Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is the perfect game for any fans of the Dragon Ball franchise who want to relive the highlights of Dragon Ball Z. It’s a giant game packed with countless hours of training and fighting paired with fun side quests and quirky plot points, such as Goku’s driving test per Chi Chi’s request/demand. It was fun to re-live a lot of the show and play through it as the main characters.
There is so much to be said about this game, so I broke it all down in the list below:
The Fighting System
I both did and didn’t like how the fighting worked in Kakarot. I liked it because it was easy to remember when switching between characters, and it was fun to use their infamous attacks (I especially liked fighting as Vegeta and Gotenks). I didn’t like it because a lot of times it was too easy, and I would have liked more of a challenge through memorizing combinations. The game makers could have at least done the same combinations but for different moves across various characters. Then again, that would just be a more complicated version of what we got. Regardless, the way it was styled made it easy to fight regardless of what character it would make you play as per what was going on in the story. It just would have been fun to have a bit more challenge to this aspect of the game.
On this same note, I found the bosses pretty easy to beat. If I ever didn’t win, I would immediately know what to do in order to win the next time (paired with using a lot of Vitadrinks and other healing aids).
Side Quests
Photo courtesy of guides.gamepressure.com
I LOVED the side quests. The side quests and reliving the moments from the show were my favorite aspects of Dragon Ball Z:Kakarot. Although many of them were fetch-and-gather quests, they were still fun, and I still liked doing them. My favorites were the ones that tied to characters of the original Dragon Ball anime, with recurring characters reuniting with an adult Goku after not having seen him for a few decades (characters like Nam, Suno, Eighter, and Upa).
There are also some hilarious side quests, particularly on Namek. I would definitely recommend checking out what side quests are available while you’re playing through the game the first time. You can always use Bulma’s time machine (which has been made available since the initial release of the game, once you complete the game and defeat Buu) to go back and complete side quests you missed, but playing through them while you’re at that time in the game adds something to it that you can’t get when going back in time and doing them after the fact.
It’s still fun doing the side quests after completing the game, but I found them more enjoyable to do while playing through the main story. It enriched the overall experience.
Playing as Different Characters
Playing with different characters was fun because it mixed things up a bit. The only time I didn’t like it is when I’d spend time and energy powering up and training one character only to have them set on the backburner for a long duration of the game shortly thereafter. I never knew when it was going to happen, so sometimes I just let out a sigh and hoped I didn’t waste my time (obviously it’s never a waste of time to train and level up a character, but I probably would have been okay without training as much as I did throughout Kakarot. It’s better to be safe than sorry, though).
That being said, keep in mind that you’ll spend the majority of the game playing as Gohan, so you can never level him up enough (the same goes for Vegeta and Goku, as you’ll be playing as them a good chunk of the game as well).
Food
Photo courtesy of Heavy.com
I thought this aspect of the game was really fun. I enjoyed catching and cooking fish, gathering food for various dishes, and finding out what new dishes I could make. Other than gathering beasts and catching fish, you can also hunt down dinosaurs and use their meat for ramen and other meals (and there are also side quests involving dino meat). This was a fun, small part of the game that turned something you need to do (in order to prepare for battle) into something enjoyable.
Collecting Z Orbs and D Medals
Photo courtesy of GameWith
This aspect of the game was tedious but important. I had started out the game figuring they were important without paying attention to what they were. I was glad I had been aimlessly collecting them, though, because you can’t get certain moves or train without them. So, be sure to collect all the Z orbs and D medals you can find (D medals are more important not to waste away, as they’re harder to find than the exorbitant amounts of Z obs everywhere, which you honestly don’t need every single one of).
Traveling and Fighting Lackeys
Photo courtesy of Gameranx
Traveling around was fun because I liked visiting different areas from the game, but traveling by air and fighting all the lackeys and robots was super annoying. I know it’s important to level up and fight as many people as you can, but there were times where I was trying to hunt down a dinosaur or partake in a side quest activity when I kept getting interrupted and messed up because of all the enemies attacking me all the time. If I had to fly up to search for anything for a side quest, there were always enemies that would find me and fight (usually leftover Freiza lackeys). It was also frustrating that they would never come one or two at a time; most of the time enemies appear in Kakarot, they come in fives. At least it gave me a lot of Z orbs and leveled me up a ton throughout the game.
DLC
Photo courtesy of Bounding into Comics
There have been two DLCs released since the game came out in January. The first one came out back in April, and the second one just came out last week. Although these DLCs add on to the base game, they seem to have let fans down so far because there was a lot of hype and it seems at least the first DLC didn’t deliver. This may have been because there just wasn’t much extra content added on. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a pretty vast game chock-full of content, but the first DLC only included Vegeta and Goku training with Whis, access to the new form of Super Saiyan, and a fight with Lord Beerus. There isn’t much info yet on the new DLC, other than it will focus on fighting Gold Freiza and will feature characters that weren’t shown in the base game, such as Bardock (Goku’s father).
The first DLC also included a free update with a Dragon Ball card game, Dragon Ball Card Warriors. You can play this at various locations throughout the game for some mini game fun outside of the story.
A review of these DLCs will come to Jotaku soon.
Additional comments
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was a game that brought back floods of memories and gave laughs, action, and heart-warming moments throughout the whole experience. The theme song and original voice actors made the game even more engaging, and I may or may not have teared up at the end.
Overall, this game was a great experience for a long-time Dragon Ball fan like me, and likely to all who enjoy Dragon Ballvideo games. I recommend it to any RPG-loving Dragon Ball fans out there, and to any anime fans who want to try out the DBZ experience first-hand through gameplay. Relive the magic of Dragon Ball Z in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
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I both did and didn’t like how the fighting worked in Kakarot. I liked it because it was easy to remember when switching between characters, and it was fun to use their infamous attacks (I especially liked fighting as Vegeta and Gotenks). I didn’t like it because a lot of times it was too easy, and I would have liked more of a challenge through memorizing combinations. The game makers could have at least done the same combinations but for different moves across various characters. Then again, that would just be a more complicated version of what we got. Regardless, the way it was styled made it easy to fight regardless of what character it would make you play as per what was going on in the story. It just would have been fun to have a bit more challenge to this aspect of the game.
On this same note, I found the bosses pretty easy to beat. If I ever didn’t win, I would immediately know what to do in order to win the next time (paired with using a lot of Vitadrinks and other healing aids).
Playing with different characters was fun because it mixed things up a bit. The only time I didn’t like it is when I’d spend time and energy powering up and training one character only to have them set on the backburner for a long duration of the game shortly thereafter. I never knew when it was going to happen, so sometimes I just let out a sigh and hoped I didn’t waste my time (obviously it’s never a waste of time to train and level up a character, but I probably would have been okay without training as much as I did throughout Kakarot. It’s better to be safe than sorry, though).
That being said, keep in mind that you’ll spend the majority of the game playing as Gohan, so you can never level him up enough (the same goes for Vegeta and Goku, as you’ll be playing as them a good chunk of the game as well).
