Drunken Reviews – Dragon Ball Z: The Battle of Z

The Battle of Z is an interesting new take on the regular Dragon Ball Z fighting game, containing a new 4 on 4 online battle mode alongside an objective mode that allows players to beat each other up while collecting dragon balls. Players can re-live some of the greatest DBZ battles using teams made up of 4 fighters, with a total roster size of 75 (including the 3 DLC characters).

Aside from following the main battles of the anime/manga, there is no real story to this game so players don’t get to experience any cut scenes or cinematics. There are 60 missions that are fairly boring to complete, a result of having one main objective; beat up the bad guys. The upside is there are special bonuses for remembering which character in the anime fought a specific enemy.

When a mission is completed, players earn a bundle of 3 random cards, experience, and in-game currency. As players progress through the missions and level up, they are able to equip more powerful cards, as well as spend the currency they have earned on specific cards they may need.

A major bummer is the lack of an offline co-op mode, players must be online in order to team up with 3 other people to take on each mission.

This is a fairly fun game, but a game I would recommend only for the most die-hard DBZ fans or the drunks. The AI in this game is an asshole, who hates your guts. Even when you set their role to ‘support’, they rarely heal or revive you (which I did take personally… by the way). Ultimate attacks seem impossible to pull off against opponents who are not a stationary AI, so good luck on that as well. One player has to mash B/circle until the ultimate bar fills up as the fight rages on around them, while the team continues to focus their energy on the player charging up the ultimate. There is some room for trolling fun here as the opposing team can score a ‘knock down’ blow and counter this elaborate dance known as an ‘ultimate move’.

Completing the Buu Saga grants players the option to continue on with the story using any character, or to go back and relive past missions using any unlocked characters.

Image courtesy of Dragon Ball Wiki

Different styles of characters to choose from:

• Melee type – primarily uses  melee fighting abilities and melee special attacks
• KI type – utilises ranged abilities
• Interrupt type – focus on interrupting, with energy drains or abilities that cause loss of character control
• Support type – equipped with team heals and team energy restoration

Overall this wasn’t a bad game, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the game mechanics either. The issues I encountered really took away from the game experience, which is the primary reason for buying this game. On the flip side, this is a really fun game to play while drunk. All you really do is mash buttons and re-live epic rivalries from the show, which becomes more entertaining the more you drink.

So go forth, procure your favourite alcoholic beverage, get your hands on this game, and have a nostalgic evening followed by carpel tunnel.