In some RPGs, there are spots where you'll just sit and power-level your main or a character who's behind in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, there's little reason to do so. Story and side missions offer vastly more experience, making non-boss fights feel more like a nuisance than anything else. They offer experience to level your characters, but not enough experience to make it worthwhile. The problem is fights against random enemies are largely not worth your time. You'll feel like a badass when you slam an enemy into a mountain and follow up with a Masenko special attack. It's not hard, leaning more on making you feel powerful. Fighting properly is a matter of managing your Ki and waiting for the openings in enemy attack patterns. Vanish Attacks put you behind your foe, and a timed Just Dodge slows time down all gives you chances to really stunt on enemies, though you rarely need to. There's the Burst attack, which stops enemy attack combos and gives you some space.
You have melee attacks, Ki Blasts, special attacks, a quick dodge, and a block at your disposal, though there are some additional mechanics for those who move beyond button mashing. Combat finds your Z Warrior tethered to their opponents in a 3D arena, with the ability to switch targets with the right stick. Combat is generally solid, though having to pull the same moves repeatedly over non-boss fights can start to feel like a straight grind. You will fight a number of random encounters while exploring each map, though you can boost away in some cases and eventually boost right through the encounters altogether.
I flew around collecting orbs for hours before I even knew how to spend them. It's similar to the collection tasks in games like Crackdown and Saints Row 4, where you end up losing yourself in find new spots orbs and maybe a D Metal or two. You need these orbs to progress your characters, but there's a sense of mindless zen to orb collection itself. These orbs are strewn all over every map in plain sight, with the orbs' colors usually having something to do with the location: red orbs near desert areas, blue orbs near water, etc. There's a ton to discover around each map, including new items, characters, ore, fishing spots, and campfires, but most of your time will be spent collecting orbs.
It's not an open-world per se, instead being comprised of a few large, discrete maps, but it's a wonderful playground within the Dragon Ball universe where you can meet semi-forgotten characters like Eighter, Nam, and Fortuneteller Baba.įlying around the map is a breeze and one of the spots where Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is at its best. There's even a few vehicles you can ride around in, like Goku's Flying Nimbus or a customizable hover car. You can run along the ground, leap high in the air, take off flying, or even boost at high speeds. Whereas the latter Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm titles did away with the high-jumping exploration of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games and the first Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot allows the Z Warriors to fly freely above each location. Combat isn't bad, but the encounters don't always showcase the best side of the game. headquarters, Red Ribbon Army's Muscle Tower, and King Kai's World. Every location feels like it belongs within the Dragon Ball Z universe, with landmarks like Goku's home, Kame House, the Capsule Corp.
Kakarot shares DNA with the latter Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm games, allowing players to traverse large map representing iconic locations from the franchise, collecting items and completing sidequests from a cadre of colorful side characters. It benefits not only from current technology, but also the expertise of CyberConnect2, the team behind all of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games. Kakarot is a full-fat version, an action RPG retelling Dragon Ball Z lore from the Saiyan Saga all the way to the Buu Saga.
The Legacy of Goku series tried the same concept back in 2002, but it was constrained by being on the Game Boy Advance. Dragon Ball Z has always been there floating in the background.ĭragon Ball Z: Kakarot, an action role-playing game covering a large chunk of the Dragon Ball Z chronology, isn't an entirely new idea. This was before "Dragon, Dragon, rock the dragon.", before Toonami, before DVDs, and before Crunchyroll. Even in Japanese, unsubtitled, it was never that hard because Dragon Ball Z is remarkably straightforward. We'd all gather around in my friend's house and puzzle out what was happening.
I'm dating myself, but I remember waiting each month for a VHS full of episodes straight from Japan, untranslated. Dragon Ball Z has been a part of my life for a very long time.