That good nostalgia

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco, originally released on January 16, 2020, was ported to the new generation in January 2023.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has the expected identity, graphics inspired by Japanese animation, frenetic battles, epic and sad moments, always preserving the original essence, since having the opportunity to control the characters I used to watch years ago and do everything they did is always great fun.



Remembering memorable moments

Since its release, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot had the mission to retell the story of the anime, which has already been told countless times, however here, things worked a little differently, the game despite not being innovative in any aspect, brings an experience, which during my sessions, was extremely pleased with that "at home" feeling.

The game's story is its strongest point if you like me a fan of the saga, the experience is excellent, but if you are not so attached to the characters, or did not have so much contact with the anime, at times it will be monotonous and a little boring.

As soon as the game starts, we already have contact with the main characters of the saga, Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Chichi, Bulma, Master Kami, and Kuririn, being the game's plot a very faithful representation of the anime, in which soon in the first moments of exploration, Raditz, Goku's brother, and villain of this first arc, in which the story begins to move around him and how the Sayajins should, or at least for him, should behave, always exuding the aura of a conquering race of planets and peoples.

More of the same or a way to cheer up the fans?

One of the highlights of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is to show the different adventures of Goku and his friends. The dynamic of the game revolves around episodes, looking very much like the way it is presented in anime episodes.

That said, we can also use different characters that belong to the universe of the franchise to perform additional missions, either to find a certain type of food or to perform some other interaction. This part of the game is very cool, I really enjoyed seeing the "routine" of the secondary characters.

At all times the game tries to please the player, it is as if they know which characters are more captivating and they are always present, not that the secondary characters are not interesting, but I particularly like the protagonists more.



The new generation has done the project some good

As I have already commented, the game is not innovative in any aspect, the totality of the project is very well-built and the game mechanics are simple and efficient.

The great thing about the new generation version is the presence of a quality mode and a performance mode, which allows you to experience the game in 4k (for those who have the equipment) and 60 frames per second, with beautiful graphics, of course. In addition to the addition of three new story-driven expansions, most notably the arcs of Bardock, Goku's father, and Freeza, one of the most famous villains in the anime.

The DLC features the development of the arc involving Goku's father and Raditz, his brother, who plays the villain in the first story arc, we see a piece of Bardock's life. The story of this expansion is a full plate for a fan like me, as we live as Bardock and his group as Freeza's henchmen until the twist of the story.

The formula for the DLC follows the same pattern as the main story, where it will inevitably become repetitive, but not before causing great excitement and showing that Bardock is strong enough to kill VARIOUS enemies with just one blow.

The game is guided by missions and chapters, which indicate very well the path of the story and character development in terms of equipment and levels.

I dare to say that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a spiritual successor of the Budokai Tenkaichi franchise, especially from the PlayStation 2 generation, the exploration system brings back a nostalgic feeling and the improvement of combat is remarkable, and we continue with that classic dynamic, which I particularly love, which is the following: the bigger, more colorful and brighter the enemy's powers, the greater the feeling of power.

But this is not always true, the game provides several healing items and I could be sure, many times I escaped a possible defeat because of them, I could literally use item after item that at some point I would win the fight, if only on insistence.

In all honesty, the combat of the game is very dynamic and frenetic, even though it is a very classic model, it works satisfactorily, the controls are easy to learn, but difficult to master, as the more we play we get stronger,
consequently gain more powerful skills, which in addition to facilitating combat, brought me an impression of progression very clear.

This brings me to the main negative point of the game, the repetitiveness. After a short time of playing the game, I already noticed that the side quests of the game follow the same pattern as always, fetch items, save NPCs, etc. However, when it comes to side quests, the content is optional, but the rewards, depending on your priorities, are well worth it.



Forgivable sin?

The game is completely translated into Portuguese, but lacks much in the lack of dubbing, as a fan of the saga, the dubbing is very missing, and the iconic voices of the characters would certainly improve my experience a lot.

The soundtrack of the game is exceptional, I fell inside the anime, and the best part is that it is constant, all the time the anime soundtrack is in the background, and that good feeling of nostalgia always comes up.

Considering that the game combat needs music, sound effects, and lines to complement each other, the game delivers all of this brilliantly, as the battles are clearly inspired by the anime fights and descend from other games in the franchise, which of course have been augmented.



Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot in the new generation brought excellent additions and certainly gave survival to the game, my experience was excellent, and I really enjoyed the graphical improvements and the new DLCs, the Dragon Ball universe will always be cozy for me as a fan.

But I realize that players detached from this universe may not have an experience as fluid as mine, either by finding the quests and secondary characters a bit boring and even repetitive in some aspects or just by lack of affinity, Dragon Ball nowadays has the mission to please fans and practically limits itself to this, since I think the game is niche anyway.

In summary, it is an action-adventure RPG, with a very long duration, and is a little tiring after many hours of play, but it has its experience boosted by the previous knowledge of the universe, making everything easier and more understandable.

For this review, the game was played on PlayStation 5. Thanks to Bandai Namco and Theo Games for providing the access key.