Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 review

Review Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 | With the new Xbox One generation came a Super Saiyan transformation for the Dragon ball video game series. Last year Xenoverse was a big surprise for every fan of Goku and his friends. Whoever called upon Shenron and made the wish for Xenoverse, thank you! Now, one year later DIMPS releases Xenoverse 2, more or less an expansion pack and not a new game but still great nonetheless. Read more about it in this review! Oh.. and I’m sorry if things get a little bit too much Dragon ball geeky. Just like the game you need to have some Dragon Ball knowledge to understand this review. 

Please note: The many loading complains you see on the internet are fixed with the recent patch. The waiting time with loading screens are now acceptable.

THE GOOD

  • The world hub, Conton City is a major improvement when you compare it with the first Xenoverse. Now everything is in one place, reducing the many wasted loading times from the previous game.  Buying items, playing parallel quests, searching online games now happens in one area! Conton City is also full with hidden items and quests, making it fun for exploring it.
  • The simple to understand combat system is what makes this game absolutely great. I could literally play this game for 100 hours without getting bored with battling it out against Dragon Ball characters and online players.  it’s the most robust and unique combat system I have ever seen in a fighting game. With a huge selection of tactical moves and abilities you can create your own tactical plan and find a way to overcome the thousands of other tactical plans from online players.  If one game deserves the saiyan easy to play but hard to master its Xenoverse 2.
  • The colorful and crisp cel-shading graphics makes it believe that you are really controlling an anime episode. The fighting stages still lack some detail and depth but the great looking characters, special effects from moves and animations make it look very pleasing to the eye.  Performance has been greatly improved too, with a perfect running engine that runs at 60FPS. Never dropping while fighting enemies. I did notice a few drops in Conton City but nothing major, most players won’t even notice it.
  • Xenoverse 2 made some needed improvements for the online play too. I wasn’t the biggest fan for the netcode from the first Xenoverse but things got improved with this new game, I haven’t had a single disconnect. Amazing considering a day without disconnects was a rare thing in the previous one. Besides the one-on-one and online Parallel Missions you have a brand new expert missions too. In this mode things get completely crazy with mind controlling bosses. Working together is required, bringing something completely new for the Xenoverse series.
  • For most games difficulty spikes would be a bad thing, not in this case. It requires you to really learn how to play the game and naturally finish all side-quests and parallel quests. Evolving your character is an important task for keeping up with the story mode.

Mixed Feelings

  • As a big Dragon Ball fan I’m having some minor issues with how the game is set-up.  Just after defeating Frieza and his brother Cooler I did a training battle against Yamcha, he said the following: “One day you will be stronger than me”  Seriously dude? I just defeated two beings that are a million times stronger than you! Doesn’t make any sense.
  • Xenoverse  2 has quite a few new ways of playing the game, with new mini games, new characters, expert missions and so on. But still I get a major feeling that I’m playing the same game like last year. Nothing really screams this is a brand new sequel. Many times I felt like I was playing some DLC for the first Xenoverse.

THE BAD

  • I was hoping to see new races for your self made character, you have the same possibilities like last year: Humans, Saiyans, Namekian, Frieza, Majin and Frieza. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a pretty long list but I was hoping to see an option to become an Android, Kaioshin or Cell. You would think that a sequel has more options right?
  • Understanding the story for people who don’t know Dragon Ball is simply impossible, I’m not sure why they decided to cut many story elements and cut scenes from the previous Xenoverse that told the original story.
  • I don’t think that I have seen worse lip-syncing in a game. The character expressions are solely made for the Japanese language, a shame because the game is really popular in Europe.

Score: 84% | Let me keep this conclusion short so I can continue with firing Galick Cannons and Destructo disks. This is a must buy game for Dragon Ball lovers, I would have liked to see a few more new stuff but overall this game is great.