This past weekend my younger brother and I were lucky enough to have gained access to the Dragon Ball FighterZ closed beta on our Xbox One console. During the last weekend of August we both signed up for the beta on PS4 and Xbox One; hoping to have a better chance at playing. On September 16th, Bandai Namco opened up the closed beta for chosen participants to get on and experience the game before it releases next year. Bandai Namco claimed the beta was mainly meant to test “server stability,” rather than allowing players a chance to play the game early.
The beta for Dragon Ball FighterZ had eleven playable characters, most being the series’ most popular characters. Since the online servers were down for maintenance most of the time, I mostly played rounds against the AI in order to learn the controls and how some of the characters play. The gameplay controls are more simplified in this game, compared to other Arc System Works projects like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. I later got to play a few matches online when the servers were actually up, and while it did take forever and a day to connect to a match, the game ran very smoothly when playing against other people; with very little to no lag at all. The beta sessions were split into four time frames of three hours each throughout the weekend.
Dragon Ball FighterZ Collector’s Edition, Pictured Above.
As someone who is not a fan of Arc System Works fighting games at all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself for what it was. We were given an extra thirty minutes during the final session, since the servers were down for the majority of the time. That being said, I do wish I could have played a little more. I went ahead and pre-ordered the collectors edition, which comes with a 7″ Super Saiyan Goku statue, three exclusive art prints, and a few other goodies for $140. I’ll be ready to play the full game when Dragon Ball FighterZ releases in February 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, & PC.
