Every Dragon Ball fan who plays video games remembers Budokai Tenkaichi 3, one of the greatest arena fighters of all time. I have fond memories of playing that on my PS2, competing against my friends in split-screen, mashing all buttons to start unblockable combos, and then finishing them off with a charged Ki attack that illuminates the entire arena. The rush of breaking through cliffs and buildings with supercharged punches never got old, and while there have been a few good Dragon Ball games since, nothing comes close to the 2007 classic. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero comes close with its modern visuals and quality-of-life features, but it’s still not quite close to every anime and fighting game fan’s dream Dragon Ball game.
Sparking! Zero is essentially Budokai Tenkaichi 4, retaining some of the franchise’s much-loved features while adding new elements to keep things fresh. For starters, the roster has been updated to include a whopping 182 fighters, including ones from Dragon Ball Super and even the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima. Granted, most of them are populated by variants of legacy characters like Goku and Vegeta, but it’s still an impressive collection. The campaign mode once again retells the entire Z saga and beyond, and it has a couple of unique twists.
First, you can now play through not one, but six interconnected campaigns as different characters. While it’s an interesting concept, letting you play as different characters and giving a new perspective to the saga, it’s not fleshed out enough. The bigger issue is that Sparking! Zero’s story presentation feels unfinished, maybe even rushed. Huge plot beats are skipped over in cutscenes with narration, so this is no way to experience the Z saga properly. In those cutscenes, you have the option to toggle a first-person mode, which you’ll stop activating after the novelty of the first one wears off. Similarly, which story beats are presented in which campaign feels a little random, and continuity between the different plotlines is loose.
You may start the Cell saga as Goku, and think of switching to Gohan’s campaign to finish it off, but you can’t do it on the fly and each campaign has its own plot progression. The more interesting thing to do would be to try out the villain’s perspective. Starting a Frieza plot on Namek, and then seeing it through to the Golden Frieza storyline is a neat trick, but you won’t learn anything you didn’t already know from the anime or manga. Throw in alternate reality what-if scenarios and things start to get complicated, and not in a good way.
Combat is Sparking! Zero is a direct continuation of Budokai Tenkaichi 3, but somehow it feels a little sloppy. The input delay between different moves varies greatly, mainly because the moves are more reliant on animations over actual hitboxes. Best of luck trying to grab an enemy while also blocking their attacks, because once you commit to a move, you’d better finish it. In fact, blocking is a major problem in the game, mainly because of its unreliability. There are different ways to chain together blocks with counters, but it was tough figuring out the timings for attacks from different characters. Getting back into the groove after being downed also takes an eternity, and the distance you cover with rush dashes is paltry for an arena fighter.
It also doesn’t help that the game has completely different button combinations for blocking different attacks. Sure, it may give the impression of a deep system, but given how fast these folks move through the air while overloading the particle system with their charge-ups, it’s hard to get a read on your opponents. Why can’t we go back to mashing circle (or “B”) to instantly dodge attacks when timed correctly? Would it be too simple? Maybe. Would it make things easy for the competitive scene? I don’t think so, especially if it was combined with maybe one modifier button to counter specific types of attacks.
Thankfully, the fundamentals of attacking and using specials remain the same for each character. Every Budokai fan knows the tried and true method of staying at a distance, charging your Ki, and then blasting your opponents with projectile-based specials. The same goes here, which is both a blessing and a curse of the franchise. It’s both nostalgic and unfulfilling to use the same tactics I employed when I played Budokai almost two decades ago.
Most of the fun I had in past Dragon Ball games was through their PvP modes. Fortunately, split-screen multiplayer returns and it’s just as good as ever. You can also create your own fight scenarios, complete with their own titles, thumbnails, and opening lines, and then share them with the world. Unfortunately, the online servers weren’t available during the review period, but I see a lot of potential in user-generated match scenarios and ranked tournaments.
Character progression is also tied to the story mode, drip-feeding you with equipable items, charms, and cosmetics. An in-game shop lets you buy such items with the in-game currency, and there’s a lot. You can customise your specific profile and preferred characters, to your heart’s content. Again, it’s hard to test how well this would work out in an offline environment, but we’re about to see a thriving community with these systems.
If you’re running low on items, which you seldom will, just head over to the Dragon Ball wish centre and summon one of three dragons, if you have gathered enough dragon balls, that is. These dragons will grant your wish for extra XP, money, characters, level-ups, etc.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Technical Performance
The game targets, and sticks to, a smooth 60fps on the PS5. There’s no 120fps option here, which would’ve been a bonus. While the gameplay is fine, it’s the cinematics where the game’s tech starts to falter. Poor anti-aliasing and occasional scenes locked to 30fps make it feel like a game from an older era, and it’s not like the engine is pushing next-gen visuals during those scenes. Of course, when it comes to the main event, i.e. the fights, the game holds up well and can look gorgeous during those colorful finishers on a properly calibrated HDR display.
Verdict
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is not better than Budokai Tenkaichi 3, but it can be the start of a new era. It has enough systems in it to sustain a lively online community and more than enough characters for you to master. If anything, the game has renewed my interest in the Dragon Ball franchise just in time for Daima, and I’m excited to see where the series goes next.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
This review first appeared on Men’s Journal on October 7, 2024, and was produced in partnership with GLHF. The story has been republished on The Screen Zone to preserve it, as the original website is no longer active.
