Dragon Ball Z is one of the all time anime greats.

If you were a teen in the 00’s in Aotearoa one of the few anime shows that was easy to access was Dragon Ball Z. I used to rush home from my paper route to watch it. Seared into my brain is the joy of the Namek saga unfolding over the weeks that it took.

Also seared into my brain is the awful fake Namek saga that I swear was the most common reruns. Well after checking out Dragon Ball Z Kai and seeing all the unnecessary faff in it, I wanted to watch the original version again.

Well you can pick it up now as a giant Bluray box set.

So what is the difference between the two versions?

Dragon Ball Z Kai cuts the series from just under 300 episodes, to just under 170 episodes. So almost half. They do this by cutting a lot of the extra filler.

Some faff should be cut, like the awful Fake Namek saga, but there is still some boring stuff left in Kai.  As such, with the bits I hated most still being in Kai, I was left wondering whether the original version is still worth checking out.

Rewatching the original series, it becomes clear.

I love the additional faff. Sure it’s always a joke about how long it takes for anything to happen in Dragon Ball Z, but in either version hat is still the case. What it cuts are some episodes making things like the Snake Way series is a little shorter. But also, the really silly side stories and extra episodes, is kinda what makes Dragon Ball Z great.

It gives us more time with the characters in different settings, and just really adds to what makes Dragon Ball Z great.

There was tweaking done to animation and voice acting for Kai, but rewatching the old series on Bluray I kinda love the jank. Animation can be patchy, but it’s an anime that was animated in the 80’s and 90’s in Japan. That is part of the show’s DNA, and it’s as iconic as anything.

This Bluray package includes it all, the silliness, the chaos. And yes, the awful Fake Namek episodes. It’s like four episodes, but god I hate those four episodes so much.

The Bluray also comes with an awesome marathon mode that lets you watch the full disc without the opening video and stuff. It still includes things like the piece at the end of the episode which tell you what’s happening in the next episode, which feels silly, but still. It’s a cool addition.

On top of this each season has some special features which does include some great interviews.

Dragon Ball Z: Seasons 1 – 9 Complete Boxset has 291 episodes of brilliance, well slightly less because you need to skip the fake Namek episodes. But the rest of it is awesome.

If time is limited you can absolutely get the bulk of Dragon Ball Z’s brilliance in Kai, but I’m here for the chaff. This Bluray is a fantastic way to enjoy the anime series that has retained its place in my heart for so many years!

The post Dragon Ball Z Season 1 – 9 (Bluray) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Memory can be a funny thing.

I remember loving DBZ, being below impressed with Dragon Ball GT, and then when Super became a thing thinking this is the sequel that DBZ deserved. Over the years I have thought worse and worse of Dragon Ball GT, so given the chance to actually revisit it I wanted to see how fair my memory was of the series.

Turns out, I have been far too harsh on it.

Dragon Ball GT kicks off in the weirdest way possible. It turns out there have been an alternate set of Dragon Balls this whole time called the black star Dragon Balls. Emperor Pilaf, the silliest of all the Dragon Ball villains, tracks them down. He brings forward the dragon, but Goku comes across them out of pure luck. In a moment of rage Pilaf yells at Goku that he wishes he was a child again.  The dragon grants the wish that Pilad didn’t realize he was making, and we have ourselves Goku in child form.

Now that the black star Dragon Balls have been used for a wish, they are scattered across the universe.

These Dragon Balls don’t have the restrictions the others do, and because they are so powerful, they use a bunch of the planet’s power. This means that wherever they were used, that planet will explode in a years time.

So the gang needs to travel around the universe finding them in order to save earth.

This is a great saga to start with because in some ways it is so Dragon Ball, and in some ways, just feels off.

We then get a great villain baby, who is underused, then we get a new evil version of Android 17, then we get the Shadow Dragon Saga. The Shadow Dragon Saga is one of the better sagas. Basically they call on shenron to undo all the people that died with the new evil version of Android 17. Pretty standard process at this point in Dragon Ball.

What we discover is something intense.

Basically, when the Dragon Balls are used it builds up some evil energy.

This was never an issue because the Dragon Balls were used so rarely that the negative energy could dissipate. Then the Dragon Ball radar was invented and the team were able to use the Dragon Balls far too often. This energy had built up that this time when they call on Shenron, a bunch of evil dragons appear to cause destruction.

There is a lot to love and a lot to meh about this series.

The 64 episodes have so much less filler than the Dragon Ball Z series. Don’t get me wrong, there are times where it feels like stuff could have been cut, but it’s much faster than our old favourite. A lot of characters like Vegeta are criminally underutilized and become more of the Goku show than usual.

But I still really enjoyed it.

The tough part is trying to figure out where it fits in with the universe.  It seems like Super didn’t retcon it, but it also doesn’t fit into the timeline. After Googling for way too long your best way to enjoy GT is to just consider it an alternative universe.

The movie included in the collection is basically a TV movie, which is very short. It tells the story of Goku Jr, who is Pan’s grandson, who wants to find the Dragon Ball Pan had as a kid. Pan appears to be dying so he has to go find it with the hopes that it will save her. This Goku Jr isn’t much of a fighter, so he hitchhikes and explores his way to get it. It’s a perfectly fine little side story.

Not great, not bad, just perfectly fine.

On the whole I am glad I gave Dragon Ball GT another shot. It is much better than I remember it being, and well worth your time. This box set is a great way to enjoy it all, just don’t overthink how it fits into the wider Dragon Ball storyline.

Just enjoy it for what it is, and you’ll have a great time.

The post Dragon Ball GT Complete Series (Bluray – 2023) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The multiplayer survival genre has been an interesting one.

When Evolve hit it seemed to really strike a chord and became an icon very quickly.  Since then many others have tried to capture that magic but never seem to have staying power. I really enjoyed Predator: Hunting Grounds, but after a few weekends of fun I, and many others, fell off it hard.

Well now NamcoBandai are having a crack with Dragon Ball: The Breakers to see if it can hang around for longer.

The premise for Dragon Ball: The Breakers is that some random people and a villain have been pulled through a rift.  To get home they need to reactivate their time machine without being killed.  The villain does villain things, and wants to kill people. It’s the same game structure as all these games, and to be fair the structure works.

When you start matchmaking you can elect to prefer being the villain.

The problem of course is that in a multiplayer game of 8 people, only 1 can be the villain, so more often than not you will still wind up being a civilian most of the time. There are 7 of them, so that makes sense, but when you are really feeling like being a villain, don’t be shocked if it takes a few rounds.

Matchmaking still seemed to take a while, I had time to go make a cup of tea at times.

When it comes to your citizens, there is a little bit of customisation available.

Some options between eyes, hair, etc. gives you some variety, but not heaps at the start. There is just enough to give you that feeling of being your own character which gives you that bit more investment. As you play you can unlock heaps of cosmetics which is pretty stock standard these days. The game has a season to unlock stuff in and 3 tiers of money including paid premium currency, also pretty stock standard.

The gameplay itself is fine. Not great, not bad, just fine.

Movement can feel clunky at times, and the camera angles can get really bad. When trying to travel fast I found myself struggling to keep the camera straight or know how I was going to land. This is really unfortunate because if this area was more refined then this game could be such an easy recommendation.

When you get into the rhythm of a game, running around while Cell, Frieza, or Majin Buu are stalking you gets real tense.

Ducking behind a wall and then watching them to see if they saw you can be freaky, and the satisfaction of getting that time machine up and running is so damn sweet. Throughout the game the villains transform, but that doesn’t leave the civilians totally lost. They come built with some tools like being able to stun the villain so they can hide, or better you earn the ability to power up with a classic Dragon Balls character and you can go toe to toe with the villain for a bit.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers is frustratingly close to a great game. It just manages to fall short and winds up being a mixed experience. At $60 (NZD) it isn’t a massive price, and someone looking for a half decent online Dragon Ball game should be happy enough as long as the player base hangs around for a while. I hope some of the gameplay can be tweaked because it could become something amazing, but right now it’s just kind of pretty alright.

The post Dragon Ball: The Breakers (PlayStation 5) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If there is one thing that the Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super movies have taught us, it’s that they don’t need 60 episodes to tell a good story.

Time and time again they manage to cram in a bunch of good story, good fights, and good character work into 90 minutes. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero did it again.

If you aren’t a fan of the franchise, this may be a tough watch to initially get into. The movie does some light explanation about how Magenta has taken over Red Ribbon since his father was beaten. This of course is from Dragon Ball.

Then you will get to know about how Red Ribbon came back thanks to Dr Gero which feeds into how his grandson Dr. Hedo gains his massive knowledge. So here is the link to Dragon Ball Z.  If all of that was gobblety gook, then you will still be able to enjoy the movie, but I suspect there is a lot you will be missing.

The movie itself has our new friend Magenta who enlists the knowledge of Dr. Hedo to make some new androids.  It turns out that Dr. Hedo didn’t know his grandfather so has no actual knowledge of his motives, and as such isn’t corrupted or interested in evil. He just wants to make cool ass androids, and so he does.  Bring on Gamma 1 and Gamma 2.

Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 want to take on and destroy our usual heroes thanks to Magenta’s twisting of the truths. It turns out the world (somehow) still knows very little about the idea of aliens being on earth, this is despite the existence of camera technology and the massive fights and explosions that have occurred, but not been captured?

Maybe don’t think too much about that. Anyway, they believe that the aliens are there to corrupt and then destroy earth, and so these new Superheroes must save the day.

The movie does a great setup by positioning Goku, Vegeta and Brollly off earth training.

Thanks to an unfortunate ice cream incident Whis misses Bulma calling and so that is where they stay. This allows our old heroes Piccolo and Gohan to take center stage, with some help of the others of course. We get some slices of minor spy and espionage work, some training with Pan, and some really decent humour along the way. I mean it isn’t all great, it is Dragon Ball Super so of course there are going to be some low hanging fruit, but I definitely chuckled more than I expected.

The animation varies from above average, to absolutely astounding.

For most of the movie it is just a higher budget version of Dragon Ball Super. But once that final fight broke out it was petty damn incredible. As always there is a final attack and man they put some serious budget into that scene, which really helps the pay off. I won’t dig too much more into it, but seeing is believing.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero manages to strike a decent balance between fan service from all 3 series plus Dragon Ball Fighterz, while also telling a new story. The final boss was a little underdeveloped but it did give some great opportunities for other characters to shine. Some good laughs, some great action, and some serious throwbacks. It won’t blow you away but it will entertain you.

The post Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero (Anime) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Dragon Ball Z is truly one of the anime epics with almost 300 episodes, so as with many other long time series like Naruto, it is terrifying for a newbie to even consider jumping into.

Fortunately Dragon Ball Z did a thing to help people enjoy this amazing series, they cut a lot of the fat in a new series called Dragon Ball Z Kai down to…. well still 167 episodes.

Watching Dragon Ball Z Kai was interesting given I haven’t watched the original series in years. There is a lot I forgot and a lot I remembered that the show has cut. So despite knowing a lot of the story beats there are a lot of details that were either new, or I completely forgot which made the watch good.

Old viewers who haven’t encountered Dragon Ball Z Kai yet will likely have a mixed set of emotions. Anytime fake Namek isn’t involved I am certainly a happier person.

I swear fake Namek replayed more than any other stretch of episodes on TV2 back in the days, and I hated it more every time it replayed. But there was some dumb filler that I enjoyed like Goku and Piccolo getting their drivers licences which I definitely missed. Though on the scale of things, if I have to miss out on the driving test to remove any time with Fake Namek, I am happy to make that sacrifice.

For new viewers this is certainly an easier way to watch the series as 100ish episodes is a significant amount of time to cut out. The main story beats we loved are there, like seeing Super Saiyan for the first time, the epic battles, Gohan becoming the best character then the lamest one, and Saiyan ape battles.

It’s a cracking watch and well worth it for newbies to the series. Sure they spent time cutting some of the things like blood, but it wasn’t an overly graphic show in the first place so that’s hardly why you are watching.

The DVD collection itself isn’t overly built with special features and the sort. This is because it is an absolute blitz of discs filled with Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes. Seriously with this much content, do you need more? If so I would recommend watching Dragon Ball Z as there is even more content there, though you will have to watch fake Namek.

Seriously guys, I hate Fake Namek.

If you are wanting to watch Dragon Ball Z for the first time, or revisit it many years later, I highly recommend checking out this DVD collection. It has the important bits of the show and is a lot easier to watch. With those saved 100 episodes worth of time you can check out some more shows.

Can I recommend The Promised Neverland?  It is good.

The post Dragon Ball Z Kai – Complete Series (Anime) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Dragon Ball Z has been around for so long now, that old farts like me who watched the series in the afternoons as a teenager have revisited the story so many times.

Whether it was reruns, a shortened but still too long Dragon Ball Z Kai series, the numerous games of multiple genres that skimmed through the plot, and so much more media.

The Xenoverse games at least added a spin on the plot to give some new variety to an old story, so why on earth would you want to play another game that retreads the same old plot again?  In short, because Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is amazing.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot tells a reasonably comprehensive version of the Dragon Ball Z series, starting with the Saiyan Saga and finishing with the Buu Saga.  Fortunately it does skip some big chunks of the series, like the fake Namek saga which was a frustrating slog watching on reruns, and the Garlic Jr. Saga which does fill in a decent chunk of time.

Do you remember the Other Worlds Saga?

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot doesn’t.  For the most part it absolutely makes sense to cut some of these filler sagas out because the game is long enough as it is, but in its own way it adds new filler in.

The game itself sits in two genre camps.

The fighting is pretty close to as good as Budokai games, but the majority of your time you explore a relatively open world completing side quests and levelling up.

This balance is important as the fighting is half of what Dragon Ball Z is about, so it being a smooth and fun experience is so important, but the RPG elements is what makes Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot unique enough to justify witnessing the story all over again.

The open world allows you to fly around earth, King Kai’s planet, and during a certain Saga Namek where you can fly to a marker to keep the story going, or fly around attacking enemies in the wild, collecting resources for cooking and car building, or hitting the aforementioned side quests which vary from interesting battles, to repetitive collection tasks.  Though they get a little boring, the rewards can be great.

Plus flying around the world feels so fun that I wound up spending far too much time, achieving little which is the mark of a great, open world game.

Some content that was cut I hoped they would do something cool with such as Goku whipping along Snake Way which could have made an enjoyable little mini game.  But even that I am torn on because that could have been an easy way to accidentally make a tedious section, and there is stuff I am glad they cut such as Fake Namek so this is only a little bit of an issue.

There is also a system where you collect character coins which you put on a selection of boards to boost stats and bonuses like EXP or item collection.  Each coin has areas it is most proficient, and you can also collect gifts which boost certain stats.  I spent a lot of time trying to optimise that and that got boring quickly, but I am nit picking now.

The biggest asset is all of the small details in the game.

The game looks absolutely stunning with the developers managing to absolutely nail cell shaded style in a 3D world in a way that is better than I could have imagined.  But that world is that much better because of the people walking around, the trees and other details populating the world, and the way the ground and small mountains rip up as you fly fast along side, or through them.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is the RPG I didn’t know I needed before it was announced, but I am so glad I have it in my life now.  It’s such a fun romp for old and new Dragon Ball Z fans.

I hope to Beerus that they don’t release the fake Name Saga as DLC as I may go postal.

The post Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe has announced Jump Forcewhere the greatest heroes and villains from the 50-year history of Shueisha’s influential Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump manga will battle against each other across iconic locations on Earth in this anime fighting game fan’s dream come true!

Featuring the world’s most popular and classic manga / anime franchises including DRAGON BALL Z, ONE PIECE, NARUTO, and many others, players will be able to create their three-character manga/anime dream tag team and take them into battle in hyper-stylish arena brawls set against backdrops of famous landmarks around the world including New York City’s Times Square and the Matterhorn in the Alps. Utilizing Unreal Engine 4, Jump Force brings these titans of Japanese pop culture to life for the first time ever in stunning realistic detail.

The lines that separate our world from the Jump world have been blurred, with evil forces spilling into the real world to rule over humanity. The greatest heroes known to manga/anime including Goku, Luffy, Naruto, as well as many others to be announced, must join forces to triumph over the forces of evil seeping in from the JUMP world. 

“Jump Force provides an incredible opportunity for players to discover the rich universe of Shueisha and battle in iconic real-world locations.”, said Hervé Hoerdt, Vice President Marketing and Digital at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe. “To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Shōnen Jump, Shueisha and BNEE are bringing together some of the most beloved manga and anime franchises of all time. We can’t wait to unveil more details on JUMP FORCE in the coming months.”

Jump Force will be available in 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC via STEAM.

The post Jump Force! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Dragon Ball universe has had many incarnations over the years in the fighting genre, from old side on fighters, to the Budokai series, to the fighting game/RPG series Xenoverse. Now with Dragon Ball FighterZ the game steps back to the side on style, to see if it can perfect itself with strong mechanics and stronger graphics, and the question is if it can live up to that E3 hype.

The game itself is built on some strong mechanics. Using the face buttons for the attack types light, medium, heavy and ki, allowing for easy repetitive combos, if you can land them. This makes the game feel satisfying to pick up, but the use of more complex combos has a bit more of a difficulty curve, which you will need to master for online.

What gives the game the real Dragon Ball feel is its use of instant transmissions, energy attacks, and more so, the Super attacks. Some of the shoulder buttons initiate stronger attacks such as Goku going super Saiyan 4 and unleashing a huge beam, which requires powering up, and good timing. These attacks can do serious damage to an opponent if you manage to land one.

The other element of Dragon Ball FighterZ to get the hang of is transitioning between fighters. Fights can have up to three fighters, using two of the shoulder buttons to switch between them. This can be as simple as switching places, or jumping in to launch an attack, or transitioning during a combo. Mastering this makes the world of a difference to a fight as an injured fighter can regain some health when pulled aside.

The game’s biggest hook is its look. The game is a gorgeous representation of the anime from the side on, and for certain attacks to finish the fight, it will cut away for explosions, or show someone getting hit into a building. This alone separates the game and makes it a delight to watch its gorgeously realised cut scenes as well.

Now the game mechanics are one thing, well to be fair a big thing, but the real kicker is how you will be spending your hours playing. Offline is isolated to the Story mode and Arcade mode, as well as Tutorial and single offline fights.

The Story mode tells the tale of an Android that is causing all kinds of havoc and has managed to merge souls with heroes. Thanks to emitted waves that supress powers, the only way the Dragon Ball heroes and villains can fight is with the use of the soul. This explains the use of three fighters in a fight, but one fighting at any given time, which to be honest it’s far from the worst Dragon Ball story, looking right at you fake Namek saga.

The Story mode also pops you on a map where you need to navigate tiles to get to the boss. You level up by grinding fights and have limited moves to finish each map. Th majority of these fights are against clones which have filled the world, explaining away the refights. To be honest it’s unnecessary faff, which could have been replaced with a series of fights between cutscenes, and I found it more of a hindrance than an enhancement.

The Story mode is split into three stages, the heroes, the villains, and I won’t spoil the third. The heroes’ saga is filled with tutorial fights which are immensely annoying. They have the enemies moving so you can complete the tutorial which can be a pain, especially when you repeat the same tutorials. This is gone after the hero’s map but it’s still annoying, more so because you can complete all of that on its own in the tutorial mode, so it is unnecessary placed in the story too.

The arcade mode sets you on a path such as Snake Way and pits you some fights. Depending on how well you do, it seeds you to different places, and upon completion you get a letter ranking. It’s fun, simple, short, and has none of the faff.

Online fights let you choose your region and the server, so you can pick the most populated one for the purposes of getting fights. This is easy to switch if you find you are having issues, but I never encountered an issue on the Australian servers I joined. Kicking into online fights it has Ranked and Casual options, and Arena which is against others on your server. For casual players there is next to no difference between them.

The game isn’t flawless though, with the occasional stutter in cut scenes, and more so the total unnecessary nature of the hub that you run around in, but more so was an annoyance with the tutorial. The tutorial pits you against a fighter doing his moves. If you beat the fighter, it will then pull you out, show you somewhat completed it, and then to finish it, you start that tutorial again. This isn’t the worst thing because the tutorials are short, but still.

When push comes to shove, Dragon Ball FighterZ is everything I wanted it to be. A fun, and deep fighting game, which is gorgeous. The story is longer than it needed to be, but that’s kind of fitting for Dragon Ball Z.

The post Dragon Ball FighterZ (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

One of the more surprising announcements of last year’s E3 was a small fighting game called Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Its gorgeous anime graphics, and its fast and interesting looking action had it immediately jump to the front of many most anticipated lists including my own. Now having spent a couple of days with the Beta, the question is, is it worth the hype?

The Beta gave me access to the tutorial and online fights. Tutorials can hit a big sore spot for me if they aren’t built well for beginners, and Dragon Ball FighterZ absolutely does, at first. One weird design choice is, if you defeat your opponent before completing the list of tasks, for example if you keep missing the end of a combo, and do so until you opponent is defeated, the tutorial ends showing partial completion. Trying again puts you in the start of that tutorial.

Overall the tutorial was great, which is important as you have some serious moves to master to get the hang of Dragon Ball FighterZ. The controls have the usual use of D pad for movement, and the other face buttons for light attack, and strong attack. This is stock standard and it allows the use of simple combos, through to some truly complex stuff.

The thing you need to master is the shoulder buttons which will make a huge difference, as you use these to toggle between characters and to use super attacks. You can take three fighters into a match, meaning you need to get the hang of transitioning between them. When you have a damaged character, who has moved out of combat, they can regain some health which is crucial, as well as mix up your attacks.

Transitions can either be simple, through to ones during attacks, or your allies popping in to help with an attack. If you are getting pummelled, then these moves can make a world of difference. Aside from that my other favourite element of the fights are super attacks. Powering up power bars will give you the ability to land super attacks such as Krillin’s destructo disc or Gohan doing Kamehaha with Goku’s spirit helping. These attacks can be devastating and include something else that makes Dragon Ball FighterZ interesting, the animation.

Super attacks and transitions can trigger animation where the fight moves from the side on view of the fight, to show characters from different angles. These happen somewhat regularly and allows the fights to be reminiscent of the TV show. This is what elevates the game from another great side on fighter, to something special for 2018.

There were snags, especially in the opening hours of the early access Beta where there were network issues. This had me a little apprehensive but once the servers weren’t under maintenance I found the game worked a dream. Matchmaking was fast once I realised you needed to watch the screen and accept a match when it pops up, which makes a whole lot of sense to rule out idle players.

The Beta didn’t give access to offline modes such as the story, which I am intrigued to see. With access to online, where I had my rear end promptly handed to me regularly, I got a feel for the gameplay, and I am impressed thus far.

The post Dragon Ball Z FighterZ (PlayStation 4) Preview appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 slammed its way onto consoles in late 2016 (PS4 Review), where it garnered a mixed reception. Now that this massive, both in scope and explorable areas, game has landed on the Switch, the question is if it will hold up on Nintendo’s big handheld/little console.

For those unfamiliar with the series, or this game, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 tells a story of Mira and Towa who are giving enemies throughout history strength using the Tree of Might. This is causing imbalances to the timeline as bad guys who lose their fights are suddenly overpowered, needing to be stopped by Trunks and the others in Canton City.

You create your character from any of the races, and gender where applicable, with enough options to make your unique Dragon Ball styled character. You will then be dropped into Canton City where you are tasked with getting stronger and helping the Supreme Kai’s along with Trunks to go through time to help ensure these fights go the way they were supposed to. All of this while you make your way towards Mira, Towa and the mysterious masked Saiyan.

The writing and dialogue throughout the game is super corny. This is important to note as it may turn some people off, but it hits a certain nostalgic note for me, where it’s as corny as the TV series ever were. Thanks to its silly premise, it allows us to go through time with our unique character and take part in the battles we spent many years watching in the series.

Canton City is also littered with a region for each race where you get specific missions from characters belonging to that race, as well as other Dragon Ball characters scattered through the city. These characters all train you and teach you their iconic attacks, hammering home that fan service the game is dripping in.

The biggest fear I had going into the game, was the drop-in power from a PS4 to the Switch’s power. Fortunately, the gameplay is still fun and I never hit any snags. It’s still not perfect, gameplay can get repetitive, but this is less of an issue on the Switch as you can jam out in handheld mode while something else is on the TV.

The only other issue is the potential loss of graphical quality. I noticed a slight downgrade when the game was docked but a significant one in handheld mode. This is notable with the jaggies along the lines of the cell shaded character designs. Despite this, the graphical downgrade was only notable when I was looking for it and it was easy to stop noticing it as the game is still gorgeous, especially when you think about the fact that you’re playing it on a handheld.

Online works well, as it did in the original versions of the game, where you can get into fights or take on missions with others online. The lack of a native Switch voice client sucks here, but it’s still better than nothing and provides some more content if you feel the many hours weren’t enough.

There are some Switch specific features including using motion controls to steer your way around Canton City and even using the joycons to enact actions to perform attacks. This is a neat feature, and a bit of fun to pay with, but it doesn’t elevate past being a gimmick, which can be ignored if it doesn’t tickle you.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is a great addition to the Switch for anyone who hasn’t played it before, or someone who wants to play it all again on the go. For anyone happy with their first playthrough and no interest of returning then there won’t be enough here to justify the purchase.

The post Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (Nintendo Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.