Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot: Specifications
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
price: $60
Release date: January 16, 2020/January 13, 2023
Type: Action / RPG
If the title “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” means anything to you, there’s a good chance you’re in the game’s target audience. If you know that Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular anime series of all time, and that “Kakarot” is another name for the series’ grinning hero Goku, you might enjoy spending a few dozen hours on a semi-open world action/RPG based on the franchise. If not, there are better open-world games out there — not to mention better animated adaptations.
However, the appeal of DBZ: Kakarot is not that it is a groundbreaking video game. Instead, the game manages to breathe a little life into a story we’ve heard a thousand times before thanks to a solid combat system, a stylish presentation, and enough new elements to keep things interesting. It’s easy to see how the game could go from “good” to “great” – more straightforward exploration, better side content, a less predictable story, etc. But in the vast pantheon Dragon Ball GamesKakarot is much closer to the top than the bottom.
Thanks to a recent free upgrade for current-gen consoles, DBZ: Kakarot has recently found itself in the spotlight, and rightfully so. If you missed this adventure the first time around, now’s the time to dive in – and if you’ve already played, some new DLC makes it worth revisiting. Read on for our full Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review: Gameplay
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is, first and foremost, an action/RPG. As I indicated when I was He previewed the game back in 2019The game flirts with some open-world elements, including free-roaming levels, sprawling side missions, multiple earnable currencies, and so on. But fighting enemies, gaining experience, and customizing your skill set are still at the heart of the experience. And this experience can be very rewarding, provided you are all on board the Dragon Ball Train.
The game completely retells a slightly shortened version of the Dragon Ball Z anime, where you will control Goku, a martial arts hero and defender of the Earth, as well as a few of his allies and opponents. From there, you’ll battle both faceless goons and big-name villains in chaotic, fast-paced instant battles.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot hangs on a fun, if unbalanced, combat system. As Goku and friends, you’ll fly around open battlefields, closing in on enemies and driving them into submission with melee and energy attacks. Melee combos are based on a single button, while you can upgrade and customize the power attacks you want to use. It’s a pretty straightforward matter, though the difficulty curve is all over the place. Enemies to encounter randomly are laughable, while some of the game’s bosses could easily defeat you – unless you’ve brought along a bunch of healing items, which you can use to cut down on many fights. Kakarot’s combat is more about style than substance, but said style is foolproof enough to carry the game.
Some of the gameplay systems in DBZ: Kakarot are almost uncannily faithful to the anime, which can work both to the game’s advantage and to its detriment. For example, most random encounter enemies give pitiful experience point bonuses, while the game’s rare side quests aren’t the most generous. Instead, characters gain massive amounts of XP during story scenes, or after boss battles. This means that you simply can’t get past the bosses, and in theory, you might feel some of the despair and triumph that the on-screen characters felt during those battles. But it also means that simply waiting for the story to progress often gives you far better rewards than putting in the effort yourself.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review: open world elements
While Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot isn’t really an open world game, it does take a lot of cues from this genre. Each level you explore in Kakarot is a huge, sprawling environment, which often contains multiple biomes, such as grasslands, deserts, swamps, snowfields, cities, and more.
On the other hand, the game’s semi-open design adds a lot to what could otherwise be a rote action/RPG. After all, the Dragon Ball anime isn’t just a series of battles; It’s also about a magnetic cast of characters exploring a variety of unforgettable locations, from Master Roshi’s colorful Kame House, to Bulma’s bustling West City, to Frieza’s deadly spaceship on Planet Namek. Traveling freely through these areas is pure wish fulfillment for fans of the show, and makes the game feel like a more cohesive whole.
On the other hand, there isn’t much to do in Kakarot’s sprawling levels. Each one has plenty of empty space, populated solely by crafting and cooking resources, as well as Z Orbs: the currency for upgrading your special abilities. After spending 10 or 15 minutes flying through the colorful, lifeless spaces, you’ll see pretty much everything you can see.
Interestingly, the game’s side missions give us a glimpse into what Kakarot could have been up to, if he’d been more insistent on open-world elements. In each chapter, you’ll encounter a handful of optional quests – but only a few. This includes fighting enemies or collecting resources for some of the fan-favorite side characters, including Android 8 and Yajirobe, and often grants generous rewards. However, not all of these side quests exist, and they aren’t available between every single main plot point, making them feel like disjointed aspects rather than integral parts of the game.
DBZ: Kakarot games with a few other funky systems – many playable heroes, a “community board” of upgradeable side characters that can boost your abilities, a branching skill tree, etc. But none of them feel as full-featured as the combat, which is good enough to support the game on its own.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Review: Story
Anime fans may be both pleased and weary to hear that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot almost continues the story of the series. “Pleased” is a logical response to the game following the entire story, from the Saiyans’ arrival to Majin Buu’s defeat – as is “Exhaustion,” since we’ve already heard that very story countless times in manga, anime, and endless video game adaptations.
For anyone who hasn’t already heard this ad infinitum story, DBZ: Kakarot tells the story of Goku: a happy-go-lucky martial artist who discovers he’s actually part of a warlike alien race called the Saiyans. When other Saiyans invade Earth, Goku and a small band of colorful warriors fight to save the planet – then things get progressively more complicated from there.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with the story, or its spirited presentation. But the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games have made it clear that the setting is ripe for the origin stories, and it’s not hard to imagine Kakarot’s overall gameplay with a more interesting narrative.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review: Visuals and sound
One area where Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot excels positively is in its visuals. The game’s colorful and stylized 3D graphics don’t quite resemble the hand-drawn aesthetic of the manga and TV show, but they do facilitate expressive characters, diverse landscapes, and fluid animations. In terms of current-gen improvements, loading times are noticeably faster than before, and the frame rate is considerably smoother. Likewise, the sound quality is excellent, featuring familiar voice actors and music from the anime.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review: Verdict
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is one of those “just for the fans” games – but for Dragon Ball fans, that’s not a bad thing. With solid gameplay and excellent production values, DBZ: Kakarot captures much of the same energy and excitement as the manga and anime that inspired it. It’s a story fans have heard a lot of before, but one of the best they’ve told in a while. With the same basic setting and more ambitious open world elements, it’s not hard to see how another game in the same vein could be better.
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