Dragon Ball Z games have launched in various degrees of quality. It is always good to practice skepticism with these games because for every great game like Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimensions on the Super Nintendo, we get three horrific entries like Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast. It is never fun being burned by a bad game adopted from a pre-existing franchise with personal and nostalgic ties. Thankfully the new Xenoverse series has acted as a new age for incredibly fun Dragon ball Z games when the first entry came out back in 2015. The sequel, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, moves the franchise forward with minimal changes but carries the torch of the original by bringing quality, fandom, kinetic controls, and an incredible roster to longtime fans of the anime.
Created character (in the middle)
The adventure continues to be yours in this entry and you again create your own character to participate in some of the most memorable fights in the Dragon Ball Z lore. Expect all the fast action, hard punches, enormous energy beams, and evasive teleportation maneuvers that made the TV show iconic.
There are plenty of customization options to choose from as you appoint you look to the five races of, Sayian, Namekian, Human, Buu, and Frieza race. Each race has their own ability to transform. Sayians go Super, Frieza goes perfect, Buu goes Kid, humans have hidden potential, and the Namekian’s grow large like Lord Slug. Nobody is left out of the transformation game this time around which levels the playing field in a big way. The other races lacked a true transformation which found those character under powered when fighting against transformed Super Sayians. This addition was more than welcomed.
Once you cook up your fantasy character, you are dropped right into the world of the Time Patrollers where you’ll help keep time’s flow safe from the dastardly villain duo of Towa and Mira. These characters return from the first game and use their energies to increase the power of other villains across time. These time manipulators team up with Turles and Lord Slug and tackle every major moments in the Dragon Ball Z history. These super powered versions of classic villains are determined to change the timeline for the worse. Your job as a Time Patroller is to ensure that the events go according to how they originally transpired. For whatever reason your original character’s presence does not affect time like the presence of new villains, so in that aspect the narrative makes little to no sense. Leave logic at the door for this story folks. The time traveling rules are basically nonexistent and offered up in convenient and illogical ways.
The mechanics are not much different from Xenoverse 1, however, they are refined and honed. Everything just feels faster in all the right ways, which for a Dragon Ball Z game is majorly important. You want to feel like Vegeta when reeling back for a final flash and you want to harness the speed of Gohan when you are zipping around the large areas looking for the next bout. This game delivers on that fantasy of embodying a Z Fighter, and any fan of the series would be hard pressed to feel differently.
6 Player Raid Boss Fight Against Vegeta in Ape Form
There are plenty of customization options as you progress in the game. Once you start collecting costume pieces and buying new articles of clothing with your awarded currency. You can look like some of your favorite characters or go for a completely unique look as you pan through your item drops to see which clothing has the best stats and look. If you don’t like the stats but love the look of your clothes, there is a remedy for that! QQ Bangs can be mixed up by combining clothing and power items. This negates the effects of the clothing stats which, in turn, uses the QQ Bang stats, which gives you the choice to look how you want but have the stats that fit your play style.
HUB World Conton city
There are other things to do in the HUB world as well. This world acts as your lobby, a place your character engages in as you queue up missions and quests.This open area known as Conton City, is much bigger than Xenoverse 1’s HUB world of Toki Toki City. Your created characters. It is so awesome to see all their creations as you run around the world communicating through emotes. Bonus: No load times for this HUB area with up to 250 other player-controlled combatants, all with their owns hinder this areas as you fly from end to end and do small quests and missions in that world.
There are plenty of activities to occupy your time in Conton City. Time rifts are quests that has you going to famous locations like Guru’s house, Frieza’s ship, Capsule Corp Building, and Master Roshi’s Island. Here you will find your character participating in missions that are specific to these locations. Guru’s house will have you fighting off Frieza forces and collecting Namekian Dragon Balls. While over at Frieza’s ship you will find yourself aligning with different Lieutenants as they usurp one another all in the name of becoming Frieza’s right had man. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 does not lack content, but it does lack diversity. In any of these quests, the main thing you are doing at any time will always be fighting. The only things that do change are the enemies, the win and lose stipulations, and the arenas you fight in. It sounds like a negative point but it is no more repetitive than any other fighting game.
The gamplay loop is very exposed early on, but that comes with the territory of these mission based/grind heavy/loot collecting games. You will spend your time doing all the various types of missions I have talk about, which are ultimately the same mechanically. You will load up a story mission, fight some bad guys, and then at the end of the match get some credits, items drops and possibly even new moves. You will then utilize item drops, sell them off, or mix them into new items. Doing story missions unlocks patrol missions which are just variations of the story quests. In between these mission you can do all the time rift events which, again, is just more fighting. The game is repetitive, there is no denying that. I think this shortcoming is overshadows by all the other working parts of this game though.
Even Movie Content Make’s its Way In
The story and mission progression have not changed much from Xenoverse 1. The story itself is all about fixing the timeline of the original series, while the Patroller Missions, which can be played up to 3 players co-op online, takes more creative chances as yr avatar teaming up with the bad guys in alternative-history-like scenarios. Playing online with 2 other friends is a blast and has quickly become one of my favorite co-op experiences of this year. There are also 6-player raid missions where you’ll participate in fighting big bosses for big payouts and loot. These fights get incredibly large scale in terms of the open spaces you occupy and the amount of movement and activity going on at any given time. The intensity levels of these battles really ramp up as the screen becomes a cornucopia of colors as you blast energy waves together in an attempt to take down the damage sponges in the form of long time villains.
Out of all the games this year that I have played, the only game me and my gamer group could agree on to play co-op this year was Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. My squad and I loved the first game and played hundreds of hours of co-op, so it was obvious that we would return to this series. Also an important personal note if you’re debating to purchase this for group gaming: out of the four people I play this game with, only 2 of us are major Dragon Ball Z fans, one is a passive fan, and the other hates the entire series. He plays the game because it offers fun co-op, jaw dropping graphics, and a great fighting game/action RPG hybrid.
Graphics Looking as Close to the Anime as Can Be
There is nothing else like the Dragon Ball Xenoverse series. The creative team, Dimps, has taken everything they did right about earlier fighting game entries, and shaped it up into an Action/Adventure RPG hybrid. Much like what Gearbox did with marrying the first person shooter genre to the Role Playing Game genre with Borderlands, Xenoverse series successfully merges two completely different game types to make something that feels fresh. I think that anybody, fan or not, that is willing to give it a try, can find something to enjoy about this game. Buy it now if you’re a longtime fan, try and check it out if you have a passing interest…but this is one of those gems of this year that will be sorely under-appreciated by most of the gaming community.
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I’ve been mulling over this subject for weeks now, ever since Nicktoons started playing twelve hour blocks* of Dragon Ball Z Kai. Okay, so maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggeration. But seriously. Nicktoons only plays about four shows ever. It’s all part of a promotion for “their” “new” series, Dragon Ball GT, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
Today, I’m listing the top ten reasons the Dragon Ball series’ are a rare exception in the world of anime: they actually have strong female characters who are great examples for young girls. At the very least, here is why I’ve always thought they were great role models.
1. The smartest person on the planet is a girl.
Bulma isn’t only the smartest person on the planet, she’s also not afraid to admit her smarts. Sure, she’s pretty too, and probably holds the record for most hairstyle changes ever, but it’s not her looks that get her the dragon balls. Bulma has her “weak” moments that provide plenty of comic relief, but she ultimately keeps her focus on the task at hand.
2. The men in the series are utterly hopeless without the women telling them what to do. When Goku isn’t thinking about food or fighting, and when Vegeta isn’t thinking about… well, fighting Kakarot, they would probably forget to go to the bathroom if there wasn’t a woman around reminding them. I can’t count the amount of times Chi-Chi reminds both Gohan and Goten to do their homework, and sometimes I wonder whether Krillin even exists when he’s not with Android 18.
3. They fight alongside their men. I don’t know that this one requires further explanation. Both Chi-Chi and Videl are trained from the time they are young to fight along with the best of the men.
4. They have lives outside of their respective man buddies. Bulma, Chi-Chi, Videl and Android 18 all have lives before and after love. When Bulma and Yamcha don’t work out, she moves on. Yes, Chi-Chi is sad when her husband Goku “dies”, but she has things to do besides sit at home and cry.
5. Guess who wears clothes? Unlike some other anime series, the women featured in the Dragon Ball shows, for the most part*, cover up. Their costumes go for function over sexiness. When Bulma is stuck wearing her bunny costume it’s a joke rather than an every-day accepted way of being, and Videl’s haircut happens specifically so that she can fight better.
6. And guess who doesn’t put up with being oogled? In fact, Roshi is constantly and even out-of-contextually chastised for objectifying women. The girls don’t put up with his perverted attitude (again, with an almost singular exception when Bulma flashes him in exchange for a dragon ball.) and he is frequently punished for it.
7. They’re only human. These women make mistakes (see above re: Bulma and a dragon ball), they get messy. They’re no June Cleaver– they are well-rounded women who often have to rely on themselves. When they trip, no one catches them besides themselves. In other words, they don’t live on a pedestal.
8. Ladies can be funny, too. The women on the show are hilarious, and not just as the butt of the joke. They know that they live in a ridiculous world, and have fantastic senses of humor about it.
9. They don’t have to be super human to be super heroes. None of the women (except Android 18) are anything more than regular people who use their abilities to achieve greatness. They train, they work hard, and they come out on top.
10. They are likable characters. Many female characters in anime are stereotypes, or they’re riddled with faults that require men to save them. These women are well-developed, most spanning more than one series, and they end up being incredible characters with detailed lives. Their complexity makes them interesting, likeable women who are more than just a pretty face.
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
BOO-It-Yourself Halloween Costumes – Misa Amane
Get those wallets out, guys, because FUNimation has managed to once again turn out our pockets to buy a scrubbed up version of something we already own. But this time, it’s definitely worth it.
June 28th, get ready for Part Five of the 20th anniversary DBZ remake, Dragon Ball Z Kai. Unless you’re one of the lucky sunnvabitches who preordered to avoid natural sunlight. In which case, bravo.
Left with a terrible yet expected cliffhanger back on Namek, Part Four abruptly ends with megabaddie Frieza going toe to toe with the blindly raging, freshly dyed-blonde Super Saiyan Goku. Part 5 will pick up back on Namek as they duke it out to the backdrop of a dying planet and continue on through Episodes 53-65, where we will learn the mysterious past of Trunks, the origin of the Androids and ultimate finish with femme fatale #18 kicking some serious Saiyan butt.
Like this ever happens in real life.
But wait, we’re at episode 53 and Namek is already combusting? Shouldn’t we still be watching Dende become an orphan, Bulma’s underwater escapades, or Zarbon prancing around in leg warmers? Don’t worry, there was more than enough filler to chop while managing to leave the story intact without feeling rushed. For the 20th anniversary of DBZ, Toei Animation went to work cutting down from 291 episodes to 99 in order to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster paced story. FUNimation took their cue and sat down to redub the dialogue, which is being treated with more respect than ever before for an English dub of a Dragon Ball product. Episode titles are faithful translations of original Japanese titles and the DVD versions are all uncut, which means blood and profanity galore. Redubbed, revised, and remastered? Totally down, even if it means Goku’s childlike innocence is shattered by no-no words.
Following the story as Toriyama originally planned could mean that we end with Epic, but wont see our favorite Fail stay puft, Majin Buu. Call it filler, but The Adventures of Buu & Mr. Satan! were hilarious in that fork to the eye kind of way. Mixed feelings on my part, but that’s what I have my original Drag-On orange box sets for, so I’ll be happy either way.
Still not convinced? Check out the Part Five trailer and tell me you’re uninterested. I dare ya.
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
