It’s amazing to see how wide the possibilities are for Dragon Ball games, from the card-system RPGs of the NES to the open-world RPGs of Dragon Ball Kakarot. One of the most popular was Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 3 on the Ps2 released in 2007. For a long time, something that fans have been asking for is a sequel. Finally, we have it with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and it doesn’t disappoint!

Evolving Thanks to the Power of the New Generation

For those who don’t know, the Tenkaichi series is a style that was similar to the “Arena Fighters” that anime games use a lot, where the player has a third-person view and can walk around the gigantic map while facing their opponent. Something not often seen, especially at the time of the ps2. And I remember well the feeling of playing the first Budokai Tenkaichi and how impressed I was to feel as if I were in the anime itself doing those incredible battles with more freedom than any other game in the series. Here, thanks to the power of the current generation of video games, the gameplay has evolved a lot, both in terms of controls and visuals, bringing even more fidelity to the original work.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Retells the Story Innovatively

One of the problems for me with Dragon Ball games has always been having to rehash the same old story every time I play them and the solution here was very creative and it had been a long time since I had felt excited about revisiting the classic sagas of Goku and his friends’ adventure. Here it’s possible to take alternative paths and find new possibilities as the story unfolds and this greatly increases replayability, as it gives the player a new experience in this world and I thought it was a brilliant idea.

Especially if you’re a streamer, discovering both the conditions and the unfolding of these new stories with your audience is very worthwhile.

In addition, it is now possible for players to create their own adventures and stories in a creation mode implemented for the first time in this game.The tool is a little difficult at first and complex to work with, but the hard-working player who studies it will be surprised by the possibilities available. Perhaps a few tweaks in future patches would be welcome, such as being able to put the character names in alphabetical order to make searches easier, for example.

It’s also easy for streamers to play their audience’s creations, creating great interaction for those following a live stream.

The Focus Here Is on the Battles, and They Don’t Disappoint

The combat remains frantic and spectacular and, of course, this is where the game focuses the most and where players will spend the most time: the versus mode and the online mode! In its local versus mode, this is where I was a little disappointed, as you can only choose from one available scenario, which takes away some of the desire to enjoy this mode. As for the online mode, the game works very well, I played a few matches with my friends and they were a lot of fun, with an incredible total of 182 characters, not including the DLC that is yet to be released. The largest number of playable characters in the franchise.

Tested in its PC version on steam, the game runs well, sometimes a few slow moments with a lot of effects on the screen, but nothing that hinders the gameplay. It requires a relatively powerful machine for the player to be able to enjoy it and go live. A total of 16 languages are available! Very attractive for those who want to live stream the game. Unfortunately, the dubbing options are limited, with only Japanese and English available.

STREAMER SCORE

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S) - 2024

Overall

4.8

Performance
Streamability
Audience Engagement
Replayability

Sending

User Review

0 (0 votes)

Summary

Dragon ball Sparking Zero is what every fan of the series and especially those who grew up playing its games on the ps2 wanted to see again. The incredible work here has to be recognized, just a few improvements in its local versus mode, quality of life in its mode, creation of episodes and more dubbing options would surely make fans even happier.