thecou..toolkit

What is Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot?

Developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment and CyberConnect2, the latter of which is famed for a number of fighting games in the anime world, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a fully-fledged RPG experience based on Akira Toriyama’s legendary property. 

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot trailer – How does it look?

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot release date – When is it coming out?

Bandai Namco has confirmed that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will be launching across PS4, Xbox One and PC on January 17, 2020, acting as one of the first major blockbusters to emerge next year. 

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Preview

The gaming medium is no stranger to anime adaptations, with Toei Animation’s Dragon Ball franchise arguably being the most prolific of all-time. Countless titles have been created based on Akira Toriyama’s beloved manga. It’s as iconic as they come, whether you’re referring to power levels, glowing golden hair or Master Roshi’s perverted magazine obsession. 

Kakarot (also the name of our protagonist) is a faithful retelling of the Dragon Ball Z narrative stretched out into a sprawling RPG adventure. This is no small undertaking given the over-the-top, intricate mountain of epic battles and compromising lore Bandai Namco will need to work through. 

However, from the few hours I’ve played, they’re off to a good start. While ropey in places, Kakarot has more than enough going for it to please fans and newcomers alike. Just prepare yourself for a complete disregard of physics alongside plenty of monkey tails and absurd hairstyles.

Related: Upcoming PS4 Games

Kakarot doesn’t make the finest of first impressions. Given the great heights it managed to reach in its first few hours, Bandai Namco spends much too long meandering through bland, archaic missions that don’t express the level of power our heroes possess. It’s admirably quaint as you gather apples and carry Gohan across the planes of planet Earth.

Its storytelling intentions are pure, but starting your hugely ambitious open-world RPG with a mediocre escort mission had me groaning hard. The following 30 minutes are equally as cumbersome as you lumber between small locations chatting with non-player characters and navigating tutorials at a snail’s pace. Many of Kakarot’s systems feel needlessly obtuse or poorly explained, leaving the player to work things out for themselves or delve through a thick in-game encyclopaedia.

Once you’ve regained solid ground after its rocky tutorials, Kakarot’s appeal finally makes itself known. Playing as a variety of different characters ranging from Goku to Gohan, you’re free to explore the vast rendition of Dragon Ball’s world taking on quests, duking it out with baddies and hoovering up collectibles. It’s hugely inviting, even more when you can jump into the air like an unstoppable superhero at a moment’s notice. It feels excellent, and the combat echoes the grandiose wonder of anime conflicts perfectly.

Related: Animal Crossing Switch

Each combat encounter is instanced as you transition seamlessly into battle while navigating the world. The camera draws in close, mimicking the brutal perspective of the animated series, as fists and Ki blasts fly wayward in equal measure. One button is dedicated to close-ranged melee attacks, while another is used to fire projectiles based on a meter which decreases with each Ki Blast. You can boost this by going on the offensive, wailing on foes the second a window of oppurtunity appears.

Special attacks can be executed by pressing the shoulder buttons and choosing from a selection of commands. These are either long-ranged beams of energy like the iconic Kamehameha or closer, more intimate strikes which slam enemies into the ground with a satisfying pulp. Encounters like this feel wonderful, expressed with such a frenetic speed that it can be hard to keep up, although this havoc is exactly what fans will adore.

Boss battles are a clear highlight. Kakarot will go through many of the original show’s memorable encounters, although I only experienced one major confrontation during my hands-on time. This particular fight involed Raditz (yes, all of the major characters are named after food), a Sayan who has arrived on Earth to uncover why Goku is slacking on his quest to eliminate humanity. Turns out its amnesia.

Unlike battles against generic monsters and robots, boss encounters are lengthy, complimented by dialogue and cutscenes which feel like they’ve been pulled directly from Dragon Ball Z. They look fantastic, and elevate themselves above your usual skirmish with sequences akin to bullet hell shooters as you dodge deadly attacks, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Related: Cyberpunk 2077

Outside of combat, the open-world offers a variety of activities for the players to partake in. These range from fairly generic side quests to optional battle challenges which are excellent for grinding experience ahead of surprisingly difficulty story missions. While they don’t offer anything innovative, side missions are a great oppurtuity to converse with characters and learn more about the Dragon Ball universe, piling more fan service atop an already delectable serving of the stuff.

Given that the majority of characters can fly, the world is filled with collectible orbs placed in a way that act as bespoke obstacle courses for Goku and company to blitz through. If I’m honest, the flying controls aren’t the best, simply a means to an end for reaching your objective. Kakarot is trying to present players with a fully-realised world to call their own, so it’s shame navigating such a place doesn’t feel as good as it should.

The exact purpose of the aforementioned orbs and other collectibles in the open world are poorly explained, as are a few of the game’s major mechanics. Community Board is the biggest offender, a clever system of enhancing your attributes by connecting icons of different characters. Those with close relationships or rivalries in the world of Dragon Ball Z will lead to unique bonuses, rewarding players for experimenting and going out of their way to collect additional icons through quests outside the main story.

Related: Best Xbox 2 Games

Outside of a few lacklustre side excursions, my other major qualm with Kakarot is its habit of pulling the player between different character perspectives, while the isolated mission design works against the RPG format it’s trying to convey. In the opening hours there’s rarely a chance to stop and smell the roses, as you’re constantly barraged by cutscenes, character introductions or tasks which demand you abide by a strict method of completion. It’s suffocating in a genre that should be anything but, and I hope it’s just a teething symptom like many other games of this ilk.

First Impressions

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s fiercely ambitious vision of recreating such an iconic anime through the perspective of a sprawling RPG is incredibly impressive, yet arguably held back by the mechanics and technology behind it.

It’s a gorgeous, visually captivating experience with excellent combat and storytelling, yet many of its other elements feel somewhat underbaked. Launch is only a couple of months away and I’d love to see things refined, especially if Bandai Namco hopes to capture an audience outside of the hardcore who have already signed on for everything Kakarot has to offer.

The post Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot appeared first on Trusted Reviews.