Dragon Ball: The Breakers review of the asymmetrical game based on Goku and the corporate world

Power and movement. All ideas, even great ones, require care in the very delicate process that will allow them to descend into the real world: otherwise there is a risk of disaster, an object that does not fit at all this first beauty. You may already know where we’re going. In fact, the history of video games is full of such chapters: products that wanted to be something specific and instead wanted to be nothing; promising certain experiences that turned out to be in practice test, well … disappointing.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers sadly fits this logic as a good example. Because what’s troubling in all other ways is that it has enormous potential: We’re still convinced of it today and not despairing about the possibility of recovery along the way. An asymmetrical, fully online action game based on the Dead By Daylight experience can work, has everything it takes. Still, something went wrong with the header made by pits It was released on all major consoles and PC last week by Bandai Namco.

Below you will find ours Dragon Ball: The Breakers review: For a long time, we’ve experimented with the PlayStation 5, alternating between enthusiasm (for some mechanics) and disappointment (for everything else).

Visible plot (but major shortcoming)

Dragon Ball: Breakers has one complo and not at the same time. In the first moments it seems like a great adventure is about to begin: Bandai Namco is offering us, for all intents and purposes, a Prologue – and a prologue, you know, something that even etymologically precedes any other discourse, namely something. another time should come. Thus, our hero – through a more than enough, but not brilliant editor – awakens, in a hostile territory hunted by a known enemy, but which should no longer exist, should not be there at that moment: the Cell. Chests of the Future (from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, time patrol) and explains what’s going on.

Something in space-time no longer works as it should. They appear everywhere temporary fractures, very drastic changes in the continuity of reality: Due to these changes, some historical enemies that have threatened Earth and space in the past, especially Freeza, Cell and Majin Buu, are back in action with serious dangers to the population. The brave hero will have to put everything in its place so that of course he will help Trunks, who cannot be everywhere at the same time that needs his presence.

this preface Allows you to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics of Dragon Ball: The Breakers: it works well, it’s interesting, it’s even fun; you know the secondary characters who will then return to the main hub; finally, this product is understood to be a separate chapter of the Xenoverse saga with a number of references. Okay then. The problem is, that’s where the plot ends: It’s possible to repeat those first fifteen minutes in such a gripping way, but nothing more.

Thus, a story mode is the first big opportunity Dragon Ball: The Breakers missed. Not bad, you say, after all, everything is recommended as an online video game. “Still,” we can’t help but think, “and yet it would take very little time…” Thought revolving over and over in every field of production. Lets continue.

Gameplay: survivors and raiders

this Gameplay Explaining the situation behind Dragon Ball: The Breakers is simple: each game hosts eight simultaneous players, seven of whom play the role of survivors and the last one as raiders. The latter is one of Dragon Ball Z’s historic foes to choose from Freeza, Cell, and Majin Buu (others should come later); it appears in the game in its basic form, and then by performing certain actions it can transform itself into “perfect form”, become stronger and stronger. The raider’s goal, of course, is to destroy all other human players; survivors … must survive.

The team of seven poor civilians, who are stranded with temporal benefit, must always be alert to both avoid the enemy and complete all their missions. useful actions to win the game, before the deadline (because yes, there’s also a pretty strict time limit to complicate things). To win, the survivors must find a power key in each area of ​​the game map; Keys that need to be activated in a specific location to get Super Time Machine back up and running. It is clear that they will have with them a number of tools, gadgets and more or less useful objects to find orbs from the Dragon Radar and civilians to save, and to regain their strength they will go through senzu beans and bottles, as well as Vegeta’s gloves. (they unleash one of the character’s iconic ki attacks) and energy cubes.

Now it cannot be said that civilians are always and only defenseless players against the enemy in action. In fact, by collecting enough energy cubes, it is possible to “transform” it by awakening it next to you. spirit of a legendary warrior From the Dragon Ball Universe (Piccolo, Gohan, Goku, Vegeta and the best known): for a few seconds, the survivor will be a full-fledged Z Warrior, able to even knock out the raider and end the game; this never happened in our sessions in practice in theory. The main hub even has a full gacha mechanic to assist with the extraction of new support fighters to use.

It should also be said that the raider always has the advantage. Not only because the gaming class was designed that way, but also because it’s an obvious imbalance in his favor: if a raider knows how to play and how to behave, it is very difficult for the survivors to win. Also, because the latter doesn’t have any conversations or systems to coordinate: they often just go about it at confusingly random, hoping that everyone is doing something useful for the general purpose.

Great potential, but too many limits

We already had to talk about the big ones potential By Dragon Ball: The Breakers. Not only is the basic idea great, but the game itself proves fast and fun from the first games, as each survivor has a certain number of skills to survive, so they can choose to play in the open or fully mode. or leave the others available, etc. The same progression, which includes a separate level boost for survivors and raiders, encourages use of both classes and also benefits overall longevity in the long run.

But too much limits Combine to make Dragon Ball: The Breakers a disappointing experience. Let’s skip the completely forgettable technical sector, it never keeps up with the times: the artistic direction that visually saves the production, the charm of the “Dragon Ball world”, certainly not the rest; Let’s overlook the raider’s obvious advantage over the others available, as it’s clear that Freeza, Cell, and Majin Buu will soon weaken overall. But the rooms are few, really a handful, and almost completely empty: so what’s the use of being able to climb them or have a small scooter from Capsule Corp. moving from one place to another? If all the others are missing, what’s the point of putting two respectable characters like Bulma and Olong from the first series, even if they have certain skills? How can you encourage sensible team play if those present then run all over the place without really being coordinated through a set of victory conditions that are much more complex than in training?

There confusion, confusion It reigns supreme in Dragon Ball: The Breakers, and that’s undoubtedly a problem; The problem, which contributes to the very little variety of locations and situations, not to mention that there is only one game mode – just one and that’s it – repeated until the very end. And even if we want to turn a blind eye to all that, the matchmaking situation has gotten worse than in the early days: games on consoles are no longer just hard to find (let alone if you choose to play as raider), but also to launch, because system bugs are always around the corner. The only positive aspect of the whole experience seems to be the price, which is only 20 euros for the digital version. But if the situation continues like this for long, the public may not be willing to spend even that.