Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Will Let Players Experience Their Dream Battles This Fall
Restart checked out Bandai Namco’s upcoming fighting game at Summer Game Fest.
Posted 6 months ago
At Summer Game Fest, Restart went hands-on with Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, an evolution of the Budokai Tenkaichi series, which last saw a release in 2007 with Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Sparking Zero will feature multiple gameplay modes, including one for battling it out against NPC opponents, Episode Battle, Custom Battle, and an offline multiplayer mode. Battles take place in 3D destructible environments, giving players the freedom to fly and move around the arena however they’d like.
Different characters will each have unique abilities to experiment with during matches, and players can eventually charge themselves up to go into full Sparking mode to unleash a particularly powerful attack.
Episode Battle will allow Dragon Ball fans to experience storylines for eight different characters, including Goku and Vegeta, with each storyline featuring famous battles from the Dragon Ball anime. For instance, during the title’s Summer Game Fest presentation, we saw the first segment of Goku’s story, which saw Goku face off against Raditz, who has kidnapped Gohan.
While featuring familiar scenarios, the Episode Battle mode will also give players the chance to change certain elements in each character’s story by making decisions at important moments, including choices that depart from the franchise’s original canon. In Goku’s story, for instance, players will have the choice to team up with Piccolo or go it alone against Raditz.
©Bandai Namco
Episode Battle will feature 1v1 encounters, but rather than solely focusing on defeating opponents, each match may have a different win condition, such as simply surviving until a timer runs out.
Plus, while the battles will play out in a 1v1 format (meaning only one character from each side is active in battle at any one time), players may be able to switch between active characters at any time during a fight. Again, in our Goku example, players will have the option to switch between Goku and Piccolo during their fight against Raditz, if they decide to accept Piccolo’s help.
Finally, Episode Battle will also give players the chance to experience key moments from a character’s perspective by entering first-person mode.
©Bandai Namco
Custom Battle mode, meanwhile, will allow players to create their dream battle scenarios, as well as play through Bonus Battles created by the developers. These Bonus Battles may have varying win conditions, as well as cutscenes that turn them into mini stories.
Players will have the option to customize these Bonus Battles to suit their tastes, as well as create battles from scratch. These custom creations can then be shared online for other players to enjoy.
Finally, the game’s offline multiplayer mode will support up to two players through split-screen combat.
©Bandai Namco
During our Summer Game Fest demo, we were able to try the game’s standard single-player battles against NPC opponents. We could choose up to three fighters for ourselves and the computer to use, with the game offering an impressive selection of characters (and character variants) to choose from.
As an admitted newcomer to the franchise, I was happy to see the game offers a multitude of optional Battle Assist features, which attempt to aid players with everything from combos and guarding to revenge countering and Dragon Dash attacks. With these options turned on, I had a blast defeating enemies across the game’s varied environments, including a stadium filled with fans. This was definitely my favorite location of the bunch, as it features a witty cutscene showing fans fleeing from the arena if the action becomes too dangerous.
All told, these Battle Assist options look to make Sparking Zero a perfect fighting game for newcomers and pros alike.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero comes to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC on October 11, 2024. Pre-orders are available now.