Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Hands-On Preview – Go Super Saiyan Just Like In The Anime

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is the brand new entry in the legendary DRAGON BALL Budokai Tenkaichi series, which makes its comeback after more than 15 years. The game features high-speed action battles in the arena, with stunning graphics and great destructibility.

Scheduled for release on October 11th, 2024, Sparking Zero will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. The game boasts the largest roster of playable characters in the Budokai series, featuring both new additions and returning favourites. Recently, we got a chance to have a hands-on sneak peak of the game for ourselves, and see what we can share with the world before its release.

Episode Battle

In this single player mode, players can choose between 8 characters, like Goku or Vegeta, and live or relive some of the key battles starting from DRAGON BALL Z, up until DRAGON BALL SUPER’s Tournament of Power. But battles are just a part of the fun, as players can experience some of the cutscenes from the first-person point of view, deepening their immersion, and make some decisions that will have them play alternative scenarios from the franchise they know and love on certain stages.

Custom Mode

This mode is a particularly distinctive editing mode in this installment, offering players a high degree of freedom. Players can choose characters, scenes, situations, actions, and even dialogues according to their preferences. If you have a favorite character, you can set them as your protagonist, equip them with scenes, dialogues, actions, and more, players create their dream showdown . After completing the edits, players can upload their creations to the community for sharing or browse others’ works to see their creativity.

This mode will definitely be widely discussed once the game is launched. We might find highly creative short dramas or even situations where a minor character from the original series becomes the protagonist, which would be very interesting.

Split-Screen Battle

Yes, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero will also include an offline Multiplayer! Childhood memories flashback! While the game has been designed with Online Multiplayer and Single Player in mind, to make the most out of the latest generation of consoles, the development team wanted to ensure that the game would be the ultimate Dragon Ball experience, letting veterans and newcomers face each other in the comfort of their homes, reliving their childhood memories or honing their skills in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

VS Battle

This is the most classic and crucial mode in the game! The number of playable characters in this installment is the largest and most luxurious lineup in the Budokai series. From main characters to minor ones, each character’s different forms from various periods are treated as separate characters, each with unique skills and special moves. A team can consist of any three members, whether three different characters or three forms of the same character.

In terms of graphics, the 3D textures are excellent and blend seamlessly with the 2D art style of Dragon Ball, creating no sense of dissonance. There are nine battle stages, all featuring scenes from the anime. Each stage is vast, giving the impression of infinite extension if you don’t deliberately explore it. The stages are meticulously designed to reflect different themes, and fans of the Dragon Ball anime will find the scenes highly reminiscent of the anime’s storyline. Moreover, these stages are destructible. For example, city buildings, large rocks in Rock Land, and palm trees on islands can all be destroyed. If you slam an enemy (or get slammed) hard enough, the ground will even form a large crater. To enhance realism, smaller objects or buildings are easily destroyed, while larger structures or objects require significant impact, such as a Superpower, to be demolished. The design is very detailed.

Regarding effects, the skill effects are incredibly dazzling and not at all perfunctory. Each character’s skills and special moves are visually impressive, adding to the excitement of playing different characters. The sense of impact is also impeccable, with each punch feeling solid and satisfying. Additionally, this installment includes an auto combo feature, which is very friendly for new players, allowing them to perform combo attacks simply by repeatedly pressing the attack button.

As for the balance between characters, I personally feel it is not very balanced. In an interview, the producer mentioned that the strength of the characters in this installment is based on the anime’s storyline to maximize authenticity. Therefore, characters who are strong in the anime are relatively strong in the game, while weaker characters are relatively weaker.

Conclusion

Overall, the experience is fantastic. The graphics are exquisite, the actions are smooth, and the real-time scene destruction is surprisingly detailed. Simplified controls make it easier for beginners to get started and quickly master the gameplay. The sense of impact is great, making the game very enjoyable to play. Custom Battle is a very interesting mode, and although I didn’t get to try it during the demo, I am eagerly looking forward to experiencing it when the game is officially released. It seems players will create a variety of interesting and diverse short dramas.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam on October 11, 2024.

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