Saiyans around the globe, gather your Ki and get ready to have your chance at defending the timeline to save the universe. Goku and all your favorite Saiyans, Namekians, humans and various aliens are back in Dragon Ball Z Xenoverse 2, all with new transformations and increased power levels.
Demons Towa and Mira have begun to wreak havoc on the timeline by showing up at key points in history. They have bestowed demonic power to the villains of the timeline in order to alter the future for their own selfish reasons. As a time patroller, it’s up to you to stop them, but creating your personal time patroller is just the first step on a long journey. Characters you love and hate will all be there in your quest to fix the timeline.
Story/Gameplay
Xenoverse 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first Xenoverse game. The universe and Conton City are in a time of peace thanks to Future Trunks and Xenoverse’s first Hero stopping Towa, Mira, and the Demon God Demigra. However, as expected, evil never slumbers for long and both Towa and Mira have reappeared with a new plan for taking over. Xenoverse 2 removes the open world earth traveling in favor of keeping the players locked to Conton City. It now has dimensional time warps that teleport you to various locations for sidequests such as Frieza’s spaceship, Buu’s house, and even Capsule Corp.
The story, like most Dragon Ball games, begins at the Saiyan saga and uses key fights from each of the sagas that followed all the way up to the events in Resurrection F. While it covers the biggest moments in each of the sagas from Saiyan to Resurrection F, it will mostly focus on the Frieza, Cell, Saiyan, and Battle of the Gods content. Like its predecessor, the combat is in 3D destructible environments such as Namek, Cell’s Arena, Hyperbolic time chamber, and even in space. Xenoverse 2 has everything you would hope to expect, like including Super Saiyan Transformations, Ki blasts, Fusions, and of course the overly famous Kamehameha. Combat in Xenoverse 2 is better in every way than its predecessor. Camera angles snap faster, lock-on are more natural, and the fighting mechanics overall are just a lot more fluid.
Highlights
The roster for Xenoverse 2 boasts the most characters to date. It features all the fan favorites along with alternate costumes and some nice surprises like evil variations of certain characters. On top of the roster of characters you are used to, you’re able to create your own character in any of the 5 main races (Human, Saiyan, Namekian, Majin, and Frieza). With your created character, you will access to 100s of options for not only their clothing, but also their combat skills in combat. As you progress, various characters both heroes and villains will appear as instructors to teach you some of their iconic moves. You can then equip them into your multiple skill slots.
Along with the 15+ hour campaign, you also have parallel quests which are additional optional quests that begin to appear as you repair the timeline. It will greatly supplement the amount of time you put into Xenoverse 2. These missions are important to work through because certain skills and customization options are set as rewards, such as Broly or Vegito’s clothing choices. These will customize your characters stats to match their fighting styles. They also added an accessory called “QQ bang” which overwrites your clothing stats so that you can wear whatever clothing you like without it negatively impacting your stats. By far the best part of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is the dedication to authenticity. Every moment from the fights to the CG cutscenes feels like its plucked straight from the anime. The in-game banter between characters is at its best. Hearing Vegeta rip into everyone with his condescending tone is something fans will definitely enjoy.
Final Reaction
Xenoverse 2 is full of great moments, mechanics, and features. It doesn’t have the community as big as other genres, but there is a very solid community with tons of players working together through tougher missions or in battles. Players can compete online in single battles or team up for 3v3 matches, and fans who want to play locally can do so as well in single battles. Although the online features of Xenoverse 2 definitely leave a bit to be desired, you have a limit to how long you can be logged into the multiplayer server. Matches are player hosted, so finding a match at times can take a little while, and you may still end up getting kicked from the lobby by the host if they don’t want to fight you. If you’re not playing with friends, you’re reliant on predesignated chat phrases to communicate or blind party invites to see who joins. However once you’re able to get the multiplayer going, it works well and is enjoyable to run quests with others in the hope of new loot and skills.
Xenoverse 2 does have an import option from the first game, which allows you to transfer over a limited number of items and skills to your new hero. It is a nice nod to fans who picked up the last game. Overall Xenoverse 2 is by far the best installment in the series to date, thanks to its wealth of options, characters, customizations, tons of content and a well-told narrative. It’s a must have for DBZ fans of all levels and shines for those who are still watching the anime and want to see their favorites fight in the flashiest way possible.
Final Rating: 4/5 Atoms
* Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 was reviewed using an Xbox One retail download code provided by Bandai Namco.
from Nerd Reactor
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