Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Review

DRAGON! DRAGON! FIGHT THE DRAGON!
dragon ball, xenoverse 2

It was great feeling how the developers put the players more in the center of the experience outside of the plot. However, the glitz and glam start to fade away once you realize that there isn’t much else that’s new and some previous annoyances make their way back. The story of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, as we said before, follows the same premise of its predecessor, which was to be expected. Just like the last time, there’s nothing like jumping in to save your favorite character from meeting their end at the hands of a cheating enemy… until you realize you’ve done this all before. No, we don’t mean that you’ve seen these same fighting games in one of the dozens of other DBZ games. We mean you’ve done them in the previous Xenoverse, or at least very close approximations of the same quests.

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Frieza fighting Super Saiyan Goku for the first time? The Ginyu Force trying to steal Dragon Balls? Androids and Cell wreaking havoc across Earth? These and many more instances are back for a second round and in most cases remain largely the same. Even some of the Parallel Quests are exactly as they were  the first time around, only with different names. After the first few hours of fun, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu heavily sprinkled in between the new content. I expected, like most other fans probably did, a more robust selection from the Dragon Ball timeline as a whole to play through. The first game dipped into Dragon Ball GT and some of the movies for DLC, and there are even some Dragon Ball Super additions that you can come across in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. Yet none of these stand out in the main story or the vast majority of side quests.

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Some of the same issues from the first entry’s hub world rear their ugly head as well. The biggest of which are long load times and no replay option. Quest rewards come in guaranteed and random tiers, and usually the best pieces are random, requiring at least two playthroughs of certain quests if not more. Most games allow players to instantly retry a quest after not achieving their desired results, especially games that present said objectives in a menu format, but not Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. Once you complete a quest you’re sent into a long load time and spawned right back in front of the desk where you need to select it again. This may not sound like a big deal at first, but you’re actually on a time limit if playing online with friends. You can only be logged onto a server for three hours before the game gives you the boot, forcing you to go through the log-in process once more. The logging in again isn’t the worst thing in the world, but when you waste so much time in loading screens and menus, you’ll start wishing the time limit didn’t exist.

The only upside to this annoyance making a return is the fact that Conton City, the new hub world, is actually fun to explore, making the constant returning less of a bore than it was in the first game. Once you get past a certain point in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2’s story, you’re able to fly around the hub world, giving you access to every nook and cranny of the large island. There are even large time rifts floating around the city that you can enter to obtain quests and useful rewards. Hercule, Great Saiyaman, Nail, Guru, and even Frieza bide their time, waiting for you to complete an objective in their name or join them on some challenging mission. It was a clever way of turning what was essentially the first Xenoverse’s major annoyance into a critical and enjoyable element of this entry.

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In the end, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 ends up in an odd way. The combat, mechanics, and visuals are definitely better than its predecessor, as is Conton City and its myriad of quests. However, the constant feeling of “I swear I’ve done this before” can weigh down on the player at times. Still, even with the issues that present themselves this time around, the sequel proves to be a better experience than its predecessor. The focus on player progress, more enjoyable multiplayer challenges, and a social space that you actually want to visit helps to really place players comfortably into the Dragon Ball Universe.

Score: 3.5/5 – Fair


Pros

  • Solid Visuals
  • Much better balancing this time around.
  • Expert Patrols are fun.
  • Conton City is a much better social space than Toki-Toki City ever was.

Cons

  • A lot of deja vu from the previous game.
  • Still no replay option, although you are spawned closer at least.

 


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Author
Ishmael Romero
Just a wandering character from Brooklyn, NY. A fan of horrible Spider-Man games, anime, and corny jokes.