It’s fair to say that I have dabbled in Dragon Ball Z during my lifetime. From watching the anime when it first hit these shores to withstanding a terrible movie translation that was questionable in so many ways, I know the material somewhat. What I can now add to that knowledge is that using DB to make a MOBA was a smart idea.
Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra, from developer Ganbarion and publisher Bandai Namco Games, is an interesting take on a wildly popular IP that has certainly had its ups and downs with the video game medium. But, hey! I think it’s safe to say that Bandai Namco has now released two really good DB games in a row, which means a formula and proper way to make a game from the DB IP has been found.
Anyway, Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra is a decently paced MOBA experience that takes all the wonder and characters of the Dragon Ball world and makes all the right moves to deliver an entertaining free-to-play game that works well. While it does depend on familiar faces to spark the initial fun, the gameplay delivers some fun-as-hell action that represents the characters in the DB world appropriately and respectfully. Three lanes of beautiful fighting chaos that motivates as it does encourage the player to jump back in the fray when they’re kicked the heck out.
Now, that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have its flaws, because it has its flaws. The biggest issue I saw during my review period was how whack-a-doodle the menu system was before jumping into the game. I know that might seem petty, but moving around and pairing with friends to play rounds isn’t as easy as the game itself. It’s an information architecture nightmare.
Anyway, let’s spike up our hair and get this review GOOOOOOIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!
Gameplay style
Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra takes the drab, traditional blueprint of a typical MOBA and simply makes it more colorful, accessible, and fun. Those three elements, plus a mostly good balance, help bring the game’s entertainment value higher than expected. It’s odd how well this worked, as I never imagined Dragon Ball and MOBA having any sort of a good relationship in the gaming world. Well, super my saiyan it does.
Presentation is everything
The colorful aspect of the MOBA is how the game’s environments, characters, and overall presentation are represented. The game screams anime and over-the-top visuals, both of which represent DB to a tee. The maps are colorful and come in a variety of ways. Some of the levels contain walls, some contain clouds that players can duck into to hide from enemies, while others contain small arenas to fight 1v1 battles as players make their way across the path they took. While there could be a few more details added to the maps, as it will feel like it contains open space now and then, what you get is still fun to look at and echoes DB pretty well.
On the character side of the tracks, you get a wide range of familiar faces. From Goku to Piccolo, the game brings a lot of the characters, even the ones fans may not like, to the colorful maps it contains. I was mightily impressed by the sheer number of characters this game contained and the amount of detail that Ganbarion put into each to represent them perfectly. For a free-to-play game, they did a solid job of making sure that if you played Goku, then it felt like Goku and visually represented him beautifully. There is a lot to love about the effort given in this category.
So, if you’re hoping for a good visual representation from characters to environment, then this free-to-play delivers splendidly, with some room to grow.
Gameplay
The core gameplay of Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra is typical MOBA. You have three lanes to choose from, each lane contains its own perils for grinding up your character, with the ultimate goal being to destroy the tower character that is keeping your side of the tracks going, and to take your opponent’s dragon ball to achieve victory. It still brings that initial MOBA flavor without deviating too far from it. That certainly makes the changes to the typical MOBA structure a lot easier to accept.
Beyond that MOBA core, Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra changes some aspects of a typical MOBA experience. The biggest difference is how the characters move across the map and how they interact. Most MOBA experiences have characters that move at a steady and secure pace, from enemies to heroes. With this game, the DB characters float around and can gradually speed up if unimpeded by objects or enemies. It’s smooth, it’s easy to pick up on, and it makes the game feel a lot smaller than usual because players can cover ground quickly. I never knew how much a speed change could alter a genre until I played this game. It’s quick and compact because of that simple gameplay element.
As for the action portion of the game, it’s fairly simple, which is great because it seems to be built this way for greater accessibility by players new to the genre. That’s a big deal considering most common gamers out in the video game world may not have experienced an easy-to-play MOBA in their life.
The gameplay works hand-in-hand with traditional MOBA timed actions, mainly reserved for powerful moves and combos, while also delivering a button-mashing slugfest. For example, as you traverse down a lane, you can hit R2 to deliver a series of wild and powerful punches. You could also hit another button and throw fireballs at enemies that deliver a decent amount of damage. Or you could just punch your way through enemies and control when you want to stop/start your offensive game. The ability to let attacks bring great damage at once or slow and methodical damage through hand-to-hand combat means that the game brings a good variety of fun and strategy for the player. It makes the MOBA experience more controlled, leaving decision-making and strategy squarely in the hands of the player.
As a huge fan of fighting games, I found the ability to go either way refreshing, especially button-mashing my way through enemies. It represented the fighting portion of Dragon Ball extremely well. It also made me feel like I had a chance and that I wasn’t depending solely on strategy (and hope) to win a match, which is why LoL isn’t as fun as it could be.
If button-mashing and special moves weren’t enough, the game allows you to grind your way to Super Saiyan mode for characters, which changes the difficulty of the game considerably. Once you hit Super Saiyan, after taking out X number of enemies, the newly gained power via transformation creates new moves you can pull off that are greater than the regular punching offense. It makes a huge difference and can be a complete game-changer in the experience, especially when a match is getting out of hand. Sometimes, because of this change, the game can become unbalanced, as not all Super Saiyans are created equally. This is currently somewhat of a problem with the game, as you’ll find characters that are more powerful than others. Is it fixable? Yep. Is it an enormous problem? Not at all, but it’s noticeable.
Anyway, beyond the above, and some additional goodies that build out characters, the game is super-easy to pick up and go. When I was first introduced to it, I wasn’t expecting much from the gameplay. Once it got moving, it became clear that this game was built for everyone, and it was easy to get into quickly. I will take that type of MOBA any day of the week (twice on Sundays).
Menu issues
Despite all the good gameplay, characters, and fun maps, the one glaring issue with this entire experience was the menu system and its information architecture. It’s all over the place.
As I was reviewing this game with a few other fellow writers, it took us damn near 20 minutes to find out how to join a party and start a match. We went through so many submenus, so many assumed routes, and it still baffled us. Nothing about the menu system’s design was straightforward. When we finally solved the party mystery, it was in a place that we didn’t expect. We had to get help from Bandai Namco folks, and the solution was just odd.
The menu system, especially for partying with friends, for which the game is built, and you should play the game with them, just seemed poorly designed. It felt like well-thought-through HCI and proper information architecture were not considered when menu design and navigation were created. For a game that is carried on simplicity, the menu took the opposite route.
While it is fixable, and it should be fixed, the devs probably need to look at games like Fall Guys or LoL, where pairing up with people is obvious and not hidden within menus and buttons. The menu system really needs some redesign. It’s a hurdle, but it doesn’t make the gameplay less fun once you get into it.
Anyway, this is the only issue with the game, aside from some balance issues. Otherwise, it’s a good MOBA that is surprisingly fun to fall into for hours.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra, from developer Ganbarion and Bandai Namco Games, is a surprisingly solid MOBA game. It takes the Dragon Ball universe and merges it beautifully within the MOBA genre without losing the essence of the IP.
