Dragon Ball Xenoverse Jun 14, 2023

Experience the thrilling adventures of Goku and the Z Warriors in Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Unlike recent Dragon Ball games, Xenoverse offers a new twist to the saga and aims to fix the issues that fans have had with previous incarnations.

In the game's story mode, known as the History of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, a group called the Time Breakers disrupts the space-time continuum, rewriting history. Trunks discovers the Dragon Balls and is sent through time to prevent the impending catastrophe. As the player, you take on the role of The Future Warrior, creating your own hero and embarking on a journey through the history of Dragon Ball.

The story missions in Dragon Ball Xenoverse allow you to relive pivotal moments from the series and assist the Z Warriors in correcting the timeline. This mode focuses on lesser-known characters, providing a refreshing break from playing as the core heroes. However, popular characters like Gohan and Piccolo are still available in other modes.

In addition to the story mode, Dragon Ball Xenoverse features the Parallel Quests mode, which offers side missions that tie into the main plot. These quests expand the game's fiction, introducing additional battles, adventure elements, and new characters and artifacts. The game also includes classic modes like Versus and World Tournament, where you can battle your friends locally or online using the game's roster of 47 characters.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse takes a more natural approach to its gameplay systems. Instead of navigating through clunky menus, everything is accessed by walking or flying around Toki Toki City. The city is divided into four areas, each corresponding to different game modes and options. When playing online, non-playable characters are replaced by other players, allowing for interaction and teaming up in all modes except the story.

The game's combat is a 3D arena style, reminiscent of the Budokai Tenkaichi series. It features basic attacks, ki attacks, blocks, and special and super attacks. Executing the latter requires timing and strategic use of ki, preventing players from spamming powerful attacks. Characters can be customized, and preparation before fights, such as leveling up and equipping powers and objects, is necessary for success.

Visually, Dragon Ball Xenoverse maintains the franchise's signature cell-shaded graphics. While there are some improvements in character shading, they still stand out unnaturally from the background. The camera can be a bit erratic, especially when switching targets or facing multiple opponents.

Despite these minor flaws, the game's soundtrack is a standout, adding to the anime style, and the dual English and Japanese voice work allows players to choose their preferred experience.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse offers a fun and replayable experience, with its multiple game modes, MMO design, and solid fighting controls. It is a must-play for fans of the series and a great entry point for newcomers.