"Dragon Ball Z Kakarot" is an action RPG developed by CyberConnect2, which combines all four Sagas from Dragon Ball Z in one game, but treads a few little bumps. The biggest problem is found in the pacing and the superficial RPG mechanics, which make grinding practically unnecessary. In our test, you will find out why the title is still worthwhile.
"Dragon Ball Z Kakarot" tells the story of Son Goku, his family and the Z warriors, who have to keep saving the earth from ever greater threats. The battles are getting bigger, the heroes are getting stronger and the attacks are getting stronger and stronger. The whole thing is so overdrawn in the end that it seems exaggerated even for anime / manga conditions. For an action RPG with impressive moments, Dragon Ball Z is first-class material, but more on that later.
Tough detailed story
Fans who have read the manga or seen anime will have problems especially with the story, which does not miss a point, is told miserably slowly and less dynamically. One may z. For example, watch Krillin receive the Spirit Bomb from Son Goku, then watch the villain fight for a good minute, target him and then throw him, including loveless animations and strange pauses between the spoken dialogues – almost as if the protagonists were theirs Read text from a projector that is a little slow. Anyone who knows the story could be tempted to skip entire sections of the story again and again, especially since nothing new is offered here and the presentation is quite tough.
A lot of hot air for nothing
When it comes to gameplay, “Dragon Ball Z Kakarot” is also mixed. Fighting consists of 90 percent hammering the attack button, every now and then you block an attack, evade or, with good timing, initiate a counterattack by teleporting behind your opponents and opening a combo window. The gameplay looks impressive as an observer, as a player you press the circle button and occasionally use one of the "several" special attacks, four of which can be equipped at the same time.
The skill trees of the individual figures are just as impressive for observers as the fights. Each of the characters has its own moves that have to be bought with orbs. The skill trees are not only excessive and confusing, but after a short time you also find sobering that many of the skill bubbles are just improved versions of moves. A column, of which there can be more than half a dozen per figure, can be reduced to just 4 basic skills with 14 skill bubbles, while the other half of the skill tree only has passive bonuses, e.g. more stun damage granted. A smaller, clearer fitness tree, in which you simply level up your skills, would have served the same purpose.
To level up the skills, orbs are needed, which you can get after battles and collect in the world. Initially, a few orbs are still needed to upgrade, but the number of orbs required increases so explosively that it takes thousands later to upgrade a skill. The standard orbs are not a big challenge because enemies that are a few levels below you can be defeated immediately by flying into them. It becomes difficult when you have to collect rare orbs, of which there are often only one or two as a reward. If you are hunting for these orbs, you will often find yourself in wind tunnels through which your character will automatically fly, while at the end of the tunnel the desired orbs will be waiting for you. Alternatively, you can still try time orbs, which after collecting, spawn additional orbs and have to be collected within a limited time window. The best thing to do is to find a point to farm, start your time orb-trial, collect the orbs, save, reload and repeat 20 to 30 times, so that you have your rest for the time being.
Another very superficial RPG element emerges from the experience. Opponents on the world map give so little XP that you have to ask yourself why you can level your characters at all, because the developers obviously don't want you to fight opponents. After fighting you get z. B. 8,000 experience points, for a level-up, however, 500,000 experience points are required, which in turn means 60 battles to rise to a level or fly a good hour into weaker opponents and defeat them immediately – both are boring and monotonous. Alternatively, you can get the next story-based fight over and earn almost 600,000 experience points. An action RPG based on a franchise that is about fighting, but fighting does not give much experience … – that you can still experience something like that.
Creative approaches and long waiting times
One of the most interesting points of “Dragon Ball Z Kakarot” are the community boards, through which one can unlock passive bonuses. This is where emblems of characters you encounter in the game world are placed. Based on their talents, you can e.g. For example, unlock a 100% experience bonus, more attack power for all of his characters, or extra item drops after battles. The placement of the emblems also plays a role. So Son Goku and Chi-Chi get z. B. a bonus if placed next to their children. The suitability of the individual figures can also be increased with gifts. If you give a figure enough gifts, you unlock rare and collectibles.
You get new emblems through the story and side missions. If you have met a figure for the first time, the emblem is often accessible to you. For other emblems you have to complete a side mission. Side missions would be a lot more entertaining, especially since most of the “new” content is hidden here if it weren't for the loading times. Often you have to collect objects for figures or talk or fight with certain people, for which you usually have to travel from one place on the world map to another. In practice, this is how it works. Figure A orders, travel from Region A to B, see where the destination is on the map, collect items, travel to Region C, repeat the previous steps one or two times, and then fight Figure B, returning to Region A. and get your reward. The loading times, which take about 20 to 30 seconds, became almost unbearable, which means that you spend more time on the loading screen than in the game world. If you want all emblems, you also have to complete every single side mission, as these are only accessible at certain points in the story and only become accessible again at the end of the game, using a time machine.
Half-hearted attention to detail
Graphically, "Dragon Ball Z Kakarot" is quite good for that, it reflects the style of the anime practically 1: 1. The pre-rendered videos were also very successful. When important scenes are staged spectacularly, CyberConnect2's action expertise can be underlined without comment. On the other hand, it can also be seen that all cutscenes were not approached with the same attention to detail. In many conversations, characters barely move, gesticulate a little, and follow each other with their eyes. Unfortunately, there are shockingly few action scenes known from the Naruto games, in which the camera zooms in on the action and skillfully captures punches and kicks. From a technical point of view, the game is doing quite well again. There are no noticeable FPS drops on the PS4 Pro and the game is razor-sharp. Somewhat ugly, however, are the fluctuations in texture quality, which can range from good to mushy, and the occasional pop-in of details like grass.
Also very nice is the level of detail in the game, which probably only fans of Dragon Ball will recognize. Figures wear e.g. B. different outfits and other haircuts to match the respective saga in the game. If you know the original series or manga, you will also find familiar faces that did not play a major role in Dragon Ball Z. So you can z. B. the Androids 8, one of Son Goku's first friends from the original Dragon Ball, Pilaf and his henchmen and also Arale, from the manga Dr. Slump, meet.
Anyone hoping for a German setting will be disappointed. You can choose to play the game in Japanese or English, but German subtitles are included.
