HomeReviewsDragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO Review

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO Review

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO

Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $69.99 USD – Available Here $119.95 AUD – Available Here

Overview

Nearly a decade and a half has passed since the Budokai Tenkaichi fighting games exploded onto platforms and delivered the chaotic unbalanced chaos that was an arena fighter set in the Dragon Ball universe. Since then we’ve seen plenty of different Dragon Ball games including those more story focused or built around “what-if” time travel and even a proper fighting game designed with balance and competition in mind. But for many fans, it has been a long time coming to see Budokai Tenkaichi’s brand of chaos unfold once more and now it has finally returned with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. Spanning nearly the entirety of the whole franchise and delivering quite a lot of content, is this the chaotic arena fighter that fans might be hoping for?

Story

For the most part Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero tells the same story that fans of the franchise have come to know for decades but only expanded for a more modern setting. Rather than concluding at the end of the Buu Saga like games in the past did or even featuring a few characters from earlier in the Super series, players will find that the story on offer in the game now goes all the way through to the end of the recent anime and even the Broly film that followed it. The story is told almost entirely through “character episodes” where players will select one character, with Goku being the only one available at the start, and play through all the main battles that these characters fought throughout the storyline. Such as Goku’s case, he’d start with fighting Raditz before returning to battle Nappa and then Vegeta before skipping all the way to near the end of the Frieza Saga. 

Since character episodes can jump around and focus solely on that fighter’s perspective of battles it is worth noting that players should swap back to the episode menu from time to time to see what additional characters have been unlocked as many of their fights are then interspersed between other characters. Along these same lines players can jump around and even play as some of the villains of certain arcs from time to time as well. In some interesting events players can occasionally unlock unique “what-if” scenarios if they manage to clear certain conditions in certain fights while battling on normal difficulty which will send the storyline down a slightly different path. These what-ifs aren’t quite as fleshed out as some may hope and can be quite difficult to unlock, especially since most conditions aren’t quite clear and a few are extremely vague even for those that do know, though there are ways to make things a bit easier through the use of the Dragon Balls as well as simple trial and error.

Alongside the Character Episodes players will find a plethora of pre-created “Custom Battles” that feature little bits of unworded dialogue but happen to feature unique interactions between certain characters and revisit some key moments from the franchise or even tap into memes from the series, such as Yamcha facing down the Saibamen now that he’s stronger and many others. Players can even create their own custom battles and upload them online with custom interactions and characters, though it is worth noting that they must win the fight themselves before being able to upload it. Additionally it is interesting to note that the game includes an entire glossary of characters that players can have Bulma, ChiChi, and Videl make comments on and discuss. This even includes talking about characters that they haven’t canonically met or their thoughts on certain characters depending on the time frame they are from, adding a bit of extra enjoyment for longtime Dragon Ball fans.

Gameplay 

The biggest element, quite literally in a few cases, with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero happens to be its massive roster size. Sporting one hundred and eighty fighters with more on the way as DLC and these fighters ranging from all Dragon Ball Sagas, anime series, films, and more. There are a few noticeable missing characters that will likely be included in the future but this arena fighter allows players to battle Great Ape Vegeta against Great Ape Baby in a battle of giants or pit a character like Yamcha against Jiren if they feel like it. Many characters control in similar fashion though depending on where a character is based out of, such as the numerous forms of Goku, they will have various special and super abilities, transformations, and even fusions available during a battle. For example, selecting an early era Goku might only allow players to enter his first Kaioken form while his final Super movie forms can transform into numerous forms of Super Saiyan, walking either up from base or starting at full power if they choose. 

Regardless of what character players choose to play as they’ll have a few gauges to work with no matter what. One is a technique gauge that refills over time and allows for various technical counters, abilities like rapid movement to pursue or avoid an attack, and even enter the “Sparking” mode when charging “ki.” The second gauge is obviously the ki gauge that is used to unleash any of a character’s two initial skills that have various levels of use and efficiency. Balance has been thrown out the window here and ironically it makes the game all the better for it, embracing the tradition of some characters simply being far overpowered even if they end up being surprising ones. Either way, players can choose to charge ki by holding down the charge button or let it regenerate naturally and, if they have a technical point, enter sparking mode when overcharged with ki.Sparking not only allows for near unlimited combo use as well as powered up punches but access to a character’s most powerful super move that will deplete them out of sparking mode regardless if they hit or not.

That being said, while Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero may seem simple at first, it is far from it. There’s a deceptively deep level to the amount of counters and abilities in the game that players will need to learn to master even if they want to take on some of the more challenging character episodes, let alone take their skills online. This includes both offensive and defensive techniques and while there is a training mode available, it is a bit on the basic side and neglects to properly explain certain elements of the mechanics and how to utilize them properly, meaning players will need to learn on the fly more often than not.

As mentioned before, there is a massive amount of single player content to enjoy through the Character Episodes and the possibly endless options available when including the pre-created Custom Battles, let alone trying out battles that other users have created and uploaded. There are also tournaments that players can customize from the ground up if they want to or select a preset tournament that can either be fought online or single player against the CPU. In fact the game even has couch battling though the game limits players in this regard by making it so they can only fight in the very basic Hyperbolic Time Chamber stage compared to the many other stages available.  The online battles work well enough though as mentioned before not only is the game not created with balance in mind, it can also be a bit of a mess setting up fights but when we did get into battles they worked rather well with little slowdown. That being said, it is worth noting that the game doesn’t seem to punish people who “rage quit” as it is a prominent issue online at the moment.

Audio & Visuals

Considering the massive amount of characters available in the game, a whopping one hundred and eighty fighters if you count each version as a separate fighter, it must be said that the development team has made sure to capture the original designs perfectly here. The traditional animation for all of the characters looks absolutely wonderful whether it is a fighter from Super or someone from one of the original movies. The way that these characters look and fight in combat is an absolute blast and the colorful explosions that are their super moves or beam struggles are as bright and bombastic as a fan of Dragon Ball could ask for. Couple this with a wonderfully destructive environment and it must be said that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero captures the essence and power of Dragon Ball perfectly. That being said, while some specific scenes are given solid animation, a lot of the Character Episode cutscenes are strangely presented in slide-show format, making them feel cheaper than they should.

As for the voice work it must be said that the team has done an excellent job tracking down nearly the original voice cast for all of the characters that are in the game and recording fresh lines for the fighters to use. This is especially true with the many unique interactions that characters will have with one another, with some rather shocking unique dialogue sequences occurring often between villains or even alternate versions of characters. The soundtrack features a solid collection of background music including the familiar opening theme from the Super anime.

Overall

It feels like Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero picks up the reins right where Budokai Tenkaichi left them by offering such an impressively massive roster that it feels like a celebration of everything Dragon Ball. Combine that with wonderfully colorful and animated battles and special moves and you have a title that is over-the-top as an arena fighter can be. There are some issues teaching players the fundamentals and more in-depth mechanics as well as some of the Character Episodes feeling underwhelming but otherwise those looking for a bombastic arena fighter and simply want to enjoy the best a Dragon Ball game has probably ever felt need look no further than Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero.

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Summary

Great
8.5
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is an absolute blast that captures the over-the-top nature of the franchise’s fights perfectly while also offering a massive, albeit unbalanced, roster.
Travis Bruno
Travis Bruno
After playing games since a young age and getting into anime a bit later on its been time to write about a little bit of everything.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is an absolute blast that captures the over-the-top nature of the franchise’s fights perfectly while also offering a massive, albeit unbalanced, roster.Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO Review