Bandai Namco Hands-On

Owen went to Bandai Namco to check out three games

- Owen Chan

Recently I was invited to a Bandai Namco press event where I got to try out a bunch of games they’re releasing in the coming months. The first of them was Dragon Ball FighterZ. To say I was obliterated at the event would be an understatement, it was a brutal affair for such an insane game. One could say I was the Yamcha of the event…

To say this game feels like “the Dragon Ball game we need”, wouldn’t be overselling it. Arc System Works are known for their fighting games and it’s showcased like Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time in Namek. Being relatively easy to pick up, it’s a breeze to perform the basic combos and its usual suspects for attack combos. Using four inputs (light, medium, heavy and ki), it’s very input focused as opposed to sequence focused. The energy gauges charged relatively fast, with the specials containing their own cutscenes.

Whilst I was never able to pull off the jaw dropping combos other event attendees did, the animation and overall set design blew the stages away (literally in some cases). It never really broke the view of the combat, jumping immediately back into the fray regardless of if they got knocked out or not. From the stellar entrances to the details in the character designs, this game lives and breathes the dynamics of a Dragon Ball fight. Once that’s all said and done, you can lay witness to the damaged background props and piles of rubble. I just wished someone threw me a senzu bean for the pummeling I got.