Why Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Is Blowing Everyone Away
The "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi" series had been dead for 16 years when fans first learned that it was going to make a comeback. The "Budokai" series was well-loved, but some were worried that legacy sequel "Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero" couldn't hold up against the rose-colored memories of its predecessors. Now that the game's early access period has started ahead of its October 10 release, we can safely say it largely lives up to the hype.
As of this writing, the Metacritic score for "Sparking! Zero" continues to rise on PS5, Xbox, and PC. Professional reviewers have praised the game for successfully bringing back everything that made the 2000s "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai" trilogy so beloved while also adding some modern touches and new mechanics. Altogether, the game manages to hit the perfect nostalgic note. PC Gamer's review said, "I felt right at home playing it all day, like I was 12 again and only taking breaks to watch a Vegeta x Papa Roach Last Resort AMV on YouTube." Reviewers are also celebrating the amount of content the new game has to offer, with TheGamer noting, "Even after playing 'Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero with a massive grin on my face for more than 50 hours, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of everything that it has to offer." Professional reviewers aren't the only ones walking away from the early access experience feeling fulfilled. Longtime "Dragon Ball" fans couldn't be happier with "Sparking! Zero." Pre-orders are outselling "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6" on PlayStation 5, and it's already shaping up to be one of the best "Dragon Ball Z" games of all time.
DBZ fans are in love
"Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero" has an absolutely ridiculous roster of 180 characters spanning the entire history of the "Dragon Ball" franchise. Because of that, fans are using the game's release as an opportunity to celebrate the series and its creator, the late Akira Toriyama.
THANK YOU TORIYAMA!!!!#DragonBall #DragonBallSparkingZERO pic.twitter.com/LlBIp9nHXh
— DB Extremist (Sparking Zero Training Arc) (@MexicoSelite) October 8, 2024
As they're diving into the experience, gamers are quickly finding out that "Sparking! Zero" is the type of game that can easily cause you to lose several hours without thinking about it. Fans are also praising the game's approach to storytelling, pointing out that instead of collapsing under the weight of the franchise's history, "Sparking! Zero" manages to tell a manga-worthy story with some fan-fiction-level twists.
In Sparking Zero's Story Mode, even if you choose the "canon" dialogue option for missions, if you meet certain conditions in battles you can still be rewarded with branching paths and alternative endings outside of the usual story.
They really outdid themselves man, wow pic.twitter.com/F3HCQl5RK0
— Big Boss 🇵🇸 (@LordBalvin) September 19, 2024
Of course, the game isn't without its frustrations, and some fans are calling out particular bosses in the story mode for feeling too unbalanced at the moment.
Come on... I didn't even have a second to react here... this is on standard difficulty #DragonBallSparkingZERO pic.twitter.com/uCzSY9vnPi
— Monkey D. (@M0nk3y_D) October 8, 2024
Not everyone is unhappy with the difficulty, however. In its review of the game, IGN highlighted that the lack of perfect balance between different characters is really a reflection of everyone's role in the larger "Dragon Ball" universe. "Every time I was forced to fight a character that was canonically stronger than mine in the manga or anime, they were just as oppressive in-game as I'd expect," writes reviewer Jarrett Green. And in fact, some fans are also loving how over-the-top some of the challenging bosses fights become, like Monkey King Vegeta.
How it feels playing DBSZ story mode #DragonBallSparkingZERO pic.twitter.com/XvJSiRxyBz
— 🐈⬛ (@_TikiB) October 8, 2024
On that note, it's worth mentioning that "Dragon Ball Z" shares some inspiration with "Black Myth: Wukong," another 2024 hit that exceeded everyone's expectations. It's a good year for monkey-inspired games apparently, and as players, we couldn't be happier.