Tekken 8 PS5 Review

 

Tekken 8 is a 3D Fighting Game which was released in 2024 for PS5, XSX/S, and PC. It was developed and published by Bandai Namco and it is also a 8th main installment in the series.

Before I begin reviewing this game, I wanted to talk about my previous experience on earlier Tekken titles starting with the series first debut game such as Tekken.

It is a 1994's 3D Fighting Game originally for Arcade and later ported to PS1 in 1995, and it was designed by a creator who previously worked at SEGA as a game's designer for 1993's 3D Fighting Game title such as Virtua fighter.

As the game finally launched on home console system in 1995, it gained popularity and eventually became a PS1's best-seller list based on copies sold, even quickly supassing its two fighting game rivals such as SEGA's Virtua Fighter and Tamsoft's Battle Arena Toshinden.

As the game was well-recieved by gaming critics, my thoughts on first debut title were rather mixed by modern standard for its clunky movement feel heavy and slow to control and has severely dated visuals that do not match the 3D arenas, but on other hand you had to give the game a credit for introducing a 4-button fighting system, smooth performance, and has great numbers of rosters to play which became a thing for earlier 3D fighting game back then.

Then they later made a follow-up title with Tekken 2 was released in 1995 for Arcade and later ported to PS1 in 1996, which features more massive roster, robust game modes, and improved gameplay mechanics like back-rolls, side-tumbles, unique throw counters, and distinct mid-level attacks.

The game is also commerically and critical praise which vastly improved upon the predecessor which I can agree with the things that got it right, but it does had the few issues like unbalanced roster possess overpowered moves and combo that can make competitive play fraustrating and the AI system on arcade mode can be aggressive and brutal especially during the final battle, but atleast its an improvement over the original.

Then they later bought another installiment with Tekken 3 was released in 1997 for Arcade and later ported to PS1 in 1998, which end-up became an instant hit at launch release selling over 8.36 million copies worldwide making it the PS1's 5th best-selling title and has been citied as one of the greatest fighting game of all-time list, as the game was critically praised for its fluid movement with easy to pull-off combo system, has iconic roster to choose, high-quality visuals, and of course the overall package of content and modes which really supasses the previous twos entries, so If I wanted to play a 3D Fighting Game for PS1 that are aged better and has tons of replayabilities then the answer is definitely Tekken 3 all the way.

After I had played the first threes in the series, I never had a chance to play the later installiment such as Tekken 4 and 5 for PS2, Tekken 6 for PS3 and X360, and of course Tekken 7 for PS4 and XBONE which I haven't payed much attention to these games yet, but I did also hear a positive things from the fighting game communities which many fans had said that the Tekken 5 on PS2 is their favourite game on the series in regards of return to form for the franchise fixing many divisive elements introduced in Tekken 4 and also been citied as the best PS2 fighting game on the libaries, where as the Tekken 7 became popular in the competitive scene and also supassing the predecessor such as Tekken 6 in terms of new fighting system elements and has better competitive battles which is why it sold over 12 million copies worldwide making it a highest selling title on the series.   

There are another quite interesting spin-offs titles which I also played these like Tekken Tag Tournament for PS2 was released in 2000, which introduces a 2 on 2 tag-team battle mechanic allowing players to switch fighters during the battle, so the game is also well-recieved at the release which I really liked the idea of having a 2's against 2's on the fighting arena just works really well for the fighting game genre, where as the 2011's follow-up title like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for PS3, X360, and Wii U were also has similar praises for deep mechanics, stable online play, and great presentation, but sadly it suffered with the low sales in comparsion with the predecessor, so to be honest I kinda much perfered this game over the 2000's original game which it might be sounded like my unpopular opinion to you guys is because I actually enjoyed TTT2 better for its deeper fighting controls, has bigger roster, and more core match setup.  

Then I finally had a chance to going back to this fighting game series once again with the 8th installiment title such as Tekken 8 for PS5.

I heard many of fighting game fans have said that this could be another top-tier entry next to games like Tekken 3, 5, and 7 in terms of content quality, refined mechanics, and competitive matches which is the reason why I decided to pick this copy up to see if it's anything good, but the answer is can it be another best fighting game in series entry? let's find out how Tekken 8 really delivers.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The story takes place 6 months after the events of Tekken 7, as it follows Jin Kazama returns to put an end to his father Kazuya Mishima's reign of terror on the planet.

After he suffers a heavy defeat and his loss of devil gene ability, he then continues to go on his journey by taking part in the 8th King of Iron Fist Tournament with the help of his allies including his love interest Ling Xiaoyu, his cousin Asuka Kazama, and his uncle Lars Alexandersson joins him on the mission, while also returning to his childhood home in which he was formerly raised by his mother Jun Kazama to unlock the hidden secrets of the Kazama bloodline.

I heard many of you may find the story either enjoyable or nonsensical depending on whether you liked or not on how the story writing and pacing really goes, so to me I had no issues with the whole campaign story is because I really liked the story involving the confrontation between Jin and Kazuya are off to good start with the epic fight sequence at the start of the prologue as well as the mid-chapters part with different characters to play in some sections which keeps the game's story going.   

The game has great numbers of base character rosters such as Jin Kazama, Kazuya Mishima, Jun Kazama, Asuka Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu, Hworang, Nina Williams, Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, Leroy Smith, Leo, Reina, Steve Fox, Shaheen, Zafina, Yoshimitsu, Azucena Ortiz, King, Kuma, Panda, and many more playable fighters that are actually decent numbers to play.

The game also has a DLCs rosters like Heihachi Mishima, Miary Zo, Anna Williams, Lidia Sobieska, Eddy Gordo, Bob, and of course the 3rd-party guest that I did not expect to be in the fighting game like Clive Rosfield from Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16 seems to be an interesting choice as Tekken's guest fighter.   

We needed to talk about how was the game's presentation really looked in terms of menu screen design and stage arena settings.

Remember back then how the menu screen really looked in previous entry like Tekken 3, 5, T.T 1 and T.T 2 has flashy logo, big large fonts, nice UI navigation, and cool background that made the whole thing really appealing to look at the screen, but going back to this which is not as quite cool which I find these tiny fonts are pretty small and thin in comparsion and then you have a UI icons on bottom of the screen which are also quite small too which really made me miss the old-school menus screen from the past Tekken games, so I wish they could have given an option to change the size and fonts of the whole screen to make it look better.

To be fair, I really liked having the fighter appeared on the background menu screen staring directly at you with their serious expression on their face is the only thing that I finding it quite badass, so you can also change the background menu screen of the characters that you like the most from the option menu to suit your menu screen preference.

I wanted to praise the character selection screen which has the animated poses of character appeared on left or right-side screen and of course these character selection boxes on the middle of the screen are also looked quite good.                

Heading to the stage arena settings are actually pretty looked amazing in many playable stages which they really nailed the feel of the series vibes including blue-caged tournament arena with bright stadium lights, the hot-tropical beach side, the deck of a large luxury boat with full of pool and lounge, the massive gladiatorial arena of roman coliseum, the posh looking palace with set of lavish room, the mount temple has mysterious vibes of settings, the extraordinary set of farm with incredible landscapes, the enormous hangar filled with aircraft base and control centers, the large city square with tall buildings area, and of course the mountainous forrests with shallow pool of water and has gigantic tree trunk. 

Overall, it has decent main story, great cast of characters, and has amazing stage presentation.

Gameplay

The game has several of game modes to play which includes the story mode, arcade mode, versus mode, training mode, and of course the Tekken Ball mode.

The game has 2 seperate story modes such as main story titled the dark awakens and the side story titled unforgettable echoes, and of course 2 arcade modes such as character episodes and arcade quests.

The main story focusing on the epic conflict between Jin Kazama and his father Kazuya Mishima, where as the side story explains Heihachi Mishima's survival.

The arcade modes has character episodes which is basically an ladder of arcade matches, where as the arcade quests is a offline side story mode where you take control of your customed avatars and entering the gaming tournaments in aiming to become Tekken's best player.

The versus mode is a 1 on 1 match which includes both offline and online battle where the player and the opponent must fight each other at the best of rounds.

The training mode is a learning sparring practice where you must learn all the basic and advanced fighting moves to improve your fighting playability.

Finally the game has the mini game called Tekken Ball mode where the player and the opponent must fight each other by using the beach ball as a fighting weapon. 

On the 1 on 1 battle, the player and the opponent must fight each other at the best of rounds which means that one of them must win the match in each rounds, so the higher the rounds they got will declare their victory.

On fighting gameplay screen, you'll see the health bar and gauge meter on top of the screen which indicates how much player remaining health they have left and how much their gauge meter are filled up which I will explain these for later on the review, so lets start with the basic controls.

You move the character with the d-pad button or left-stick control, so moving forward or back with the left and right of the left-stick control or d-pad button, then you can dash forward or backward by tapping the left or right twice of left-stick control or d-pad button.

You can crouch by holding down of the left-stick control or d-pad button, as well as do sidestep by tapping up or down of the left-stick control or d-pad button.

Then you'll have 4-button controls where each button corresponds to a specific limb of your character such as square button for left punch, triangle button for right punch, cross button for left kick, and of course circle button for right kick.

You can block the opponent attacks by holding back the left-stick control or d-pad button, and you can also use grab and throw by pressing both square and cross button or triangle and circle button together to perform a throwing attack on your opponent. 

You can also open up the special style menus by pressing the left shoulder button which displays a simplified multi-button combination allowing your character to perform simple combo attacks.

When the gauge meter is fully filled up, then use the heat burst with the right shoulder button allowing your character to perform a striking attack.

When your health bar goes low, it will unlock rage arts which allowing your character to perform a severe special attack by pressing the right trigger.

I say the fighting control system is pretty solid which they really nailed the faithfulness of the well-known fighting system that the series was being famous for its button-mashing combo and stylish technique moves that are easier to pull-off many punches, kickes, and of course grab & throws.

The best thing about the fighting control system is the use of special style which is the simplified multi-button combination where you can able to pull-off a complex combo moves easily with a single-button inputs such as your speciality move, air combos, power crush, and low attacks/throws which is perfect for the beginners who prefered the simple fighting system.

I also wanted to praise the use of the heat burst and rage arts which delivers an epic sequence of deadly moves deals a spectcular damage attacks on the opponent is also quite satisfying to perform.

I also liked practicing a various of basics and advanced fighting moves throughout the training sessions  and challenge which I really enjoyed learning all straight-forward and complex combo hits, so these are the kinds of things that the players will spend time of practicing all the moves and combos in order to become an experienced Tekken player.

That being said, it feels fast-paced, responsive, and easy to pull-off many combos and special moves proving this title has done the fighting game everything right.      

The game has the excellent selection of game modes to play such as the story mode which I had a blast of playing these 2 seperate story campaign that do not dissapoint me is because it has really good pace of story cutscenes and in-game story matches that doesn't feel drag down the experience which I'm glad they done the game quite justice.

I also enjoyed 2 of the arcade modes like character modes which is just like every fighting games single-player mode with the 8 opponents to fight against and then you have arcade quests which is a offline single-player hub-world that acts as an interactive tutorial teaching beginners game mechanics and arcade culture though a custom avatar which I really spend time of visiting different local arcades and ranking up levels in order to enter the gaming tournaments.    

The game has 1 on 1 versus mode which is perfect for the local play if you have your friends or family joining in for couch competitive match, where as the online play lets you battle against the ranked players throughout the online matches.

I got to say I do really enjoy Tekken Ball match fooling around with the beach ball which is a pretty fun game to play.   

Overall, it has solid fighting controls system and excellent game modes.

Graphics

The game's visuals are looking so spectcular utilzing with Unreal Engine 5 showcasing the 9th-gen powerhouse which delivers an amazing graphical details in many areas of stages with crispy textures on wall and surfaces, fluid water reflections, bloomy lighting and shady shadow effects, and of course the falling particles.

I also liked the detail on draw-distance displaying a nice landscape view with in-depth environments and settings are looking quite outstanding and the foreground arena stage has the great use of camera-rotation system which circulating around the stage itself.

I say the character's animation is damn near impressive with every details on facial and body movement just appears to be look quite remarkable in many ways, so their lip-syncing dialogue is dead-on intact during cutscenes, their body figure feels responsive for their fighting style, and their overall character's design is absoultely appealing that their appearence is just as recogniable as we all remembered them from the previous entries of the series.

I got to say that I really liked the stylish effects of the collision hit detection during the combos and moves which made this fighting game appears to be fast and flashy throughout the battles.

The game's performance on all platforms had ran smoothly with full 60fps of 1440p resolution just delivers an magnificent result which I am happy to say that the Tekken 8 is got to be the smoothest fighting game for the 9th-gen machine.

While both of PS5 and XSX/S (X model) has significent visual overall, the XSX/S (S model) however uses a much lower dynamic resolution of 1080p and had missing few of the graphical details which made the visuals feel softer and lighter in comparsion, but thankfully it ran a consistant 60fps with no signs of dropdowns whatsoever which seems to be a good news for those who had XSX/S (S model) may able to enjoy the fast-paced fighting game.

     

Overall, it has spectcular graphical environments, remarkable character's animation, and smooth performance.

Music and Sounds

The game has wicked numbers of original soundtrack that made the players feel pumped up for brawling action, so it has the varieties of electronic and rock music that really fits the style of fighting game such as "The Decisive Battle", "Neo City", "Yakushima", "Fallen Destiny", and "Midnight Siege" are the perfect choices for the fighting stage arena. 

It was composed by mifumei and the rest of the Bandai Namco's sound team did a splendid job on their original score, where as the song such as "My Last Stand" was sang by Robbie Wyckoff and "Mastery" was performed by The Last Rockstars are also quite decent to listen.

The sound effects in this game are sure fantastic for its stage environmental sounds with great use of background noises and atmospheric effects, and I got to love the collision noises of combo hits in every punches and kickes are well intacted.

The character's voice acting in this game are very good with the mix of English and International speaking dialogue throughout the cutscenes.    

Overall, it has wicked soundtrack, fantastic sound design, and very good voice acting.

Special Features

The game has in-game unlockable cutscenes and illustrations on gallery, as well as the items such as alternative character outfits, titles, and profile customisation panels.

It also has season pass which lets you unlock paid DLCs content such as more playable rosters and stages, but unfortnately the each of the season pass is stupidly over priced which is cost around between £25 or £33 so having to pay all 3 season passes together which is nearly £95 just sounded quite total kill.

I also hated the idea of having the microtransaction in video games where you had to pay the money to add more Tekken coins are used for buying custom costumes, avatar items, and other cosmetic add-ons from the in-game shop. 

Overall, it does have a good content but not a good idea to add the shady additional monetisation.

 

Advantages

Decent main story

Great fighting rosters

Amazing stage presentation

Solid fighting controls system

Excellent game modes

Cool customisation 

Smooth visual performance

Wicked soundtrack

Disadvantages

Bland main menu's U.I Icon and Fonts

Awful post-Launch's microtransaction 

Near expensive season pass

 

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - decent main story, great cast of characters, and has amazing stage presentation.

Gameplay 9/10 - solid fighting controls system and excellent game modes.

Graphics 9/10 - spectcular graphical environments, remarkable character's animation, and smooth performance.

Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - wicked soundtrack, fantastic sound design, and very good voice acting.

Special Features 6.5/10 - unlockable gallery and paid DLCs.

Overall 9/10 - Tekken 8 is clearly being another top-tier title for the Tekken franchise which I am incredibly pleased to see this title had made a significent result for delivering an refinement fighting mechanics, lot of game modes to play including both arcade and versus, the story mode just done the job right, smooth game performance, and it was perfect for competitive online matches is something that I'm embracing the Bandai Namco's biggest fighting game series that deserves to be praised. 

Even though I concidered Tekken 3 as being my number 1 favourite on the series which helped the franchise's popularity, but this game could be on my another list of best Tekken games which I'm proudly to say this game really delivers the level of quality for 9th-gen's fighting game libaries that I never felt regret playing it whatsoever, so you can't go wrong with this recent Tekken game that are actually outstanding to play.      

The physical copies for both PS5 and XSX/S are cost around between £20 and £25, where as the digital releases for PS Store, Xbox Store, and Steam are cost about £35.

Is this game are highly recommended to all fighting game fans? absoultely you should go play this game is because this is clearly the best fighting game for the 9th-gen platforms that you do not want to miss it.

  

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God of War: Ragnarok PS5 Review

 

God of War: Ragnarok is a Action-Adventure game was released in 2022 for PS5 and PS4, and it was later ported to PC in 2024.

It was developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by SONY Interactive Entertainment, and it is a sequel to 2018's original game titled as God of War.

Before I begin reviewing this game, I wanted to discuss my past experience and nostalgia on how I got started to get into with the SONY's landmark franchise.

At the beginning of summer 2011 when I had the PS3 as my very first SONY's gaming console on my birthday along with the bunch of PS3 games to play that will be my first time to experience the HD gaming.

After owning my PS3 and the games that I've obtained, I also continued to search for more libaries of PS3 games that I'm interested to buy it one from online store, so I've found God of War HD Collection which is a video game compliation packed with two titles such as God of War (2005) and God of War 2 (2007) as a HD remastered of these PS2 classics featuring fully-HD graphics with 720p resolution and 60 FPS, and of course the GOW 2's bonus materials previously featured on PS2's 2-disc release are now included in this HD collection.

I've been playing those games for a whole 2 weeks to see how it really goes and oh boy...I am incredibly satisfied with the results turned out to be such a masterpiece.

The game set in ancient greek mythology, the brutal battles takes place in ancient city of Athens, and of course you have a badass warrior went on hunting down many Olympian gods for bloody vengence is something that I've appericated the most thanks to epic storyline, unstoppable protagonist, button-mashing combat, has QTE and puzzles going on, appealing visuals and sound design, and of course the solid replayability that made these games quite memorable especially on HD collection are also welcoming for the series newcomers.

I also enjoyed the third and also the final title of the ancient greek era with the God of War 3 which I've descibed it as another fantastic sequel had give the series a justice in terms of story, visuals, and gameplay action makes it a worthy play. 

Then moving to the Norse mythology era with the 2018's PS4 masterpiece titled as God of War which completely taking into the new direction of game's presentation settings, storylines, characters, and of course the gameplay design and environmental visuals are completely giving a newer approach that are different from the series previous installiment.

I say it's another best title in the series, next to 2005-07's first twos original games, thanks to powerful storyline between father and son, well-builted gameplay design with solid combat system and many quests to explore, quality looking visuals showcasing PS4's powerhouse are strikingly beautiful, and has stronger casting roles delivering an amazing performance throughout the story campaign is something that made me appreciate the series even more.

Then finally the 2022's sequel for the PS5 console which is God of War: Ragnarok, a game that I'm ready to look forward playing another epic adventures of Kratos and BOY!!!! I mean his son Atreus you know I'm saying. 

As I previously enjoyed the 2018's original game which I concidered it as outstanding, you might be thinking this 2022's sequel may be just as good, right? well...almost but not quite on the same level as the predecessor which is why I am here to review this title to explain how was the story campaign going and does the combat and exploration doing the game's justice.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The game set in the events after the 2018's original game, as it follows the journey of Kratos and his son Atreus went on their quest is to prevent a prophecy of their deaths and the end of the world, leading to a massive war against the Norse gods.

The story also involves Atreus seeking for his answers to find out his true identity as well as finding his way to stop Ragnarok from the apocalypse despite Kratos trying to protect his son from putting in dangerous risk, then you have Freya goes on battle for her revenge against them, then you have Odin and Thor arrive to threaten Kratos if the deal are rejected, and then finally traveling across all 9 realms to find recruiting alies like Tyr hoping he can help them way to lead the army against the Odin.

The story in the game is somewhat decent depending on what story chapters whether you like it or not, so I say the journey between father and son relationship are remained strong that keeps the story narrative going forward and I also liked the concept of having to go on their quest to find the way of saving the world from the creation of mass destruction like Ragnarok is something that I'm more interested on these storylines, where as I finding the paceing on Atreus's story quest are kinda mixed bag despite being a fine secondary protagonist which I had no problem, but on his story quest it's not simply quite the best is because I find the segments like Angraboda section and his quest in Asgard are kinda felt rushed out and scripted as opposed to Kratos story quest are slightly has the better segments in comparsion, so I wish they could have made Atreus's story quest done the job properly rather than falling flat.

The game has few of good characters which is mostly Kratos as an primary protagonist in the whole game which he still remains as an unstoppable fighter while he cares about his son safety to made sure to keep Atreus out of trouble.

Then you have everyone favourite BOY!!!! well I mean't Atreus which is now grown up as a teenage young lad who became a secondary character in the game, so even though he is portrayed as a douchebag throughout the story segment but he will eventually reduce his stubborness in later part is because what do you know it's Atreus being an Atreus which is a whole point of the game, so cut him some slack guys.    

The game also shares with some of the supporting cast of characters that are half good and some others are kinda forgetable, so you have the returning casts such as Freya the witch goddess, twin brothers Brok and Sindri, and talking headless Mimir are the only good ones that are remained likable in the game's story, where as the new character cast such as Angraboda and Thrud are kinda lackluster in comparsion is because I don't find them interesting throughout the story section which I described them as bland and also boring, and then you have Tyr is just basically a generic looking tall-giant dude which is nothing special about the character.

Lastly you have cast of villains that are incredibly decent like Odin the All-Father is absolute menacing antagonist with his act of being manipulative and charismatic mob-boss, then you have big fat Thor made his habit of being an alcoholic...yeah you could tell he had a huge gallon of beer pouring down on his big fat belly...enough said, and of course Heimdall the asshat with punchable face and insufferable personality that makes everyone loved to hate him making his eventual showdown quite entertaining fights in the game.

The game's presentation design are astoundingly solid for its cinematic aesthetics in terms of in-game cutscenes and sequences are quite look pleasing on the screen just feels really good to watch, so I highly recommend to set the graphic options to visual mode which I think having a 30fps is suitable for cinematic design wise.

I also liked the settings of the Norse mythologies themes which I find the cultrial of scandinavian history quite appealing in this game, so there are numerous of locations to discover such as you have Midgard which is a harsh and frozen wasteland with heavily iced-over lake of 9 navigable by wolf-drawn sled and scattered with deep snow drifts, looming realm towers, and stark Norse ruins.

Svartalfheim is a vibrant dwarven realm featuring a steaming wetlands, geysers, and lush green shores with heavy industrial elements like massive pitmines, canals, and the busting city of Nidavellir. 

Alfheim is a striking desert realm featuring sweeping sand dunes, massive canyons, and towering elven architecture. 

Vanaheim is a vast and lush realm which has dense jungles, vibrant red-leafed canopy trees, winding river deltas, and the open expanse of the crater.

Muspelheim is a fiery volcanic realm filled with glowing lava rivers, charred rock formations, and ashen cliffs. 

Nifheim is a frigid primordial landscape defined by towering ice formations, stark frozen fields, and sweeping mist.

Helheim is a frezzing realm which has bitter windswept icy landscape, towering dark stone architecture, and an oppressive somber atmosphere with giant spectral eagle Hraesvelgr and tear-ridden green mists. 

Asgard is a rugged fortified Nordic village surrounded by massive defensive walls, towering scaffoldings, and steep rocky terrain rather than overt pomp and splendor. 

Lastly the Jotunheim is a lush and warm landscape filled with coral reef-like plant life, stone trees, rivers, and glowing twlight skies.     

These 9 realms are filled with many manmade landmarks, village homes, caves, camping site, and many environmental structures and landscapes going on. 

Overall, it has decent story, good returning characters, and solid presentation design.

Gameplay

In single-player campaign, you take control of Kratos or Atreus (depending on story progression) in 3rd-person perspective of open-world environment, as your main goal is to complete all mission task being listed on the map and inventory menu.  

Push the left stick control is to move the character where as pressing the left-thumbstick button is to sprint, and pushing the right stick control is to rotate the camera which not only is to move camera around but also used for targeting cursor.

You can interact the stuff by pressing the circle button which are used for picking up items or objects, hitting the lever, and talking to NPCs for dialogue.

You can access to character and map menu by pressing the left or right touchpad button which you will see the character's status, weapons, and armours as well as displaying the map inventory screen which helps you navigate through the pinpoint and whereabouts.

For combat, press the right-shoulder button is to use light attack which deals a small melee damage where as the right-trigger button used as heavy attack which deals a strong melee damage.

You can also perform throwing attack by holding with the left-trigger button then press the right-shoulder or right-trigger button which uses for long-range attack, but you can also retrieve your axe-welding melee weapon by pressing the triangle button which returns back to your hand.

The left-shoulder button uses for not only just blocking the enemy's melee projectiles, but also uses for parrying system which allows you to deflect the enemy's incoming melee attack if you see the yellow-circle being highlighted on enemy, so be sure you press it on the right timing as they get close to your range.

You can also do dodge roll the enemy's incoming attack by tapping the cross button while holding the left or right of the left-stick control is to perform evade.

You will have Atreus aiding with you to fight against the enemies or destroying objects that required specific arrow type, so you will have to command him to shoot with his arrow by pressing the square button.

You can cycle the weapon by pressing the d-pad button allowing you to switch your weapons, as well as the Atreus's arrow types.

When your rage meter is fully filled-up on the left-side bottom of the screen, this will allow you to temporarily activate the spartian rage mode by pressing both left and right thumbstick button, so this will make your melee damage attack much stronger and severe on enemies which can only last until it ran out of your rage meter bar. 

So far, the default control scheme plays it brilliant which I had no issues with controlling these layouts for its movement and combat, so you can also reconfigure your gameplay and controls through the option menu which gives you a choice to remap your button layouts, change gameplay style, and other accessibilites to suit your playstyle.

We are now going to talk about the combat gameplay is because the franchise was best known for its mass-killing combos, deadly weapons, and tons of upgradable skills and abilities to learn is something that I'd like about God of War as a whole, so does this game managed to do a good job? absoultely which I'm gonna discuss my thoughts on the combat system and skills.

You have the axe act as an primary weapon where as the later twos like twin-blades and spear which you will eventually obtain it for later part of the game.

You'll start with the leviathan axe which is slow and strong weapon great for the ice element which can be thrown and recalled from any distance and it can also freezes enemies.

Then you have blade of chaos which is fast and wide-ranging weapon perfect for the fire element which excels at hitting hordes of enemies and it is also applies burning status effects and utilizes flame whiplash.

Lastly the draupir spear which is agile and ranged pressure weapon good for the wind element which can rapidly impales enemies with projectiles that can be detonated and it is also siphon enemy elemental magic to unleash amplified attacks.

What I liked about the combat system is the upgrade and skills for your weapons and armours, so each of them will have many attributes to improve on such as strength, defense, relics, cooldown, and luck which you will need to have these leveled up, so that you can able to fight against the high-class enemies that are tougher to fight during the battle.  

So in order to do that, you will need a certain requirements such as looting many required materials, gaining many XPs after defeating enemies and bosses or completing numerious of quests, and collecting all currencies.   

Once you gain all the stuffs that you need, you can head over to inventory screen which you will see the list of weapons and armours that the stuff you have equipped and others are not equipped, so these weapons can be upgraded if you have one of the required material which can be found on any area of each locations, so you can upgrade them through the blacksmith shop which Brok or Sindri will help you smithing your weapons which levels up your player's weapons will not only it increases your strengths for your attack power but also allows you to access your new fighting skills to unlock.

The fighting skills menu can be accessed to the inventory screen which gives you an option to choose which fighting moves you want to unlock, so it will also require XPs to unlock these skills.

This will make your fighting ability a lot easier to perform more combos and technique attacks delivering a solid damage on enemies and bosses.

Then you will have various of armours to select such as chest, wrists, and amulet which can be also upgraded through blacksmith shop which improves upon your defensive system reducing damage taken from the enemy melee or projectiles. 

You will also have the 4 of the enhancements stuff such as the enchantments are the boosters which grant you an specific bonuses such as your strength, defense, relics, cooldown, and luck.

The attachments allowing you to customise gear by adding distinct perks, special abilities, and stat boosts to your weapons and shields.  

The runic attacks is a special weapon skills has 2 slots to equip which allowing you to perform a various of light and heavy special weapon attacks such as winter's bite, mists of helheim, cyclone of chaos, tartarus rage, huldra charge, and the finger of ruin    

The relics uses to amplify or prolong your effects such as granting melee damage bonus, burst of rage, push enemies back with force, and of course creating a shockwave to stun enemies.  

These upgrades, skills, and enhancements that I've mentioned above really adds-up your benefits such as reduces your damage taken from the enemy's melee or projectiles, increased power for stronger damage attack, and also faster cooldown for your runic attack, relics, and companions to recharge. 

I say these combat gameplay plays it really amazing throughout the battle with new skills to learn and more upgrades to improve on is something that I really enjoyed having to leveling up the character's stats just really adds-up a realism of the combat design, so this motivates me to be better fighting against the tough enemies and bosses.

I got to say that I actually liked the combat battle between Kratos and the enemies where you'll spend time to kick their asses by keep throwing the axe directly at them, swinging your blades around them, and thrusting and stabbing them with your spear.

Having to unleash your rage mode giving you ability to instantly knocking them out faster till it ran out your rage meter.

Finally finishing them off with your brutallity moves allowing you to rip and tear their body in pieces displaying the gorefested animated sequence of these enemies getting mauled to death on screen is something to enjoy the game's ultra-violent action-adventure.  

What can I say about the open-world exploration? I say it's fun to explore many places in each 9 realms, so I've spent time of browsing through the areas searching for looting items on chestboxes, fighting hordes of enemies to farm XPs, visiting any undiscovered villages, homes, and fortresses, rowing on the boat, and so on.

The most important thing about the game is the campaign quests as a whole is because there good and bads to talk about regarding on whether the story quest are actually done right and some others might be not as quite good, so starting off with Kratos campaign quest which I personally liked the big adventure of father and son worked together on their journey which I really enjoyed exploring around the areas, doing many puzzle solving, fighting off the enemies, and of course those segments are actually great such as the prologue, search and find Tyr, and solving Groa's secret just off the good start.

There are also a side quests to do which is an optional choice for the players giving you a freedom to do an extra mission outside of the story quest, so having to play the side quests are not only it will expand your campaign's length to keep you busy but also it is a very useful for the beneficial reason to do it for the rewards such as valuable XPs, unique armour sets, crafting resources, and runic items just made the kratos whole adventure quite fun to play.   

Not only you take control of Kratos throughout the playthrough, you also get to play as Atreus which is a secondary playable character that you'll take control of him in later chapter, so is the Atreus campaign any good? well...not quite so much as the Kratos campaign too be frankly honest.

I say he did have a good things for his combat system which he uses the bow as an weapon are perfect for range-shot on long-distance and he uses 2 types of arrow came handy for stuff like destroying blocked objects or puzzle solving related area.

His melee combat are fast and fluid which he can pull off his amount of combo attack and of course his transformation into bear or wolf is incredibly cool which I did apperiecate his combat style just worked really good.

Unfortunately his story quest started out decent at the first start of his independent adventure until the later chapter of his are kinda falls flat which I did mention earlier about the segments on Angraboda section and his quest in Asgard just kinda bores me is because I find these story segment quite uninteresting just made the paceing of the playthrough quite painfully slow and scripted, so I wish they could have made a better segments that has simple and straight-forward dialogue and more balanced paceing could have helped his story campaign much fairer. 

The positive things in the campaign is has to be a boss battle which the game did it right job is because I actually liked having to fight these insane bosses that does quite an intense charge attacks, throwing magics at your face, and showing off their power ability.

You have Bjorn the grizzly bear came charging at you, the big fat Thor welds his heavy thunderous hammer to smash your head off, the big lizard-like dragon Niohogg is rediculously huge creature with impressive strength and immerse durability, the large-giant wolf Garm is quite bloody dangerous being with chained-collar around neck, and of course I find battling with Heimdall is got to be the most entertaining showdown that do not drags everything down, so I'm glad that they made the boss battle quite solid with many fun strategies and epic hand-to-hand combat is something that I can able to enjoy this game.

The game also has a free DLC called Valhalla which is basically an single-player expansion which takes place after the main game featuring roguelite mechanics where each death resets your tempoary stats and runic attacks while keeping the permanent upgrades between runs, so this is actually a tough but also a fun single-player experience that got everything right makes it an outstanding addition to this game are definite worth checking it out.      

         

Overall, it has brilliant combat gameplay, fun exploration, great single-player quests, and entertaining boss battles.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is still stunningly look amazing for its visual quality even through it doesn't support the use of ray-tracing which is suprising that it's was meant to be the AAA title because it uses the simular game's engine and the assets from the predecessor to fit in for the PS4 version which I totally understand the reason, but the key difference is that they have added the improvement for the PS5 version featuring the shaper images, dynamic lighting amd shadows, cleaner environments and textures, and faster-loading times which did really help the game's visually.

As you can see the open-world environments are nicely opened-wide filled with many structures, objects, and landmarks that are perfectly well-designed on many landscapes and areas.

The textures of wall and surfaces are bold and detailed giving a shaper environmental look on many places, and then these lighting and shadow effects are also quite good on some locations depending on which areas has the clear balance of light and dark tone.

The use of HDR support does also improve the aspect of image level such as the color saturation, brightness, and sharpness just adds up the suitable screen filtering.      

The motion capturing of character's animation is still remains intact and perfection throughout the cinematic cutscenes as well as in-game battle and sequences, as you can see their body figure and facial movement are incredibly well-synced and responsive just made the whole game quite realistic that proves how fantastic the visual design looked on modern-gaming platform.

Finally let's not forget the gore system in the game which I really liked the finishing kill animation of the enemies and bosses gets their body tore-up in pieces while the blood spreads everywhere on the ground is something that I adore the series well-known brutality throughout the in-game battle. 

The game's performance on PS5 has four graphical options such as performance mode, quality mode, performance-HFR mode, and quality-HFR mode. 

The performance mode targets with 60fps using dynamic resolution scaling between 1440p and 2160p, where as having the performance-HFR mode turned on unlocks the 60fps and over which is a solid choice for those who perfers a smooth and responsive combat. 

The quality mode locked native 4K resolution with target between 30fps and 40fps, where as having the quality-HFR mode turned on unlocks the 40fps and over offers a sharper details much suitable for a cinematic use.

While the performance mode with both HFR on or off is still runs great, I rather much prefered the quality mode with both HFR on or off is because I find the details looks more bolder and cleaner on draw-distance, foreground, weather effects, and character's outfit just made the game look appealing on the screen.   

Overall, it has amazing visual environment, fantastic animation, and great performance.

Music and Sounds

I say I adored the orchestrated folklore soundtrack that is still incredibly sounds fantastic throughout the whole campaign just adds-up the level of emotional depths between the father and son.

It was composed by Bear McCreary who previously did the score of God of War (2018) has done the job really well again proves that having an epic and powerful sound score in video games is the work of art.

The overall sound design is pretty solid for its environmental backgrounds, atmospheric noises, and surrounding areas just sounded great in many open-world locations.

I say the voice actors such as Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic did such an excellent job for delivering an remarkable performance between the twos just really nails their character role entirely.  

Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, solid sound design, and excellent voice cast.

Special Features

The game has unlockable new game plus and of course does feature a free DLC-expansion called Valhalla.

Overall, an outstanding content. 

   

Advantages

Decent story and good returning characters

Solid presentation design

Brilliant combat gameplay and fun exploration

Great single-player quests

Amazing visual design

Fantastic music and sound design

Outstanding free DLC-expansion

Disadvantages

Atreus's story section are not great

New supporting characters are forgetable

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - decent story, good returning characters, and solid presentation design.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - brilliant combat gameplay, fun exploration, great single-player quests, and entertaining boss battles.

Graphics 9/10 - amazing visual environment, fantastic animation, and great performance.

Music and Sounds 9/10 - fantastic soundtrack, solid sound design, and excellent voice cast.

Special Features 9/10 - new game plus and free DLC-expansion called Valhalla.

Overall 8.5/10 - I say it is a good but not a perfect sequel which didn't quite match-up to the predecessor is because I felt the 2018's original game that was on PS4 console had done flawlessly outstanding job in terms of quality storyline, has better quest mission, and of course the epic battle sequences which is why I liked the original game's charm that made it very interesting to play, where as this does have amazing visuals, brilliant combat, and has great single-player quests which is fine but it falls shortly with the slow-paced Atreus's story section and lackluster new supporting characters wasn't the best part in which they could have done the job better, but that doesn't mean the game is a let down is because at least you'll still may find Kratos story campaign more enjoyable filled with many quests and duties to do and of course the showdown battle with the enemies and bosses is what really matters the most that helps you keep the busy with the game entirely.

That being said, God of War: Ragnarok is a solid action-adventure game which is still worth to play, so the physical copy are cost about £20 or more mostly on local shop or online store, where as the digital release on PS Store are retailed for £70, but you can also access to this game by getting it on the PS Plus subscription under the game catalogue.        

Is it an definite play? I say if you previously liked the original game then you might gonna give this game a worth a shot.

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone. 

            

     

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero PS5 Review

 

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a 3D fighting game was released in 2024 for PS5, XSX/S, and PC, and then was later released both on Switch 1 and 2 in 2025.

It was developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and it is a sequel to 2007's title such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 making it a 4th installiment in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.

Before I begin reviewing the game, I wanted to mention that I've previously reviewed 2 of the Dragon Ball Z games quite long time ago.

I've covered the review of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for PS3 in 2017 which I've described it as one and the only decent DBZ game for 7th-gen consoles in comparsion with the later games like Raging Blast and Battle of Z are definitely not good as the Burst Limit, and then I also covered the review of Dragon Ball FighterZ for PS4 in 2021 which is definitely being one of the best fighting game in the Dragon Ball Franchises is something to appericate anime-style fighting game genre more thanks to numerous of memorable base roster, enjoyable 3 on 3 matches, well-written story, quality visuals, and smooth fighting gameplay is what makes the game epically fun on the 8th-gen system.

Here is the link on down below to see my previous review of Dragon Ball games:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/dragon-ball-z-burst-limit-ps3-review.html

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/dragon-ball-fighterz-ps4-review.html

 

Okay let's get on with this review shall we? we all know this media franchise was created by Akira Toriyama in 1984 which started out as manga series was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995. 

As manga series has been adapted into two anime TV series such as Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996.

It was later aired on worldwide channels like Cartoon Network in late 90's, as well as CNX in 2002 and Toonami 2003. 

Since the release, Dragon Ball has widely become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time with the manga sold in over 40 countries and the anime broadcast in more than 80 countries.

It was highly praised for its art, characterization, and humour of the story, as well as many manga artists citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works.

Many people had talked about Dragon Ball Z which is the reason why it became popular across the world and is considered one of the most influential in boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture has impact on global popular culture such as artists, athletes, celebrities, filmmakers, musicians and writers across the world.

It also spawned into films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games, numerous action figures, along with several collections of soundtracks and numerous video games.

As I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z as a child back in the days of late-90s and early-2000s, I also got interested to play any of DBZ games which I had a blast time playing with the titles like Dragon Ball Z 2 -Super Battle for Arcade (via Mame 32), Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for PS3, Super Dragon Ball Z for PS2, and of course Dragon Ball FighterZ for PS4, but there's one of the series that I've never actually played which is DBZ: Budokai and DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi is because I'm mostly got used with the traditional 2D fighting game as opposed to 3D-arena style fighting game for DBZ games which is why I've never payed closely attention on 3D fighting DBZ games, but I did hear many positives things about these games by the fans including my classmate from my old-days at college in early-2010s had talked about these game he played said something really special about how fun these DBZ: Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi games really are in terms of story mode, base rosters, tournament matches, and perfectly great for versus battles which is why it got me convinced to tryout these games if only I had a chance to get it on my gaming console, so it took me 15 years to finally getting my hands-on a 3D fighting DBZ game and also my very first Budokai Tenkaichi game for the PS5 which is Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. 

It's one of the game that the Budokai Tenkaichi series made the return since 2007, so it's been incredibly long time for DBZ fans were expecting to see a new entry for the modern platform is because it really shows how much they loved the series back in their PS2 days where you had bunch of fighters flying around the arena, throwing tons of rapid punches and kicks, and blasting the shit of each others with projectiles is something that made the series quite special, so does this game lives up the same expectations as the previous entries or is it a huge step backwards in comparsion? let's find out how this game plays it well throughout the journey.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The game's episodes depict the story of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super where you must take control of any of selected fighters including Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Frieza, Goku Black, and of course Jiren, so each of them has their story arc that follows the canonical events of these two animated series, but it also featured the story branching which require players to complete the secondary objectives in order to access the "what if" scenarios that change the course of history.

Thats the interesting way of having the multiple paths in story mode which resulted a different outcome of story cutscenes just makes the game quite unique for fighting game genre.

The game however shares a really great sagas starting from Saiyan Saga to Frieza Saga and then Cell Saga to Majin Buu Saga is the reason I loved watching Dragon Ball Z back in the good old days, where as I haven't watched Dragon Ball Super but thankfully this game includes two sagas such as Universal Survival Saga and Future Trunks Saga which are also quite decent too.

While these story sagas are pretty amazing in the story mode, it also shares likable heroes like Goku who is the main protagonist of whole Dragon Ball franchise which was loved by many fans and communites due to his super saiyan power and fighting techniques are incredibly badass throughout the fight sequence and he also quite an likable character with his friendly personality which he enjoys challenging with tough opponents, eats huge amounts of food, and being quite kind-hearted and forgiving person.

I also liked Vegeta which is another badass fighter which was best known for being an arrogance and stubborness as he likes to test opponents to prove his dominance, but he then evolves from a cold ruthless villain into a dedicated family man and hero throughout the story.     

Then you have Gohan who is the son of Goku which descibed as gentle and compassionate pacifist who hates fighting, but he only steps up when forced to defend home planet and his friends.

You have Piccolo the green alien dude who is formally villain from the original Dragon Ball are now shifts dramatically as wise mentor and trusted ally after bonding with Gohan in Dragon Ball Z.

Future Trunks is basically the future version of Trunks who is a Vegeta's son, as he visited to his past timeline to warn Vegeta and Goku about the incoming threat of two invincible foes such as Goku Black and Future Zamasu.

Then you have the cast of villains such as Frieza, Cell, and Super Buu which I concider these dudes are the best bad guys in Dragon Ball Z saga, where as you have Goku Black and Future Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super are just as crazy chaotic villains like the previous ones.         

Lastly I concider Jiren as not a traditional villain but rather more of being an rival in the tournament match which he has an incredibly impressive power throughout the battle sequence.

The game's presentation is excellent which I really liked the Akira Toriyama's style of design that are bold, bright, and colourful just like the good old days of animated series we knew and love back in the 90s.

I really love the overall design of cutscenes that are fully cinematic during the conversation dialogue between the characters and the whole scenery in the cutscenes are all in 3D perspective giving the story sequences a dynamic feel which I got to say it's a pretty well designed throughout the story campaign. 

I say I do like the game's main menu screen which has fully animated navigation are filled with cast of characters and the background scenery in each menu screens, and I also liked the menu's user interface design which has really nice layouts and fonts throughout the navigations just looking quite good on the menu screen.

The game does have 12 really great fighting stage locations such as Planet Namek take place on a small clearing surrounded with destructable trees and mountains, empty namekian village with destructible homes and furniture, and small shore that leads to a ocean with underwater.

Open Field is a wasteland areas are filled with small mountains and trees covered in grass and multiple dirt patches along it's vast surface.

Rocky Land is a desert level filled with uneven terrain and has many tall rock formations, canyons, and short small rivers.

City is a large metropolitan places are filled with tall skyscraper buildings, parks, and road with futuristc style layouts and design.

World Tournament is a fighting stadium with large arena of grey tiled square shaped that's elevated over a big patch grass and the whole area is walled off by brick walls on three sides.

Tournament of Power Arena is another fighting area takes place on a huge floating circular battle arena with a huge pole struck in the middle and the surface of the stage is littered with serveral big pieces of debris and broken parts of the ground.

Hyberbolic Time Chamber is an open cicular structre with two small rooms, big clock, two giant hourglasses with green sand, and small pole with a glass sphere.

Land of the Kais is an open field filled with small rock formations and trees covered in grass and a long winding dirt path that crosses along it's vast surface, and it also has a few purple rivers, lakes, and a waterfalls on the background.

Islands is a stage takes place on a 8-shaped island with palm trees and oak trees, tall rock formation, ocean, and small mountains above the surface.

Cell Games Arena is simular to World Tournament stage but without the stadium layout which has open field with mountains and trees.

City Ruins is a stage that depicts a dilapidated city from the future timeline featuring abandoned run down buildings, wrecked cars, and many pieces of debris.

Destroyed Planet Namek is a dark and gloomy stage are filled with red hot magma spewing from the planet's core, and a lot of jagged terrains along with a few trees and mountains left to be destroyed.

First Demon World takes place on a huge floating circular rock arena with huge curved spikes sticking around the edges and surface of the stage is littered with serveral big spikes and broken parts of the ground.

Overall, it has amazing story sagas, recogniable cast of characters, and excellent presentation settings.

Gameplay

The game has serveral of game modes to play including episode battle, custom battle, mission 100, survival mode, battle mode, and tournament mode which I will explain these game modes for later on this review.

You take control of any playable fighters in 3rd-person perspective as your goal is to defeat your opponent till their health points reaches to zero to win the match.

You have 3 of HUDs such as your health, ki, and skill bar at the top of the screen which displays your character's real-time status during the battles.

The health bar changes the color from blue to orange/red gradients as the health depletes, and it also has small numerical icons or stacked indicators which show how many total health bars remain.

The Ki Gauge represented by the yellow meter boxes underneath the health bar, so it fills up your ki power as you manually charge or land physical attacks, but it also depletes when you fly, dash, or fire energy blasts.

The skill count is a blast stocks shown as blue charging segments beside the main meters, so these fill over time (and faster when dealing damage) to let you use transformations, fusions, super perceptions, or revenge counters.

Sparking! Gauge becomes available to activate once your ki is maxed out and you have at least one skill count ready, pushing your character into a temporary hyper-powered state.

Lets get to the controls scheme starting off with the basics, so push the left-stick control is to move your character around, where as the right-stick control is to move camera around.

Press the left shoulder button is to jump, but pressing the same button again in mid-air to make you float allowing you to fly around in the air, but you can also ascend and descend your flying by holding with the left shoulder button and left trigger.

Press the cross button is to use step which allowing your character to make a short dash used as dashing speed or evading enemy's melee or projectiles.

You can also perform high speed dash by holding the both right trigger and cross button which treverse your dash speed into the enemies much faster. 

Press the square button is to use rush attack which acts as an melee deals weak damage attack on enemies, but to perform the smash attack hold the square button is to charge your melee then let go of it into a strong damage attack on enemies causing them to fly-off the stage in mid-distance. 

Press the triangle button is to shoot multiples of ki blast deals weak damage projectiles on enemies, but to perform charged ki blast hold the triangle button is to charge your ki blast then let go of it to shoot out a large ki blast deals strong damage projectiles on enemies.

The triangle button is also used as a rush chain meaning that you had to make chain attack by pressing the square button from 1 to 4 times then hit the triangle button which creates the chain combo deals a mid-damage attack on enemies.

You can perform a vanishing assault by pressing both of cross and square button near an enemy to teleport behind them allowing your character to attack your enemy from behind.

To defend yourself, hold the right shoulder button is to block the enemy's melee attack, where as you can able to parry enemy's incoming melee attack or projectiles by pressing the circle button at the right time as their enemy attacks you closely will deflect their melee attack or projectiles away from you.

To charge up your ki gauge, hold the right trigger to charge up your ki meter which you will see on the ki gauge bar, so having a fully charged up ki energy will allow you to use it for ki blast, super attacks, execute high speed dash, and of course the sparking! mode.  

To perform super attacks, hold the right trigger then press any of two buttons such as square or triangle which allowing your character to use their super attacks deals heavy damage attack on enemies.

To activate the sparking! mode, make sure your one skill count is ready before you charge up your ki gauge, so once you have obtained the skill count on top of the screen then you can able to activate it by keep holding the right trigger to charge your ki gauge till it reaches up to fully maxed level, so this will allow your character to perform an ultimate blast by holding the right trigger then press the circle button to use it resulting a cinematic finishing blast deals servere damage on enemy.

So far, the controls is not that complicated is because it may takes a while to learn and practice at the very beginning until after you have done completing the tutorials you've finally get used with it at the very end will eventually make you play better throughout the matches.

You can also customise your controls scheme from the option menu which lets you re-map your button layouts to suit your control preferences, as well as giving you an option to turn on assist settings to suit your playstyle which is fine for the beginners, but when it comes with having the best settings for competitve matches I always have all assists turned off except recovery assist is turned on is the better way of playing the game without any unwanted interference or breaking inputs during the matches otherwise your combos and parry system stops working which prevent players enjoying their experience on this game which is why I highly recommended to turn off all battle assists, but you can keep the recovery assist turned on to ease tedious button mashing when trying to recover or stabilizing in mid-air after getting launched which makes pretty sense is because the recovery time is quite slow which you don't really want to keep mashing all the buttons to get it recovered.

Is the control scheme plays any good? I say it plays really decently which I had no problem with controlling the character which I find the movements and fighting system plays out really smoothly, so I can able to pull off many good combos, melees, blasts, dashing, flying, and of course using the special techniques that made the match quite enjoyable to play.

What I liked about the game is the customisation which lets you alter fighters using alternate costumes, accessories, and of course the stat-boosting ability items which tweaks your character's stats like health, strength, and speed for offline and permitted modes.

This will change your fighter's attributes starting from default to custom status meaning that your fighter will have larger advantages of their fighting ability making it stronger and faster during the battles, so its entirely up to you whether you like to change the fighter's stats or just sticking it to the default instead if you do not wish to make changes.

You can get these stat-boosting ability items from the shop which requires zeni coins to purchase these items. 

I did had a blast time of playing various of game modes such as episode battle which is the story mode based on both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super with epic story sagas that are incredibly great for not just the canon story, but also shares with multiple routes which resulted a different "what if" scenarios that aren't present on the original animated series meaning that once the alternate objective has been met then you will see the new outcome with different storyline and endings which I really liked the idea of having to choose between the scenario A and B that makes the story in the game quite interesting to play, but the issue is that in order to access at the scenario B you have to set the game's difficulty to normal settings is the only way of unlocking the new scenario which unfortunately it's not that easy is because you had to go through fighting with the opponent while trying to complete the alternate objective is painfully takes too long to beat it just adds up frustration for players who really wanted to get access to new story route.

I'm not saying it plays bad, but at least try not to make alternate objective quite difficult to play otherwise it's takes forever to beat it. 

Despite the difficulty swings on alternate objective, the rest of the whole single-player story mode still plays great which I really liked having to battle against any of the foes such as Frieza, Cell, Super Buu, Goku Black, and Future Zamasu is what keeps the whole story campaign going forward.

I do like the custom battle which includes bonus battles where it had numerous of battles with original scenes that have different victory conditions and some that have event cutscenes trigger during the middle of battle, so not only you can enjoy the bonus battles but it also featured the edit mode is where you can able to create your own original scenes allowing you to freely select any of playable characters, along with camera cuts, poses, facial expressions, effects, dialogue, BGM, and even title screens which I think it's a cool feature that you can create your own original story and battle can be uploaded to the bonus battles servers, so that the public users can able to select and play any of these custom made battles.               

Then you have mission 100 from Budokai Tenkaichi 3 makes a return in a free update which consists of a 100 difficult battles against preset enemies, so it is good to include this mode for this recent title which I adored having the challenge mode for most of the fighting games in general.

Then you have survival mode which features 2 battle types such as round robin where you fight every fighters one after the other, and you have the deathmatch tests you to see how many win streaks you can rack up for a high score.

Then you have battle mode where the players must challenge each other through local split-screen and online multiplayer matches.

It also has tournament mode where you can create or join a tournament online with rivals around the world or play offline.

I say these game modes are actually fun to play especially playing with your friends or rivals through local or online matches, as well as having the tournament mode in this game is also a great addition which I fully appericate.

I wanted to praise the game for its over 100s of playable base roster including your favourites such as Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, Master Roshi, Goten, Trunks, Yamcha, Tien, Mr Satan, Majin Buu, Android 18, Kale, Frieza, Cell, Super Buu, Broly, Cooler, Raditz, and many more amazing cast of rosters to play as in the game.

I do like the base content in this game where you can able to earn the bonus points by completing serveral of single-player episodes and other modes or bonus log-in message will reward you with the zeni coins which is a in-game currencies where you can use these to spend on shopping menu to unlock various of playable rosters, outfits, musics, emote voice lines, and title cards.   

If this wasn't enough, you can also get a paid DLCs pack called "Super Limit Breaking NEO" which includes 30 plus new playable roster, 20 more new expanded customisation, 4 brand new stages, and of course the new single-player solo mode called limit breaker journey which is available on digital storefront including PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam for £29. 

I do appericate the additonal content of the game which sounds pretty cool to have one, but I don't think it's the right price for everyone to purchase which I think it's quite too expensive, so it would have been acceptable if the price were down to £15 or less to get everyone easily to purchase this paid DLCs.

  

These are all the game modes and base content that keeps me going with tons of replayability really proves that this game is just as entertaining that made the Budokai Tenkaichi series quite fun to play thanks to multiple story routes on episode battles, creating your own original story on custom battles, take the challenge of mission 100, and of course participating the local or online match on battle mode is something that makes the game worth of play.  

I had a fun time of playing the game with many cool battles between the fighters with many punching, kicking, and blasting each others, destroying many of environmental areas, having to fly around the arena, charging their power level up, and of course throwing large gigantic spirit ball or blast out with KAMEHAMEHA!!! right at your face is what I love playing Dragon Ball games in general.        

 

Overall, it has decent controls and fighting system, and many great game modes and base contents.          

Graphics

The graphics in this game is looking very good for its cel-shaded environments that has an large open-area which is perfect for big arena battle, and I do like the stage layouts with many structures and objects around the areas such as rocks, trees, houses, and walls which can be break apart in pieces, so I really liked how destructable these stages which I had a wonderful time of having to smash these objects and launched opponents onto the buildings and rocks is just looks awesome during the battle.

The texture surfaces are nicely bold, the art-style are colourful, the background landscape are detailed, the use of lighting and shadow effects in some stages are perfected, and of course the use of special effects is very well made especially the fighters charging up their ki gauge and throwing their blast at them is looking sharp and heavy that made the previous entry of the series look very appealing.

I got to love the character's animation in the game especially the Akira Toriyama's art-style which I really liked the anime/manga in general is because I find their design quite unique and appealing with cool facial expressions and movements is something that made the series quite likable.

Let's talk about how was the game's performance ran on the system is because PS5 and XSX/S (X Model) had managed to run on dynamic 4K or 1440p resolution with 60fps that keeping the pace of the whole quite smoothly as well as the sharp images on the screen is wonderfully look amazing throughout the battles.

I also got suprised finding out with the XSX/S (S model) had managed to upscale between 1080p and 1440p resolution with 60fps which thankfully its runs pretty smoothly throughout the battles.       

The Switch 2 on other hand which the game runs on 810p resolution with locked 30fps on both docked and undocked mode which makes the whole image of the game appears to be a bit soft on the screen and the performances does appears to have minimal stutters during the battle but it's still remains playable. 

Then sadly the Switch 1 is a huge step backwards in comparsion with the 9th-gen systems which ran on 720p docked and 480p undocked with locked 30fps which makes the pace of the game appears to be quite janky to play and it is not running smoothly and detailed as the Switch 2 which you better off sticking with the new Nintendo system instead for playable experience.

Overall, it has very good visual design, great character's animation, and wonderful performance.

  

Music and Sounds

The game has the solid numbers of epic soundtrack done really right for most of the in-game cutscenes and battle.

It fuses the style of J-Rock and epic orchestra just sounds so good to listen especially when battling against the foes just making the players ready to pump up for fast-paced brawling action, so you have the tracks like "Let the Battle Begin", "Flurry of Power", "Believe in Tommorow", "Limit Breaker", "Ultimate Instinct", "Dragon Spirit", "My Hero", "Day of Awakening", "The Final Battle", "Hidden Potential", "Next-Gen Hero", "Peaceful Days", "Serious", "Hope for the Future", and of course the "Main Theme".

It was composed by Takanori Arima, a same composer behind his work on Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3, did a great job on his original score.     

The game did a stunning job with the sound effects uses the same collision noises like from animated series which is why I finding these sound designs fits perfectly for the fight sequences with the sound of the clinging fists and exploding blasts everywhere and I also liked the heavy impact sounds of the destructable environments scattered all over the places is just sounds magnificent.   

It also has the returning English dubbing voice cast from the long-running series for their iconic character role that we all know and love which is why it brings me back the nostalgia of the DBZ as my childhood anime TV series.

  

Overall, it has solid epic soundtrack, stunning sound design, and returning voice cast for iconic characters.

Special Features

The game has many unlockable base contents including many playable rosters, outfits, emote voice lines, BGMs, and title cards.

It also has paid DLCs such as "Super Limit Breaking NEO" which includes 30 plus new playable roster, 20 more new expanded customisation, 4 brand new stages, and of course the new single-player solo mode called limit breaker journey.

Overall, an awesome overall content.

 

Advantages

Amazing story sagas and cast of characters

Excellent presentation settings

Decent controls and fighting system

Many great game modes and base contents

Very good graphics and performance

Solid epic soundtrack and stunning sound design

Disadvantages

Alternate objectives is painfully tough

Battle assist option is not suitable for competitve matches

Paid DLCs is overpriced

Final Verdict

Presentation 8.5/10 - amazing story sagas, recogniable cast of characters, and excellent presentation settings.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - decent controls and fighting system, and many great game modes.

Graphics 8/10 - very good visual design, great character's animation, and wonderful performance.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - solid epic soundtrack, stunning sound design, and returning voice cast for iconic characters.

Special Features 8/10 - unlockable base contents and additional paid DLCs with many awesome features. 

Overall 8.5/10 - While I concider Dragon Ball FighterZ as the strongest and also my top favourite fighting game in the series, this could be my 2nd favourite title is because they did a fabulous job of putting so much effort to work on this game with many overall content are filled with many cool things like the story mode has branching paths and choices, custom battles gives you a freedom to create your own original battle, has 100 challenge missions, survival, versus, and tournament modes to keep you busy with the game, and of course having to earn rewards to unlock base content by simply beating the game is what makes the game quite fun to play.

I had a wonderful good time of fighting these opponents by rapidly throwing punches and kicks, shooting many crazy blasts, dashing and flying around the fighting arena, and launching them onto destructable environments is what I loved about playing Dragon Ball games.

I am glad that I've picked really great 3D fighting game that do not regret playing it which shows that how much fun this game really is and I can honestly say is that the game is definitely made for those who previously enjoyed the Budokai Tenkaichi games.

You can get it physical copy on PS5 and XSX/S cheaper for £25, where as the Switch 1 and 2 are slightly expensive for £40.

It is also available on digital storefront such as PS Store, Xbox Store, and Steam for £45, where as the Nintendo eShop are quite pricey for £55.      

Is the game worth playing? the answer is if you really love playing the Dragon Ball's video games then "IT'S OVER 9000!" yes is because it's a solid 3D fighting game title that you may going to find this game an entertaining to play.

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.