If you like Dragon Ball and you grew up with a PS2, a title signed Spike inevitably ended up at your place: Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi (aka Sparking! in Japan). The franchise has experienced three explosive episodes and is preparing to welcome a fourth opus which completely changes its name. Indeed, the firm decided to start again from “Zero” to offer the public a brand new title adapted to our current machines, while retaining the soul of the franchise. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is therefore released on PS5, Xbox Series and PC. We’ve finished the game, it’s time to tell you about it.
A rendering worthy of the anime!
Spike Chunsoft has accomplished a titanic job on the graphics. The team really put their effort into bringing every single thing to life on screen. For example, when we recharge our Togusts appear on the screen, causing leaves, rocks, and grass to twirl in all directions. But that’s not all, the animations, effects and light effects captivate the eyes. It’s breathtaking! The auras are sublime, the facial expressions are excellent, and the environments are full of detail. Plus, almost everything is destructible! During a violent melee, rocks, ground, trees and buildings explode under the weight of our blows. Another notable point is that we fell in love with the camera, which adds incredible dynamism to the fights. It swirls and twirls around our character, in short, a really well thought out idea. Finally, the more our opponent undergoes heavy debates, the more his clothes tear, revealing a few scratches on his body. During a brutal impact, smoke appears all around our enemy, smoke which can be dissipated with a big offensive. So let’s be concise, it’s beautiful, it bangs, it explodes everywhere… A rendering worthy of the anime!
Any flaws to note? Yes, there are a few. The modeling of certain characters leaves something to be desired. Indeed, several fighters have impressive builds, while others lack muscle or have strange proportions, which can be frustrating, especially since the cel-shading is cared for. We also noticed collision problems in the environments (we were stuck in walls), and encountered scripting issues: sometimes, an animation that is supposed to trigger to progress in a fight does not occur, forcing us to start again. Additionally, pre-recorded cutscenes are blurry and unpleasing to the eye, unlike cutscenes using the game engine, which are to die for. The transition is abrupt, which is a real shame. Finally, let’s not be afraid of words, the arena of Tournament of Power is ugly. For what ? Rather than creating a deep, vast and lively setting, the team settled for an old JPEG mediocre in the background, which spoils the immersion somewhat. These sloppy and smeared backgrounds are also noticeable during the night phases.
And the sound part of all this? The sound effects are excellent, the explosions are impactful, the teleportation sound effects are pleasing, nothing to complain about in that regard. The music is captivating and fits perfectly with the universe and the characters. Certain melodies could, without problem, appear in an anime Dragon Ball They are so pleasant to listen to. Regarding dubbing, we have the choice between Japanese and English. Obviously, we recommend the Mishima language to benefit from various engaging and captivating intonations. However, it is regrettable not to have dubbing in French, especially in 2024. For the youngest who want a good, hassle-free experience, the French voices would have been perfect. Especially since, during the fighting, it is IMPOSSIBLE to read the subtitles because it is so dynamic ; yes, the protagonists blabber among themselves in-game. Frustrating.
Finally, huge red card for the subtitles, this is undoubtedly one of the worst translations we have seen in a game Dragon Ball. There are mistakes, some sentences make no sense, and expressions don’t fit at all with the universe or the characters. On several occasions, we even wondered if the translator had used Google Translate or an AI. It’s exhausting for the eyes and the mind and, on top of that, it is impossible to disable subtitles in the options. So what? Bandai Namco should translate directly from Japanese (to begin with) and above all have their texts checked. Enough to annoy more than one… A real disaster!
