PS4 Dragon Ball Fighterz
Last updated date: July 25, 2019
DWYM Score
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We looked at the top Fighting Games and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Fighting Game you should buy.
Overall Take
In our analysis of 184 expert reviews, the PS4 PS4 Dragon Ball Fighterz placed 5th when we looked at the top 10 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.
Editor's Note July 26, 2019:
Checkout The Best Fighting Game for a detailed review of all the top fighting games.
Expert Summarized Score
38 expert reviews
User Summarized Score
1,154 user reviews
Our Favorite Video Reviews
What experts liked
Dramatic Finishes are a surprising and creative touch that accentuate the game's epic atmosphere.
When you’re matched with another player of the same skill, FighterZ is fast, fluid, and cerebral. It hits that sweet spot of being easy to learn, but hard to master, but most importantly, it feels like Dragon Ball. There’s just something so satisfying, and so uniquely Dragon Ball about taking someone up into the air, smashing them away at high speeds, teleporting behind them, pinballing them back, and then finishing it off with a huge energy blast.
The game makes the most of its aesthetic by piling on crazy visual effects. Every match is chock full of giant colorful energy beams and exploding auras. Though the fights are 3-on-3, which means there can technically be as many as six characters on-screen at once, it’s never hard to keep track of what’s going on in the fight. It’s difficult to balance flash with function, but FighterZ has done it.
Dragon Ball FighterZ triggers a short cutscene that sees the next fighter fly into the scene and lock horns with the active character. This is a super cool visual transition that's about as Dragon Ball as you can get, and despite you seeing it multiple times per match, it never gets old.
Many of the sound effects are directly lifted from the series’ library, or are great recreations. The voice acting is occasionally spotty, but mostly improves the wacky script.
In FighterZ, you’re shown a running display of the current match’s frame delay as it fluctuates. This feature precisely illustrates how many actual frames of lag you’re experiencing at any given moment. For casual players, this will give them a more granular awareness of how much lag is currently affecting their match.
The visuals are absolutely perfect for this game. Characters look exactly on model, and the art-style captures the look of the anime. You could take a screenshot and easily mistake it from a still from the show.
On that note, the story mode is fun and interesting but also long and grindy, offering a move-based board that lets you level up fighters, collect power-ups, and generally experiment, before moving the story on with a boss fight.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is a game that does so much right. It’s a hardcore fighting game experience, as well as a more casual button masher. It’s a competitive fighter, as well as a Dragon Ball side story. Other Dragon Ball games have done Dragon Ball style mechanics better, Xenoverse’s 3D flight feels very authentic, but Dragon Ball FighterZ feels like the best of both worlds, and is one of the very best Dragon Ball games of all time.
Perfectly nailing the look of the anime is what immediately puts this game in a league of its own and voice acting by both the English and Japanese voice actors will keep any fan engaged. The flashy colors, taunts, and attacks fit each character so well that you'd think the original DBZ team was behind this development themselves.
The most striking feature of Dragon Ball Fighterz is how closely it resembles the TV show. From characters’ facial expressions to their special moves, there’s little amiss. So much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was an episode from the series, instead of a game.
Accessible enough for newcomers with room for pros.
Gameplay is king in fighting games and can make or break the experience. Arc System Works has without a doubt made Dragon Ball FighterZ one of my favorites in the genre. Tekken will have to make room. As you can guess, battles are of the 3v3 variety between over twenty fighters. New and classic characters make up the beginning roster and if certain leaks are true we’ll be seeing the likes of Bardock, Broly, and more soon. Each character has a distinctive move list and all suit their owner perfectly.
FighterZ is clearly the best Dragon Ball game every made when it comes to graphics. Everything from animations, artwork and conversations are top-notch thanks to Arc System Works, the team behind Dragon Ball FighterZ. Only after you've seen at least a couple of the manga series, you'll be able to truly appreciate the level of polish Arc System Works managed to achieve.The special effects after each combo or finish move are stunning, while the animations during fights look absolutely impeccable. Dashes, teleports, double-jumps and every other combo that one can achieve in the game are graphically flawless.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is quite simply the best looking, most faithful recreation of the classic anime/manga ever produced in video game form.The controls are pretty easy; you've got three attack buttons, light, medium and hard, and the fourth attack button is usually a projectile or energy blast, depending on the character.
The graphics are absolutely stunning. Arcsys has effectively translated frames of the anime and still shots of the Dragon Ball manga into fighting game moves, and it looks phenomenal.
Thanks to easy to learn but difficult to master controls, Dragon Ball FighterZ, changes my attitude towards the fighting genre entirely. This gorgeous, frantic, three-on-three fighting extravaganza is uncomplicated, therefore extremely accessible to newcomers. Although it’s true the controls are straightforward to learn, overall, FighterZ still offers a versatile experience.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is not just the best Dragon Ball game, it’s also in competition for the best current-gen fighter, period. It’s a joy playing the game, and the combat engine can make any fighter, whether hardcore or novice, feel like they know what they are doing.
An incredibly faithful visual adaptation of the source material.
One of the charm for Dragon Ball FighterZ is how much effort went into the little touches. As matches begin, having certain characters open the match on certain stages will lead to a dramatic intro, such as the infamous scene of Krillin being murdered by Frieza on Namek which lead to Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation. While players are fighting, the ground will become damaged with each hit and will stay that way for the duration of the match. If “easy combos” are performed, the players will collect a Dragon Ball.
The visuals are gorgeous. While it might seem a bit awkward to fully flesh out a 3D model and put it in a 2D space, I've never been wronged by Arc System Works. Goku has never looked better in the third dimension, and neither have his companions and the worlds they live in.
I honestly can't speak much to the story as I'm not a fan of the series, but it was enjoyable enough just to go through all the fights and learn along the way. While there are tutorials in the training section of the game, the story is essentially just a glorified tutorial as well. You gather up new fighters, maneuver increasingly complex battle maps and slightly tougher foes, and learn how each fighter plays along the way.
Dragon Ball Fighterz has amazing graphics and music.
Here’s what really matters: the combat. To put it bluntly, this game feels perfect. The biggest praise I can give FighterZ is that it convinced me on so many fronts when I initially had qualms about its gameplay mechanics.
The 3-on-3 tag team setup (akin to the Marvel vs. Capcom series), along with these easy-to-pick-up controls, almost guarantees that players will use more than a few characters. There's a fine attention to detail in both character animation and its adaptation. Meaning the smaller roster still feels complete even if they're familiar faces, and each animation feels unique to each character. The simplified control scheme can lead to messy situations, especially given its gearing toward more aggressive tactics. But the character animation is so crisp, that even when multiple supers are activated at once, players can still parse out where they are on the screen at any given time.
It’s incredibly slick in not only how it looks, sounds, and moves, but also in acknowledging the source material; it’s a love letter to the beloved manga from Akira Toriyama. While non-Dragon Ball Z fans may not get why the Ginyu Force are obsessed with posing, there’s no denying just how well it captures the feel of Dragon Ball Z. Some liberties were taken with the music, having a mostly rock vibe that Arc System Works are known for, but it certainly has the sound effects from the anime.
On top of these traditional genre mechanics, you've got specific strategies to consider. Team composition is something that's worth exploring since certain super attacks chain together a lot better than others, and naturally, there are things like timing your character switches, combo cancelling, and parries to think about. FighterZ doesn't try to match the open-ended combo madness of Guilty Gear, but improvisation and on-the-fly adaptations are still hugely important. "Easy to learn, hard to master" is a cliche, but the phrase rings true here.
Online play is where people will get their most value out of FighterZ. The online component of FighterZ allows 64 players to roam around its hub world, each using unique avatars and unlockables to make their own online identity. This portion of the game allows players to square off in multiple online battle types from casual to ranked matches, world matches, arena matches, ring matches, and a number of features that help players communicate and connect with one another.
This is truly the best Dragon Ball fighter I’ve played since the Super Famicom imports. It’s pure fighting bliss that makes you feel as OP as the characters on the show by adding so much style and flare. Longtime fans and newer fans who may just be familiar with Dragon Ball Super will find something to enjoy here if they’re fans of fighters.
On the plus side, Android 21 serves as not only a great foil but also as the kind of fun villain that Dragon Ball has been missing for far too long. She’s adorable, maniacal and she’ll turn you into candy given half the chance. I can’t get enough of her. Even with a whimsical villain, the story still drags on an on even when it reaches the halfway point, let alone the ten to twelve hours you’ll need to invest in the entire narrative.
If it wasn’t obvious, I love Dragon Ball FighterZ. The perfect marriage of source material enriched gameplay and original presentation has created a fantastic experience that a wide audience of players are sure to enjoy. The gameplay is simple enough that any level of player can pick it up and recreate infamous attacks from the show, while at the same time it’s mechanics are so deep and unexplored that the game feels ready to support a competitive community of fighting game enthusiasts.
The sound is perfect too with the music and sound effects being spot on to capture the feel of the show and help add the right feel to the intense matches. Along with this is the stellar voice acting delivered by the proper voice cast from the show. This means the conversations feel more true to the show and adds wonderfully to the faithfulness to the source material.
Character models are gorgeous, too, and animated with such incredible fluidity that I'm not sure how the developer actually managed to do it. Insofar as 2D fighters go, the animation for Dragon Ball FighterZ is as good as they come.
Blowing enemies away with super attacks, then seeing the result from outer space.
Graphics/Sounds: There’s not a single thing about this category that I found lacking. It’s an almost perfect representation of the anime from Goku’s Kamehameha to the banter between rivals during the story and after matches. Not only does the gameplay look like it was perfectly pulled from the show but key voice actors like Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Christopher Sabat (Vegeta) were also brought in to make the game sound authentic. There’s nothing else to say here besides Dragon Ball FighterZ looks and sounds amazing.
The most immediately obvious and consistently striking quality about FighterZ is simply how good it looks. Using the same technique found in Guilty Gear Xrd, models in FighterZ appear 2D through clever use of cel shading but are actually 3D. The result is a very faithful adaptation of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's style. While the game is of course visually impressive at face value, what pushes it to truly remarkable territory is how the identity of the characters pours out through character introductions, specific moves, and victory animations.
Every character on the roster has their signature moves from the show and unique fighting style that makes them stand out from the rest of the cast. While everyone uses the same four button layout, their strategies in battle and various strengths in matches will vastly differ. This makes each fight you partake in feel incredibly intense and exciting throughout, but never feeling predictable.
What experts didn't like
Pieces of story mode feel relatively unrefined compared to the rest of the game.
The downsides are that there’s no way to restart a losing match, and sometimes the difficulty spikes can be huge from one match to the next.
Long load and online wait times.
While the story mode is more about fun than challenge, the arcade mode skews in the opposite direction, testing you with opponents who react more quickly and deal ridiculous damage with even basic combos. This can be a little frustrating since two characters are locked behind beating the harder difficulties with high marks, but players can also earn zenny (the in-game currency) elsewhere to unlock them if they don’t want to fight these lopsided matches.
These hurdles aren’t monumental, but they’re enough to make the process feel cumbersome. Despite repeated attempts, I was never able to actually get a friend into a private match with me, and I had varying success entering other players’ lobbies. Bandai Namco is aware of the problems and will hopefully address them in the weeks to come.
Loading screens seem to lag occasionally.
The issue is that while people like myself will understand by watching a combo replay where the button pushes need to come, the newcomer might need it broken down a little more to explain when, how, and why. I’m perhaps labouring the point here because I adore FighterZ, but if newcomers come up against the hardcore repeatedly, they’ll stop playing. This is all conjecture, I suppose, and doesn’t change how brilliant it feels to play, spectate, or learn.
Characters can feel very similar to each other.
The story mode is slowed down by an annoying, and unnecessary map, and the main menu separates players by lobbies in a way that initially feels confusing.
Auto combos cannot be turned off.
Persisent trouble with online multiplayer.
The only problem, and it’s a big one, is the constant disconnect problems I mentioned up at the top. I cannot begin to describe my annoyance at how many times I’ve received an error and lost connection to a lobby. Not just while roaming around either, but smack dab in the middle of an online match or while in the menus.
Dragon Ball fans may find story mode repetitive.
The biggest complaint one can have is that the story mode cut scenes are significantly less impressive.
Outside of some online issues and a single-player campaign that drags over time.
A forgettable story that doesn't take full advantage of its unique soul-link idea. An overlong series of battles that are too easy for the most part.
The story mode’s gameplay can get repetitive at times.
It is lack with stages and it would of been nice to include an endless survival mode. If you are playing offline – unless you have friends who want to play – I would recommend waiting because even with the incredible story mode, the lack of options for offline play does hurt it a bit.
What is a big issue is how many times I thought, “… that’s not a big issue.” The second such case materialized when I began to play the game’s story mode. I was surprised to learn that this wouldn’t be a simple re-treading of Dragon Ball history and would instead carve its own path through the telling of an original tale. After a few scenes setting up the adventure, players are thrown onto a world map where they take turns moving to different locations and toward the Boss, Rescue, and Tutorial icons. The game’s three-man fighting system, which has you swap out between three characters in battle, encourages you to go and rescue different heroes in the Dragon Ball universe in the game’s three campaigns: the Super Warrior Arc, the Enemy Warrior Arc, and a final arc I can’t exactly mention due to the title containing an important plot point. The more characters you rescue, the more you can choose to join your fireteam.
There's also no potentially game-breaking comeback mechanic either. The "Sparkling" burst is a nice quick recovery boost, and players can summon Shenron after completing seven auto-combo chains, but neither of these occur often enough in matches to be that big of an issue.
This leads me to my second complaint about the campaign: it’s boring because it’s easy. In my entire playthrough of the story campaign through all three arcs, I lost one character. It wasn’t even to the final boss, just a clone that got some decent hits in on a very under-levelled character. By the time it was all over and I was given the chance to start again but at a higher difficulty, I was so burned out that I’ve had little desire to touch the mode since.
If there is one glaring flaw to Dragon Ball FighterZ it would have to be the inclusion of capsule corp style loot crates over a more open in-game store. Capsules only contain items for the social hub area, like character avatars and character titles, and cost only a small amount of in-game currency to purchase, so it’s not like there’s a Battlefront 2 level of controversy here.
My only worry with Dragon Ball FighterZ is the quality of the online play at launch, which I can only talk about from my previous experience as both a closed and open beta participant.
But the game is let down with having a very poor roster.
Speaking of which, the story mode is a thundering disappointment.Unfortunately there are two glaring issues holding Story mode back. First, the script is absolutely terrible, filled with mediocre dialogue and a weak plot. Second, the whole thing is insufferably drawn out with an insane amount of matches against cloned versions of the main cast.
The biggest issue with Dragon Ball FighterZ is that the complexity in the game will create a massive skill gap between players. With Dragon Ball being such a popular and ubiquitous franchise, a lot of people are going to want to play this game. However, even simple fighters like Street Fighter or Pokken take a lot of practice to even get okay at them.
Even with such amusing exchanges, the story mode feels woefully bloated. The fights are very simple to get through, which is fine at first, but by hour five or six you'll be begging for something to push you even a little bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so intolerable if the story kept you motivated, but oftentimes it will only feed you the tiniest crumb and then send you into an onslaught of fights that are nearly identical to the previous set you just endured. Completing battles gives you access to an array of possible skills to equip, such as increased attack power or defense, but again the fights are never demanding enough to really make these choices as interesting as they should be. All of it is spread far too thin for what's actually there.
Online multiplayer is both a hit and miss for Dragon Ball FighterZ. While there are plenty of rooms to join and options for having Ranked or Casual matches online, this can sometimes come to a screeching halt with online connectivity issues. In some instances, you might get completely booted from an online room, even during an on-going match, for an unknown reason and be brought back to the main menu. While this could be due to server maintenance or overcrowding of the online lobbies, it can be frequent enough to be a real problem for some and be extremely frustrating.
From The Manufacturer
After the success of the Xenoverse series, it's time to introduce a new classic 2D DRAGON BALL fighting game for this generation's consoles. DRAGON BALL FighterZ is born from what makes the DRAGON BALL series so loved and famous: Endless spectacular fights with its all-powerful fighters. Partnering with Arc System Works, DRAGON BALL FighterZ maximizes high end anime graphics and brings easy to learn (but difficult to master) fighting gameplay to audiences worldwide. Genres anime and fighting.
