The definitive unpatched version of the game.
So, first things first... most of the cutscenes have been turned into pre-rendered videos, so you'll see some pixelation here and there during the really cool moments. It's not too bad, and it's something I can live with. The graphics themselves aren't half as sharp as they are on the PS4 version, but sharpness aside, it looks pretty much like the big boys' version. The framerate is quite acceptable all things considered, for the most part it runs really well, although flying through some areas can tank the framerate a bit. What's most surprising is that I felt the loading times weren't as bad as they were in the original. The frequency was just as high, but the loading felt faster.
So far so good, but the best part about it? THE QUESTS AREN'T BUGGED ANY MORE!!! This made the game infinitely more enjoyable for me. What's more, maybe I was doing quests wrong the other time around, because it turns out some quests can only be finished with some characters, which this version of the game points out very clearly.
As another plus, this game also includes the first two DLCs for free. They are nothing to write home about, featuring very truncated and somewhat lame takes on how Goku and Vegeta got their dull God forms. The first DLC, featuring the cringey 'Super Saiyan Form' god form is a glorified experience farm map with Whis training both Goku and Vegeta. As a consequence, only Vegeta and Goku get more skills, the other characters get benched. Lame. Even worse, both Goku and Vegeta's challenges are separate, so you must repeat every mission with BOTH characters to unlock all the new forms and abilities. Regardless, all you get is to repeat fights against Whis to farm 'Training Water' to then use on Goku and Vegeta until they reach the level cap. That's it.
DLC 2 has a proper story and a few cutscenes. Gohan and Piccolo get a few playable scenes too, BUT, no new skills for them. There are new Horde battles, which is basically you VS 100 or so weak enemies. These are awful 'cause you don't get Z orbs and they take a while, and by now Goku and Vegeta's new skills are quite expensive.
Oh! And now you can play as Gotenks and Vegeto... kinda. They work as skills. Either have Goku and Vegeta, with the Vegeto skill on your team, or Goten and Trunks with the Gotenks skill. Kinda... lame.
Some things I noticed on this second time around... sometimes the game can be downright boring. For example, when Goku decides to train before facing the androids. First you have to go to Kami's so that he warns you about Shenron. Then you gotta move towards Goku's House, so that you are forced to take the driving mini-game. Then you have to move to Bulma's, so that they explain how to develop cars. THEN you have to visit Roshi's who tells you to find Launch, you find her and she directs you towards Tien, whom you have to fight, then, and only then, you get to return to Roshi and continue with the story. So many parts of the game feels like pointless filler. I just want the story to move forwards sometimes. Oh, and despite wasting so much of your time on this inane world tour, they skip Trunks' ascended Super Saiyan form VS Cell. It happens off-screen. Why? The game is beefy enough, it didn't need so much useless filler. I also noticed just how much needless collecting there is in the game, tracking the Dragon Balls shouldn't be this boring, but with Dragon Balls hiding one per zone you have to sit through about 7 loading screens before you get them all, and sometimes the plot forces you to collect them.
It's also a bit disappointing how the story-telling gets worse as the game pushes forward. It starts during the Cell-saga that some bits get glossed over through a narration instead of getting properly told. Then the Buu Saga feels as if it could've used more story bits, relying on narrations once again for some scenes. Don't get me wrong, I love having the entirety of Z retold through the game, but it feels a bit uneven when the Saiyan Saga and the Namekian saga, AKA, the first two sagas, get a better treatment than the ones that come afterwards.
There were a few boring collecting quests and sidequests. The whole hunting giant dragons, while shooting ki in first person felt so out of place. Collecting minerals too, just... why? Because modern open world games need those mechanics? They really don't fit Dragon Ball.
At the end of the day... I'm quite happy with this Switch port, as it irons out many of the problems the first PS4/XOne releases had. That said, this second run through the game made me realize that the game simply isn't all that special. I appreciate it for covering the entirety of the Z storyline, but sometimes the game feels bloated with unnecessary mechanics, such as driving, hunting and gathering materials instead of making the combat system a bit deeper. What they added in filler they could've spent making more epic cutscenes, the ones we expect out of CC2. For fans of Dragon Ball, it's a really good game, it is, but I feel like it could've been something REALLY special if they had focused on the right things.
8.0
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