A Fun Little Game That Deserves A Fun Little Price
(I saw that no one else had reviewed this game, so I thought I'd repost my comment on the Bombers' Quick Look for Battle of Z. It's not fantastic, and the context is that I'm replying to overwhelming negativity towards the game, whereas had I written this with solely a review in mind, it would better fit the score. I'd also like to say that I have not finished the game, though I've gone past the credits in the story mode, and played quite a bit of co-op and such. If there are any other questions, for those who are thinking about picking it up but aren't quite sure, you can comment and I'll reply back when I can, I frequent the site every day.)
Okay, apparently no one else wants to defend this, so I will.
Hell no, it is not worth the $60 bucks, and it kind of astounds me that they thought that was okay. I'm also appalled that they didn't have any sort of offline mode beyond story mode, where they force you into situations with certain characters. I love playing as Trunks w/ Sword, but I can't play as him in most missions before his arrival at the beginning of the Android Saga. Even in co-op, while they let you play as whoever, you still have to select missions out of the story, which can limit what this game could possibly be, and undermines what they seemed to be trying to prevent in single player mode when the first confrontation with Raditz is with a team of Trunks, Majin Buu, Android 17, and Captain Ginyu.
That being said, this game is fun if you just let it be. Yeah, it's telling you the same story, lazily, but you've seen the story a billion times, you know how it goes! Unless they wanted to do full on cut-scenes like the way the first Budokai handled it, great! Otherwise, it's not that necessary. And yes, it's dumb, but that's part of the fun. Jeff will never admit this, due to it being anime, but DBZ is like professional wrestling. There are buff, half naked dudes screaming or standing off across from each other, letting each other get their finishers ready, standing in awe, doing dumb shit. That's how it goes, and there's a lot of fun to be had in that.
Onto the game itself, the game mode, though it is only one and a simplistic one at that, is a lot of fun. I understand why the Dark Souls, Dota 2 crowd that frequents this site doesn't like simplicity, and thus don't like this game. You guys probably don't like DBZ anyway, and that's fine! But it delivers on fun, fast action where I can combo from my main combo, into a Unique attack, into a Special. Or I could Combo, then Unique hit into a chain attack with the other members, depending on what and how they're doing. They try to go deeper with classes, which doesn't do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes it's necessary and those times are cool.
I also really like the sharing energy bit. The Spirit Bomb has always been a cool thing in DBZ, but it was a simple and long process and no one really thinks about. Now with this, someone else in the world is using a Spirit Bomb or another Ultimate, you give energy with your username and an auto-generated sentence (because otherwise it'd be "penispenispenis" or whatever), then the person gathering energy for the attack watches as they charge, seeing usernames from across USA, Japan, France, Spain, Germany, etc fly in to help your attack. This also creates a cool moment where the others have to protect you, to keep you from being knocked down before you finish charging, which makes the payoff so sweet.
One thing I don't enjoy about it is that dashing in the air is sloooooow. If you have a character that can use some form of teleportation, it likely doesn't go far, and you can't HAAAAAAAAAAAAA your way back up, which is the wrestling equivalent of not allowing Hogan to hulk up. It's not right. I imagine there's a strategic reason to all of that, but still.
The biggest issue, but the one that I find most exciting, is that this game has a lot of potential. Depending on how well it does (or maybe not since DBZ games are still getting put out despite the show ending and only getting the occasional movie, like the one that made its way into this game), you could see more game modes centered around this play style, with more action-strategy rather than traditional fighting, going up against bosses like in an MMO. The maps are also, while mostly just rock, the best I've ever seen in a DBZ game, and if they can open that up to be more of an open world, rather than the older games where you flew around a miniaturized planet, so much could be done! Like I'd love a mission in story mode based on the episode where Goku and Piccolo have to test for their drivers license, so you get in the car and actually dri--...okay, this is reaching GTA levels of ambition...I can dream, though...
Anyway, this game is like a 20 dollar purchase, at most. But it is a fun game I can sink hours into, and it has seeds of potential that they could build off of and make even greater games based on this idea, as long as they include offline play and all that. And dear god, please no board game like Budokai 2 ;_;