DRAGON BALL Z: Kakarot - PlayStation 4

Nice one

I find this game is being severely underrepresented by critics who play the game for only 30 minutes because they didn't get a payout like certain big names in the open world genre. With that out of the way, allow me to give an honest review after completing the entire game.Visuals: As close to the source material as you're going to get (only FighterZ is better). Framerate is excellent and character models look fantastic. Environments are beautiful for the most part, but I encountered a few poor environmental textures in spots (this can easily be rectified on the PC version), and there are some rather static character animations during dialogue outside of cutscenes. Otherwise, solid.Gameplay: The combat can be considered a much improved revision of Xenoverse's third person combat system. The camera is fixed behind the player, and you have a an assortment of melee and ki based attacks to choose from, which can be comboed into supers, etc, many of which will damage the surrounding environment. Contrary to critic reviews, there is more than one melee combo and you earn more attacks as you progress through the game, and can customize how you earn experience and which stats get boosted. AI is solid (I've died more than once) but I'd like to see the developers add a harder difficulty level in a future patch for sake of longevity.The open world's biggest strength is in its main quest, which tries to follow the manga as much as possible while thankfully speeding up a few filler segments which this series has become notorious for. The base game doesn't cover Super, but recent text dumps suggest DLC may be added rectifying this. Activities outside of beating people up include fishing, shops and exploration (including some very clever easter eggs and guest appearances I won't spoil). Some sidequests are legitimately good and even fill in notable plotholes, while others are unremarkable fetch quests. That is to be expected however: all open world games do this, even AAA ones.Sound: An arranged version of the original broadcast soundtrack is present here instead of metal covers typical of many DBZ games. Unfortunately, we have arrived at the weakest portion of the game: the US dubing. If you hate the US dub as I do, the phoned in, dry Funimation voice work isn't going to do anything to convince you. Thankfully there is an option to switch to the superior Japanese, who are still taking this seriously after 30 years and deserve heaps of praise for it.Not perfect, but good. Its the DBZ game I wanted as a child, big props to the devs for this even if its not immaculate.

Edit : changed to 5/5 stars after putting in over 100 hours. Yes, compared to many modern hits like God of War or RDR2 (some of my favorite games ever), it lacks a sort of nuanced fancy. However, it has an old school PS2 charm almost no games cover these days, let alone it being DBZ. I’ve never fully experienced the story so this was a huge bonus for me, as it was amazing. Lastly, even beyond a platinum trophy / “100%”, there’s an absurd amount of stuff you can do post-game. I see myself replaying it maybe once or twice if they add a new game+, otherwise I likely won’t, however DLC and post-game is well worth the $50 I paid.Original review :My synopsis of this game : it has mediocre core game play and RPG elements outside of fighting, but the story is amazing and so is the immersion in the world, and even with all its average-ness, I can't put it down.The game is very enjoyable even as someone who grew up with DBZ but doesn't remember the story and never found time to watch it.Collecting orbs, fishing, mining, they're all so... mediocre, sub-par, it probably would've been better if they were left out. If God of War or RDR2 had mechanics like that everyone would have mocked them to no end, but this is Bandai so they usually get a pass. The side quests are alright but are basically useless because the main story levels you up to where you need to be every time, it auto-allocates XP to give you the facade of gaining power when in reality the XP basically doesn't do anything besides change the numbers you see during attacks in a fight. This is NOT an RPG, it is a semi-open world fighting game. The side quests will give you almost no XP and then a single main story chapter will give you hundreds of thousands of XP. It can also be extremely easy if you use healing items but I tend to limit myself to none, or one during a main boss battle.Honestly, yes, the game is a step in the right direction but Bandai sucks. If Square Enix had made this it would've gone down in history as the supreme Dragon Ball game.Regardless, for $50 and the ability to sell it if I want to since it's a physical copy, I really have no complaints beyond the gripes I posted.

It should almost go without saying, but this game was made for fans of the show. If you liked the show and you like action-RPG video games, you'll probably love this game. If you have been playing with the idea of rewatching the original show, this might actually be fun time-saving way to hit all the major plot points with some excellent combat in between. If you've never watched the show, this might be an alternative to 9 Seasons of DBZ, watching Kai or Abridged (although don't rule those great options out!). If you're not sure how you feel about DBZ, maybe watch a few videos of gameplay or play a demo before deciding whether to buy or not.The most exciting parts of the game are the combat encounters. They are slick and fast-paced, with enough special attacks and mechanics to keep you from getting bored just mashing the melee button. The 3D, in-flight, fighter-esque combat is probably the most standout feature of the game.The storytelling is accelerated and the animation is great. Much of the original voice cast is present and everyone does a great job.The open world adventure aspect is pretty standard fare and the sidequests are typically very short. While it is fun to fly around as any of the characters and smash through rocks, I didn't find that I needed to do a lot of extra roaming around looking for power-ups and items or grinding for XP. If you follow the story and side missions, you'll be at a level where you can move forward through most of the game.Like I said, I'm having a blast playing it. If you think you'll love it, you probably will. Don't let the milder reveiws online discourage you.