Sparking Zero May Be the Best Budokai Tenkaichi, but It Fumbled With Some Series Staple Features

There have been good anime franchises and great anime franchises. Then comes Dragon Ball. Manga, movies, gaming, and more—wherever it entered, success followed. A recent example of this is the latest Bandai Namco game, Sparking Zero.

After experiencing the gameplay, we can at least say one thing: the Budokai Tenkaichi series was never better than this before. But nothing’s perfect, and there are flaws, even in the best of things. This game dropped the ball on some features along the way too.

There’s a Large Part of the Dragon Ball Universe Left Unexplored

Gaming technology is at its peak; maybe there’s more to come; it’s the best there has ever been. Dip one peak anime franchise to it, we have a visually stunning game that is faithful to its source material. That is why the Dragon Ball game is the best tribute to Akira Toriyama.

It’s not simply the visuals that are treated to these eyes, but Unreal Engine 5 allowed the developers to manifest how they imagined the game to be. They captured even the tiniest speck of detail to give it that anime vibe, whether it’s an ultimate attack or a signature move of a character.

Story Mode in the game sheds light on some of the major arcs from the original anime. But then there are ‘what if’ scenarios that make it interesting, as it gives a chance to draw on characters who deserve more. Still, it’s not really innovative if we watch it closely.

You see, there are lots of alternate routes in it, but for a major part of the game, the users can achieve it by ‘defeating an opponent(s) quickly. It would’ve been better if they were given unique tasks to achieve that alternate route.

Even as little as finishing Frieza with an Ultimate attack would do. That would actually imply that he realizes the power Gohan has attained and gives up. Then appears Black Gohan, and the story goes on. Including things as simple as this adds a different kind of authenticity and immersion.

The fact that the Dragon Ball universe is so vast and the game touches upon it so little feels like it has been underutilized. Developers should begin with more planets and locations from it, as there are like a myriad of them. Then more characters may follow. After all, you ought to make a room to fill people in it.

Sparking Zere Creators Wouldn’t Want it to be a Use and Throw Project

Story matters, but the game comes with other features too that we cannot simply ignore. Multiplayer is one of them. Before the Spike Chunsoft game was released, users were able to compete online via Wii.

Other than that, Custom Battles is one new feature worth spending time with when we aren’t busy playing Ranked. They can create their own what-ifs here. Whatever the kind of battle that is being played out in those minds of, Sparking Zero can help it manifest.

But the Budokai Tenkaichi games from the past had their charm too; it was in details users usually miss. Take, for example, the Ki charge. In the old games, using a combo gave us an upper hand in the form of a faster Ki charge. We don’t see it here.

Polishing things visually won’t do the thing, despite the fact that users want more realism when they are playing a game today. There were a lot of things to do back in the day, especially story-wise. That gave it a replay value. Apart from Custom Battles, Sparking Zero doesn’t really offer that.

The game was developed within five years, not to forget it came 17 years after the third game’s release. Fans are obviously hoping to cling to that one for years to come. If the developers can add some patches resonating with what fans want, it would revive that replay value substantially.

I don’t know about Budokai Tenkaichi, but more Dragon Ball games will come. Bandai Namco would want them to look up to it to make better games that fans can enjoy in the future.

Have you played Sparking Zero yet? How was your experience? We would like to know about it in the comments section below.