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- Dragon Ball FighterZ stands out by moving away from the repetitive arena fighter format, offering 2D stage fights with dynamic movement and flashy abilities.
- The game focuses on a skill-based combat system that’s easy to learn but hard to master, making its PVP both fair and engaging.
- FighterZ maintains the epic scale of battles with 3v3 gameplay and stunning graphics that stay true to the source material, setting it apart from other anime games.
Dragon Ball is such a cornerstone of most people’s childhoods that it has become marketable to the point of companies milking it. The games industry is especially guilty of this, with many games retelling the same story we’re acquainted with.
In this sea of reused content, Dragon Ball FighterZ introduces an interesting concept that has been well-received by both the Dragon Ball and fighting game communities.
What Makes It Special
A myriad of traits make Dragon Ball FighterZ unique compared to its contemporaries. Let us cover all the things that make it better than its predecessors.
Note: The comparisons drawn in this section are highly opinionated and not definitive in any manner. Everyone enjoys different things; we’re just recounting what made this game special for us!
It Sets Itself Apart
Though most Dragon Ball games have been arena fighters with varying mechanics, the repeated use of the same concepts since the release of Budokai Tenkaichi in 2005 has led to monotony.
FighterZ reimagines Dragon Ball games with 2D stage fights instead of arena battles. This change maintains the series’ signature flashiness, offering dynamic movement and special abilities.
FighterZ doesn’t retell the same story from the original series and previous games. Instead, it focuses on creating a fair, skill-based game loop that draws you in and keeps you entertained.
It helps that it is one of the only Dragon Ball games that has garnered recognition outside of the Dragon Ball community, with fighting game enthusiasts picking it up.
Easy To Learn Yet Hard To Master
Though there is a depth to the combat of Dragon Ball FighterZ, it still is fairly simple to pick up. All the deflects, guards, and blocks are standard enough that you can understand them within a few minutes but complex enough that you can build on them.
This makes the PVP of this game very fair, with very few game-breaking with only certain characters.
Speaking of characters, they also follow a similar trend to the difficulty. They are simple enough to get your hands used to them while all having unique quirks that make them seem different.
Does The Series Justice
Most other Dragon Ball games put you in the shoes of these overpowered characters fighting overpowered yet dumb enemy AIs, which makes the games seem very button-mashy and easy. The nature of the series hurts the gameplay experience.
With enemy AIs mostly not being a thing in this game outside the story mode, which almost no one buys this game for, FighterZ keeps the gameplay challenging with different strategies to counter different moves while keeping the scale of these battles just as epic.
The 3v3 gameplay also helps with this, with different strategies being more viable with different counters. This keeps you on your toes to continuously min-max your way to victory.
The different specials you can apply with different characters also make the scenes look grander, which is one of the most ubiquitous reasons Dragon Ball is loved by so many.
Graphics And Art Style
Though we agree that graphics do not play a huge role in making a gaming experience special, we have to mention how much better this game is compared to the rest of the anime game roster.
Arena fighters with cell-shaded animation somehow always look off. The mixture of the effort of looking 2D in a 3D game makes the characters look uncanny.
Though the characters’ models are rendered in 3D in FighterZ, the camera restriction makes them stand out as accurate to the source material, and the effects and specials are all on point.
Verdict
For all that we’ve sung its praises, FighterZ is not the end-all and be-all Dragon Ball game. It brings a new and refreshing take on the series, which is why we’ve been fangirling over it.
However, if you want to experience the Dragon Ball story, either for the first time or just to relive your initial experience, you should look elsewhere, but for the mechanical excellence of your favorite Dragon Ball characters, FighterZ is the best experience you could have.
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[News Editor]
Obaid is pursuing a Law degree while working as a content writer. He has worked as a gaming writer for over three years because of his passion for the medium and reporting the latest updates in the industry. Having played hundreds of games, Obaid finds himself coming back to Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Red Dead Redemption 2, with these games being among his favorites. He has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as Wccftech, Metro UK, PS Lifestyle, GamePressure, VGC, and Gamespot.
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