Taking place after the events of the Dragon Ball Z anime, the intentionally misspelled Dragon Ball Fighterz is a fighting game from the studio behind BlazBlue and Guilty Gear - Arc System Works. Available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, does it have what it takes to stand toe to toe with genre heavyweights like Tekken 7[1], Injustice 2[2], and the recently revamped Street Fighter V[3]? Let’s find out.
The most striking feature of Dragon Ball Fighterz is how closely it resembles the TV show. From characters’ facial expressions to their special moves, there’s little amiss. So much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was an episode from the series, instead of a game. Powered by Unreal Engine 4, its 2D cel-shaded visuals look crisp, and thanks to a consistent frame rate every bit of the action is as smooth as it should be.
Beyond good looks though, is a fighting game that’s surprisingly accessible. If you can pull off a hadouken in Street Fighter (by hitting the punch button and a quarter circle rotation on the analogue stick of a controller) you can pretty much breeze through Dragon Ball Fighterz's move list with ease. And if you still have concerns, fear not because there’s an ample number of automatic attack combos you can land by simply repeatedly tapping on specific buttons. For example, pressing the medium attack button lets you execute a combination of special and super attacks.
In this way, Dragon Ball Fighterz allows anyone to have fun, regardless of their skill level. While we’ve seen this approach in titles like Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite as well, Dragon Ball Fighterz adds to this by giving you the means to...