnerability is meant to keep players from kicking you while you’re down and spamming supers preventing you from ever getting back to your feet. It’s a saving grace most of the time, but in 1v1 there’s not enough going on to keep the spammer from simply timing your bounce and defeating you before you can ever settle on the ground.

Does it ruin the game? No, and every game is going to have their batch of exploiters, but it does take away the competitiveness of a really fun mode that I hoped to enjoy more than I have.

Online Issues

It’s the buzzword of new gen titles, it seems. The first week into playing the game was flawless minus one issue - the multi-lobby would crash occasionally. This multiplayer lobby is cool I guess, as it’s neat to see other characters running around in your world, but unless I’m trying to party up with characters in my lobby, I’ll just stick to looking at their stationary NPC equivalents in offline lobby mode. Honestly it’s a useless feature as I rarely spawn in the same lobby as my friend and he’s the only guy I’d wish to party up with. That’s really no big deal because the invite system for missions is so fast and effective it practically eliminates my need to have him in my world to begin with. Alas, the developers couldn’t leave well enough alone and disabled ALL ONLINE ACTIVITY until the issue was resolved. So now all the awesome online features are unplayable at the moment due to a stupid and useless mechanic in the game. It’ll be fixed eventually I’m sure, but I’m really getting tired of online issues marring gameplay in 2015.

Overall:

I bought this game, and I intend to keep this game. Yeah there are some issues, but I plan to play it a couple times through with many different characters before I go to trade it in. If you like lots of gameplay, RPG fighters, and DBZ, you’ll buy this game. If you were someone who was looking for a Budokai/Tenkaichi experience, you probably already traded it in. For those looking to at least give it a rent, give yourself a couple of days to get used to the play style and you’ll fall in love - I guarantee it.