The Dragonball Universe is always one that has gotten away from me slightly, but at the same time I love the art of mastering a good fighting game. I love the art style so I thought it was worth me having a go at this review to learn a little more about the the whole series.
Dragonball Xenoverse 2 is the the sequel to Dragonball Xenoverse (good start, I know) and begins two years after the end of the last game.The Time Patrol are now expanding and your character is the newest member. Right from the off you begin to build your character, first off you’ll choose which race you want to be and then and then there are all manner of features to create your protagonist exactly how you want. Once you have given them a name your journey begins. If you have a character from the previous game, you can import them very easily, which I thought was a nice feature.
Enemies from various timelines are trying to rewrite by wiping out memories of some of Draginball’s greatest heroes, with the threat of history changing again it’s up to you to and the Time Patrol to go back in time and make things right again, but before you do any of that your training needs to be completed.The Central hub of the game is Conton City a huge hub full of opportunities to begin quests, work on extra training or purchase skills, items and equipment for your character. There is a huge amount to explore and you’ll also discover other islands with quests on too. I loved exploring the different districts, each had their own colourful personality which drew me in. Eventually you’ll be given a licence to fly around the hub, which will make things a lot easier. At first it all felt a bit overwhelming but the simple UI and good map helped me find my way around quickly. The training sections were really useful and I learnt a lot pretty quickly, as a beginner I never felt out of depth so if Dragnball is a game you have never played but want to get into, it’s good know you’ll be settled into the mechanics quite quickly, even if you get a bit lost story wise.
I really enjoyed the combat in the game, the usual assortment of heavy light and super are attacks are availbe and the battles always feel very dramatic, which I loved. To top that there are some great ranged attacks that allows you to adapt your style very easily. You’ll be rewarded accordingly for your efforts, whether it be a consumable item and most importantly skills points that can be can be used to improve your attribute when you level up. You can choose to play through on your own but the hub allows you to play through quests with your friends rather than relying on the AI to help you out. I braved taking on teams online but as new player you can imagine I found that quite tough, my experienced players will definitely enjoy themselves though.I was impressed at how quick the game was, but also how stable it was too, I was expecting plenty of screen tearing and stuttering but the game was silky smooth. The game isn’t without it’s issues, load times are poor, and it takes too long to replay mission, you need to keep going back to hub ti fine the mission to start again, a simple button press would have been really helpful.
Dragonball Xenoverse 2 is a great game, I had a lot more fun with it that I expected – It does a good job of keeping newer fans up to date, while the tutorial ensures players will comfortable going into battle. The vibrant colours and beautiful animation really make the game stand out, and the fighting is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed exploring the hub, and spent much longer than I was expecting in the customisation section of the game, This is clearly a no-brainer purchase if you are a fan of them game, and for those new to the series will be sorely tempted to pick up the first game too to get a fuller experience.
Thanks to Bandai Namco & Xbox for supporting TiX
