Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review (PS5)

Close to two decades after its release, beloved PS2 arena fighter Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 has been handed a sequel in all but name. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a throwback of epic proportions — the kind of all-out, franchise-encompassing brawler that's been sorely missed beyond the Naruto Ninja Storm series.

Zero's biggest selling point is undoubtedly its roster, which is suitably gigantic. While the original Dragon Ball has been left behind (DLC, perhaps?), the game covers Dragon Ball Z, GT, every fan-favourite Z-era movie, and a huge chunk of Super. The result is a truly spectacular playable roster; you can spend hours just jumping from character to character, gawking at their animations and special attacks.

On a surface level it's a ridiculously good-looking release, boasting some of the absolute best anime-infused visuals you'll find in gaming. Bandai Namco's pumped some serious budget into this one and it shows — especially when ultimate moves are unleashed and the animations are so on-point that the source material starts to look inadequate.

So Zero's got the roster and it's got the looks — but how does it play? Well, for starters, it feels like a proper arena fighter — like a PS2 title brought forward in time. It's fast-paced, incredibly punchy, and it has little regard for balance. Fun is the primary goal here, backed by an unshakable reverence for all things Dragon Ball.

To be clear, though, Zero isn't just some braindead button-masher. Much like its predecessors, there's a deceptive level of depth to the game, as you're constantly having to weigh up a wide range of both offensive and defensive techniques. Admittedly, the mechanics are a bit messy; there are at least three different types of counters to wrap your head around, for example, but battles are often so frantic that trying to get a read on your opponent's moves can feel impossible.

And this is where Zero stumbles — at least initially. While there is a dedicated training mode that walks you through every mechanic, the game does a poor job of telling you why something is actually useful and when you should be using it. Some of the system's most essential techniques are glossed over, and you're left to try and absorb key information through text boxes. It's far from ideal.

This lack of adequate preparation results in a steep learning curve, which will be asking a lot of more casual Dragon Ball enthusiasts. However, if you can power through the immediate roadblocks — and at least start to grasp the correct timing of blocks and counters — a world of utterly bombastic combat awaits.

Indeed, when Zero clicks, it's quite possibly the most accurate representation of Dragon Ball action to ever be harnessed in video game form. It's a shame that the system isn't more accessible and better explained, but at the same time, actually getting to grips with the fundamentals — and then steadily growing more confident in your own combos and special moves — feels amazingly satisfying. Maybe Goku was onto something with all that "training" patter...

To be fair, there's a boatload of single-player stuff to chew on as you learn the ropes. The game doesn't skimp on modes, which is always great to see in an era where developers like to push online play. Combined with its colossal character roster, we'd go as far to say that Zero is good value, even if you're the type of player to avoid online battles entirely.

Having said that, the main story mode — known as Episode Battle — can be rather hit and miss. It's broken up between a bunch of key characters, each of them with their own series of fights that cover various Dragon Ball sagas in chronological order.

The problem with this format is that huge chunks of the story are completely skipped when your current character isn't directly involved, making for a mode that can feel cobbled together and bafflingly paced. Granted, there are only so many times that a Dragon Ball game can retell the Saiyan saga before it loses all meaning, but just a bit more detail would have gone a long way in making Zero's adaptation feel 'complete'.

Needless to say, if you're at all unfamiliar with the source material, Episode mode will barely make a lick of sense — and it doesn't help that full cutscenes are few and far between, with the mode mostly opting for captioned slideshows, complete with still images taken from the game.

Episode Battle disappoints in terms of presentation, then, but it does have some cool ideas that balance things out. For starters, you can unlock what-if scenarios that take the original narrative in crazy new directions, often culminating in really enjoyable, eyebrow-raising clashes. And on top of that, just being able to see events from the perspectives of characters like Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks, and even Jiren, does add some welcome flavour to each saga.

When you're done with Episode Battle — and you've earned enough in-game currency to unlock most of the roster — there are plenty of other distractions to dive into. World Tournament, which can be played online or offline, is probably our favourite of the bunch, letting you take part in rules-based elimination brackets. You can even make your own custom competitions, toggling elements like time limits, teams, and out-of-bounds victories.

Speaking of custom content, the suitably named Custom Battle mode could end up being the game's biggest draw for more creative players. Basically, you can create your own combat scenarios, all the way down to character dialogue and even anime-style title cards. The possibilities are endless, and you can share your creations online, effectively giving Zero an infinite supply of fan-curated content. It's an ambitious addition, and although the interface takes some getting used to, being able to direct your own episode of Dragon Ball will be a dream come true for many.

Online is fine, by the way. A completely unbalanced character roster obviously puts a dampener on any truly competitive motivations, but that's never been the thrust of Dragon Ball games outside of Arc System Works' Dragon Ball FighterZ. No rollback netcode does mean that you'll be hit with some rough connections every now and then, but by and large, we've found fights to be pretty stable.

Frustratingly, though, jumping online is probably your best bet when it comes to throwing down with friends. Supposedly due to technical limitations, Zero's local versus offering is limited to just one stage — the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where there are no destructible buildings and most of the battleground is just white, empty space. It's a damn shame, because the inherent hype of Zero's eye-watering fights make it a perfect party game.