Dragon Ball FighterZ in 2021 — Is it still worth it?
In recent weeks I’ve been trying to produce some different articles, before embarking on an extremely long journey through one of the most famous franchises in the world of games (news coming soon), but I always end up stalling in some of them, either for lack of motivation or for pure procrastination.
And every time that happened, I’ve always turned my attention to one of the most fun activities of my day — fighting. Then I thought, why not write about my experiences with this!? But don’t get me wrong, I’m not referring to some martial art, but rather the extravagant fights, with rays of energy, teleportation, flight, transformations and another series of humanly impossible actions that only fighting games can provide us.
I refer more specifically to Dragon Ball FigherZ, a game developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco in mid-2018. And this, like other studio’s famous titles, such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, shines with its character design and combat that follows classic molds of the golden era of 2D fighting games.
Unlike the other reviews posted here, I want to stay on the more personal side, leaving aside some more technical aspects that have been exhaustively commented, over the years, by several journalists and content creators. But I still think it’s important to explain some game elements, for you to understand better what it’s about.
Dragon Ball FighterZ, as mentioned above, is a 2D fighting game in teams of three versus three, such as the Marvel vs Capcom series, which offers the player the standard kit already known in this genre, with kick and punch buttons, defenses, jumps, dashs, specials and an energy bar (ki) that needs to be administered throughout the fights.
Even with the frantic beating characteristic of the anime/manga, this game, after some balancing and modifications, remains extremely accessible for all types of players, from the most casual, with easy-to-use auto combos and special options, to the more professional, with the possibility of performing infinite combos, parry’s and a series of more actions that require a few more hours of training.
“The idea was to create an experience accessible to all new players, but, at the same time, difficult to fully master.”
To do so, the game has several modes, both online and offline, such as the story mode (featuring a new and exclusive character quite charismatic), tournament, arena (which modifies some aspects of gameplay), training, and the classic, arcade. That together create a great experience of a different and more complex fighting anime game than that present in anime fighting game (completely different concepts), as seen in the recent One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows.
And even after years, the community remains quite present, especially during the months in which a new character is released. Every day, when I play, I see that at least the first two servers are completely full, which is a great sign, considering that this is a fighting game and that I live in Brazil, a country where games are extremely expensive and the internet, of poor quality.
And it’s great to be part of this group, even though I’m a fan of the genre, I’ve never considered myself a really good player, especially in these of the same style as FighterZ, which require a little more effort. But here, unlike in other games like Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V, there’s still space for everyone to have fun.
After all these years, a great and captive community has been forming around the game. Producing various fanarts, gameplays, discussions, mods, tutorials, memes, and of course, tournaments, both professionals, as EVO itself and Fighterz World Tour, and amateurs, organized by small groups of friends on a server.
All these elements only prove that yes, Dragon Ball FighterZ remains an extremely viable game even after three years of its release (a very long time window, especially for fighting games) and I still dare say that this can be one of the best games of the genre, especially if you are a fan of anime. Since it perfectly portrays all the emotion present in Akira Toriyama’s anime/manga — The feeling that remains is like I’m there, in one of the arenas, watching those intense battles with all those kicks, punches, dodges, and of course, Kamehameha’s.
[Some images used in this article were taken from Google or game community profiles on Steam]
