Game #912: Dragon Ball FighterZ(Switch)

  Oh, boy, unpopular opinion time...

 The past video-game generation wasn't kind to fighting games, but if the genre had a critically acclaimed and fan-approved darling it was Dragon Ball FighterZ, the game that Marvel VS Capcom Infinite should've been. I'm a bit late to the party, for I was waiting for a complete edition, but I got tired of waiting, so here I am.

 Well, the game looks the part, just like Guilty Gear Xrd before it, it's a beautiful looking game that animates 3-D models in a way that makes them look like 2-D sprites. The character roster is pretty decent too, and while I really don't like Super, they limited the additions to Hit and Goku Black(Well, and SSGSS Goku and SSGSS Vegeta, but they are recycled, retooled and recolored SSJ models), and the rest of the cast were great choices. I'm not really fond of the new original character, Android 21 though. I do agree that the DB cast could use more females, but I would've rather have Videl instead of new half-baked characters.

 The story mode is incredibly boring, a case of 'attack of the clones', and the mode itself drags on for soooooo long. I also don't agree with how ridiculous the unlock requirements are for SSGSS Goku and Vegeta. As with every other modern ArkSys games, unlocking character colors is randomized, so you'll be playing the game, to unlock currency for a chance at getting what you want. Pretty lame.

 Firstly, I wanna make this clear, I think the game is fun. For a fighter, it's super simple to understand, characters have small movesets, there are friendly shortcuts for double-press combinations, input commands are pretty easy. And despite that, the game has depth, there's a lot of fun stuff you can pull off. My problem stems from the fact that the game feels like auto-combo capital. The light attack button produces an auto-combo, the medium attack button produces an auto-combo that ends in a super and the strong attack button produces another auto-combo. I feel like it somewhat robs the game and the casual player any interest to try out stuff. I've never been a fan of auto-combos unless they were optional, but this is a bit egregious in my opinion.

 I know, I know it's mostly complaints, but I did enjoy the game. It looks pretty, the base roster is fantastic and, to top it off, it's really fun to play. It's fast paced and colorful, and animations are just top-notch. I just wish auto-combos weren't so invasive and that unlocking stuff wasn't made so annoying.

 

7.5