The second I started playing DBZK I felt as if I’m in the beloved anime series itself.
The game tells the story of the DBZ anime series from the Sayian sega all the way to the Mujin Buu sega. You play as any of the main characters – Goku, Vegeta, Piccollo, Future Trunks and Gohan. According to where you are in the story, the game will give you the character that is relevant to the plot. Just like the anime, a lot of the time the main character you hope to see – Goku – is found dead and because of that you’ll play more as is kid Gohan. That aspect of Goku is both annoying but to the point. because Goku is almost all the time the big “savior of the universe” (mostly at the Buu sega) it makes sense to play as Gohan and to experience with him the affect of time passing and powering up as a Z-Warrior.
With the original voice actors for both English and Japanese voice cast, and with great animation that makes you feel as if the anime came to life; all that combined and you can feel like you are watching a great remake version of the series.
As I said, the game follows the plot of the DBZ series, but it also brings back classics characters from the original Dragon Ball such as Eighter, Lunch and Numi, and you can help them during you’re adventures.
As gameplay goes – the controls seem at first a bit much, but after the first battle I found it vary good and helps with the flow of the game. With a “dash” button that can be used as lite dodges or as a fast way in order to get close to your opponent. Attacking seems at first as a simple button massing, but you have to be precise on the timing of your attacks, or the enemy will give you a stun attack.
If you need help in becan take with you up to two different fighters with you as backup. Each of them has two attacks that you can costume as you see fit. With backup characters you have more choices, like Krillin, Tencinhon, Yumcha and more.
One thing I found lacking is the amount of health for the bosses. Every opponent I fought had five life bars, which is fine, because some of them are at a higher level than me. Until the big fight with Frieza I had to face enemies that are extremely more powerful than me, but after that almost all of the opponents were at the most two levels above me, so the fight was pretty easy.
The world is divided to multiple areas that you can explore. In each of them you can fight the grunts of the main enemy – depended on the sega you are on, like the Saibamen or soldiers of the Frieza force. You can also do side quests that acts as filler between fights, they can reward you with EXP, items. And of course, you can collect all the dragon balls and you’ll be able to summon Shenron and make wishes throughout the game.
As you level up, you can do “mental training״, with it you can power up your attack’s and learn new ones for each character. Aside from mental training, you can train in a battle simulation at Capsule Corp and you’ll be able to receive perks for you characters.
In addition to fighting and training, you can fish and gather food in order to cook it, which can power you up with a time limit and give you a permanent boost. You can ether cook at camp fires, or ask Chi-Chi for a full cooked meal, each of them will increase you stats in a different amount.
If you want to test your speed or strength then you can do one of the fun mini games in the open world, like time race with cars, or playing baseball. Each of thous activists will be unlocked after specific sega’s you’ll finish.
With over 60 hours of gameplay, four sega’s, plenty of side quests and more to come with the upcoming DLC’s, I got to feel like I’m watching one of my all time favorite anime’s yet again, but this time, better and greater than before.
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is available now for PS4, Xbox One and PC for 60$.