For a less than subtle franchise that has long been synonymous with wild swathes of colour and brick-fisted fury, it’s perhaps a little surprising to discover that the latest video game adaptation in the series, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, is the most sophisticated entry to date. A much more thoughtful and adventurous take on Akira Toriyama’s seminal manga, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot leverages a number of RPG style systems which all combine to make it the deepest and most sophisticated game the series has seen in a long while.
The Great Dragon Ball Z Bake-Off
Unlike previous Dragon Ball Z games, there is much more to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot than just putting fists (or feet) to the ugly mugs of your enemies. For a start, food and the subsequent munching of it plays a key role in cementing Goku’s success in Kakarot’s story campaign mode, not least because chowing down on various foodstuffs found around the world can provide some much needed temporary stat boosts to our spiky-haired hero.
More than that, Goku can elect to combine ingredients (rather than just eating them immediately) by asking chefs, such as his wife Chi-Chi, to fashion bountiful meals from them. In doing so, these banquets not only provide the aforementioned temporary stat boosts, but can also result in the permanent increase of the potency of selected abilities too, not to mention providing Goku with a hefty amount of experience points into the bargain.
Fishing With A Power Rating Of Greater Than 9000
Intertwined with Kakarot’s culinary pursuits are the fishing shenanigans that it permits players to indulge in. Discover a body of water stuffed with fish and Goku (or Vegeta), can reattach his Saiyan monkey tail, dip it into the water, and await a bite from the amphibians lurking beneath the surface.
This being a Dragon Ball Z game however, the act of fishing plays out very differently from a normal interpretation of the popular pastime. When you catch a bite, our heroes pull the fish out of the water with all their might and then strike a blow to the side of its head, knocking it out in the process. A key ingredient, caught fish can either be eaten on its own, or used to create a much larger, more nourishing meal from which the experience points and stat rewards are substantial to say the least.
Skill Trees For Days
Of course, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot wouldn’t be much of an RPG if it didn’t have the requisite skills and abilities begging to be unlocked. Split into passive and active skills, players can unlock and learn new skills by spending special Z-Orbs which are rewarded for defeating enemies and also for exploring Kakarot’s sprawling overworld.
Ranging greatly in power and function, there are half a dozen different Z-Orb variations, with specific skills and abilities requiring a certain number of each in order to be unlocked. In short, the creative latitude that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot affords players to fashion progression after their own playstyle, is quite substantial to say the least and should leave build tinkerers very happy indeed.
The Family And Friends That Fight Together, Win Together
Rather than encouraging our hero to go it alone, Dragon Ball Z: Kararot rewards knowledge of the manga and television show by dishing out special bonuses if certain characters are teamed up with one another.
Known as the Link Bonus system, players can create special teams from which our hero can gain unique stat boosts. For example, teaming Goku with his son Gohan provides a series of ability and stat increases that you wouldn’t get by linking Goku up with anybody else, and the same is true of other combinations too.
A Massive Open World Stuffed With Quests
Of course, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot couldn’t make a boast about its RPG credentials if it didn’t have a massive world rammed full of quests for players to discover, and well, thankfully, it most certainly has one of those. Oh yes.
Acting as a framework of sorts for the three main acts of the Dragon Ball Z anime story, Kakarot presents players with a huge, gated world from within which a veritable bounty of numerous side-quests and secret areas pour forth. Whether you’re chatting to NPCs, taking in new quests, mining minerals, fishing, cooking or flying around the world at mach speed, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot offers the player much, much more to do than its smash-mouth legacy might otherwise imply.
