I would say Dragon Ball is back, but it never really left. Still, it feels like Goku and friends are more popular than ever as the seminal shone manga has gotten a new series, new movies, and even a Thanksgiving Day parade float. Even me, a certified anime hater, can’t deny that Dragon Ball FighterZ was one of the best and most beautiful fighting games of 2018.
At New York Comic Con we got to try out an arguably even more ambitious Dragon Ball video game project, the upcoming action RPG Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. And it looks like Goku will soar yet again.
Considering how previous DBZ games have blurred the line between fighting game and RPG, I wasn’t entirely sure where Kakarot would fall on the spectrum. But while the somewhat wonky behind-the-back camera angle may recall 3D Dragon Ball fighting games like Xenoverse and Budokai Tenkaichi, the framework really is much closer to an open-world role-playing game.
The demo started with beautifully rendered cel-shaded Goku flying through a vast and gorgeous version of a typical Dragon Ball mountain range. You use your nimbus cloud or just Goku’s natural flying ability for pretty fluid movement. While traveling to my objective, I came across low-level monsters to quickly take out for experience, like in any other RPG. Instead of pulling off some elaborate combo, I just did some mindless punches and energy blasts with two buttons.
That was just a warmup for the actual rumble. Kakarot spans the entire Dragon Ball Z saga, all the way up to Majin Buu, and this demo featured one of Goku’s earliest battles against his evil Saiyan brother Raditz. It was during this battle, that lasted about as long as an episode, where I learned the intricacies of the RPG battle system.
If you aren’t blocking, you can freely fly around and just wail on Raditz with basic attacks. But to really whittle down his massive health bars, you’ll need to recharge Ki like an MP meter and use different abilities like the classic Kamehameha blast. The rhythm feels like a single-player MMO, where getting hurt feels inevitable so you just try to balance the damage you dish with the punishment you take, albeit with more dynamic fighting-game adjacent combat. It’s certainly more visually active than, say, Final Fantasy XII. It’s still Dragon Ball Z.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot launches in January 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For more on NYCC check out our cosplay photo gallery and watch these trailers
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