14 DAY TRIAL // 
The Dragon Ball series is a true global phenomenon, spanning all sorts of media types and entertaining tens of millions of people throughout the last few decades. While it started out as a humble manga and anime series in Japan, it soon gained all sorts of different iterations, including video games.
The latest title based on the popular series is Dragon Ball Xenoverse, coming from developer Dimps and publisher Bandai Namco on a wide array of platforms all over the world.
Instead of featuring just fighting mechanics or standard storylines from the manga or anime, Xenoverse takes things further by delivering a more MMORPG-like experience, allowing players to create their own characters and then interact with famous moments and battles in the series.
Does Xenoverse pull off the perfect Kamehameha or should the elder dragon banish it from existence? Let's find out.
Story
Dragon Ball Xenoverse has a rather lofty plot that relates to the Time Patrol force, which travels through time to fix errors by altering events and ensuring that what's past remains in the past. You act as a brand-new member of this force based in the social space of Toki-Toki City. Your role, more or less, is to complete main and side missions that relate to some of the most important moments in the series.
The whole plot is a pretty elegant way of offering motivation to explore the "best-of" sequences in the Dragon Ball franchise, and while some moments don't exactly mesh all that well, fans will be entertained. Newcomers might have some problems getting their minds around the very confusing timeline, but if you stick to it, things get a bit easier to follow.
Gameplay
Dragon Ball Xenoverse starts with certainly one of its best aspects, as you can create your own character from the different main races in the series. Sure, you can be human, but using a Sayan, Majin, or Namekian character is much more interesting and you can further customize their appearances while still feeling like he or she belongs in the overall universe.
Afterwards, you're thrown in the short tutorial that's quite confusing if you haven't gone through previous titles like Battle of the Z. However, with a bit of practice, you'll soon start to pull off some great battles against different opponents, equaling the epic scope of the actual fights in the anime or manga.
Besides the main Time Force missions, there are also parallel quests that team you up or against all sorts of different iconic characters. You can also enlist the aid of various famous fighters so that they become your master and teach you powerful moves.
What's more, the rather complex role-playing mechanics also give characters different skills and attacks that can be employed during battle. You start the game with a few basic moves, but soon you'll increase your repertoire and specialize your character in long-range or close quarters fighting. You can also pick up various clothes that enhance some stats, but, unfortunately, you can't try them on in the store, so those with keen aesthetic senses might soon find themselves selling back the equipment they purchased.
Battles feel intense, once you master the pretty tricky controls, but if you face off against multiple opponents, things get a bit annoying. The lock-on system is horrendous, as it doesn't actually stay locked on, and if you're playing with AI-controlled teammates, they'll often just sit back and watch you get pummeled into oblivion.
The camera system is also a bit lackluster, although in all fairness some of the aerial battles are quite hard to keep track of. Even so, you'll often lose track of your enemy or go attacking into a different direction than the one you intended. It's also annoying that some of the enemy's ultra attacks come out of nowhere and you have no time to dodge or block some of the damage.
Multiplayer
Dragon Ball Xenoverse features both competitive and cooperative multiplayer. If you're online, you'll even see other players roaming around Toki-Toki City, further improving the immersion of the whole Time Force aspect.
The cooperative mode allows you to invite others into your team in order to complete missions and make the group battles a bit easier to perform. The competitive mode is basically an all-out brawl, but due to the aforementioned wonky camera and the tricky moves, you might not have such a great time. Even so, the matchmaking system seems quite fluid and lag isn't a problem
Visuals and Sound
The visuals in Dragon Ball Xenoverse look quite good, with the whole art style basically transcribing into 3D the already-trademarked look of the anime and manga. The characters look good, and while it may be a bit weird to see them in 3D instead of the flat look seen on TV, for example, you quickly get over it. The visual effects are also decent, but they don't really feel all that impressive despite being on the powerful PS4. Textures, unfortunately, are very crude, and while you may not observe this while fighting in the air, aliasing is also a problem.
The soundtrack is decent, with special mention going to the main theme, which feels like it just came out of the anime. Unfortunately, the voice acting isn't all that great, and while you do have the option to switch from English to Japanese, neither is all that impressive.
The Good
- Nice character creator system
- Good role-playing mechanics
- Both co-op and competitive multiplayer
The Bad
- Fighting system can feel confusing and clunky
- Erratic camera and lock-on mechanic
- Visuals don't always look that great
- Dumb AI teammates
