The game takes place sometime between the "Future Trunks" and "Universe Survival" arcs of Dragon Ball Super. Once all seven are assembled and a player performs a specific attack under certain conditions, Shenron appears to grant a wish and allows players to choose one among the following benefits: increasing their fighter's strength, reviving a fallen ally, recovering a fighter's health or regenerating health for the rest of the match.Īnother feature is the "Dramatic Finishes", special cutscenes that appear at the end of a fight depending on the characters involved and stage, related to events from the Dragon Ball series.ĭragon Ball FighterZ features a ranking system in both its arcade mode as well as in online multiplayer, where players increase their rank with subsequent wins. The game includes several other features, such as "Come on Shenron!", that allows players to gather the Dragon Balls one by one as the fight progresses by special moves and combos. Lastly, players can "Ki Charge" to manually increase their Ki gauge, similar to previous Dragon Ball fighting games. The "Super Dash" flying attack will home in on the opponent's lead character and is able to pass through weaker projectiles. The "Dragon Rush" move can break through an opponent's guard and if successful, offers a choice between an aerial combo or forcing the opponent to switch to a different character.
This has multiple uses, from bypassing enemy projectiles to moving quickly around the stage, or extending a combo. With the "Vanish Attack", the player can expend Ki to instantly teleport behind an opponent's character and strike them in the back. In addition to the unique moves of each character, players have several universal moves available. All three of the opponent's characters must be defeated to win the game. Players can also call one of their other characters to perform an "Assist" move, allowing simultaneous attacks and combos with the entire team. One character is controlled and can be switched with one of the other characters at any time. Players each select three characters to form a team, from an initial roster of 24. The gameplay is inspired by concepts from several other fighting games, namely the control scheme and team mechanics. The game's fighting system, character roster, visuals and music were all highly praised while its story mode and online functionality were subject to criticism.
Based on the Dragon Ball franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows in most regions in January 2018, and in Japan the following month, and was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in September 2018.ĭragon Ball FighterZ received positive reviews from critics, with many citing the game as one of the best fighting games released in the eighth generation of video game consoles. Game Review Dragon Ball FighterZa (pronounced "fighters") is a 2D fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.