To a greater or lesser extent, Dragon Ball games have always been oriented to pure combat. Yes, we have strategy games that are a bit out of the ordinary, like Super Dragon Ball Heroes, but except for the saga Legacy of goku GBA and the MMORPG Dragon Ball Online -The latter never reached the West- we had never had a Dragon Ball RPG title suitable for desktop video consoles. Until it came Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, a breath of fresh air that opens up new and promising paths within the franchise
The game is developed by CyberConnect2, a studio that has delivered more than notable titles within the saga Ultimate Ninja Storm Naruto, a quadrilogy that knew how to wisely exploit the lore of the series by combining the inevitable combats that these types of games feed on with small RPG elements and extremely faithful cinematics with the manga that in some cases were even more spectacular than in the own anime.
Therefore, the expectations were really high. If we analyze Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as a continuation of Naruto's Ninja Storm we can see a fairly clear evolution. On the one hand the RPG factor has been boosted, including maps that do not become open world, although they are really extensive. And on the other, the fighting section has been lightened, with simplified controls that try to make us understand that fights are not the most important thing in this game.
And what then is the most important thing about DBZ: Kakarot? The plot. Yes, surely you are up to the very dragon balls to relive once again the same old story: Raditz, Vegeta's arrival on Earth, the trip to Namek, Freeza, etc. situations that have been exploited ad nauseam in the hundreds of previous games related to the work of Akira Toriyama.
The love for small details
In those titles the story was nothing more than a vehicular excuse to chain one fight to the next, but here it is the very essence of the game. The sooner we assume it, the better: what is really important is not how skilled you can be defeating the villain on duty. What will really get you hooked on DBZ: Kakarot is the way to reach that key moment in history. Goku teaching his son to fish, riding on the Kinton cloud, Son Gohan trying not to be eaten by a dinosaur, Piccolo fighting a Gohan transformed into a giant monkey and destroying the moon in the face of such walking danger, and so on.
All this acquires a much more relevant weight thanks to the incredible cinematics with which the course of history is bathed. Here we see the good tables that the guys from CyberConnect2 have acquired with the Naruto titles, this time leaving aside the usual “Quick Time Events” to focus on outright spectacularity. The story spans all of Dragon Ball Z, from the arrival of Raditz to the Boo Saga, so there are plenty of moments to remember. The soundtrack, with classic tracks straight from the anime, also paddles in the same direction, designed to awaken the nostalgic side of the lifelong fan.
The first great RPG of Dragon Ball
The RPG factor is represented by collecting colored orbs and objects scattered throughout the maps, which will help us to develop our tree of techniques and skills. Likewise, we will also have to get Emblems of Alma, some tokens that represent the majority of secondary characters in the manga, and that we have to place in the Community Walls to obtain bonuses that will help us increase our ki, our health, defense and other variables. Some emblems that depending on how we use them will give us some bonuses or others.
All these improvements will be achieved by kicking the scenarios and performing secondary missions, which although they are not too complicated, help us to improve the immersive experience of the game. Along the way we will also meet a lot of NPCs and places from the early years of Dragon Ball, such as the Red Ribbon tower or the friendly Mutenroshi turtle.
Very showy fights but with very basic controls
The combats, although they have very simple controls -similar to those of the maligned Jump Force-, are quite grateful and although they are not as technical as in other titles in the saga they fulfill their mission perfectly. It is also true that at times we can find certain camera problems, with slightly strange angles in which it is difficult for us to follow the action, but in general terms it is a small blur within a more than satisfactory set.
Final mark: 8.5 / 10
In short, we are facing the first great Dragon Ball RPG for desktop consoles, with more than 80 hours of fun. A real chocolate for the nostalgic of the Toriyama series, which although it is somewhat simplistic in the fighting, is one of the best ways to revive the most powerful sagas of the franchise, thanks to the careful interest in detail displayed by its developer , CyvberConnect2, and that we had not seen in previous Dragon Ball games. A highly recommended adventure.
The perfect game for a rainy day.Amazon | Buy Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PS4)
Amazon | Buy Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (Xbox One)
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