Dragon Ball FighterZ: FighterZ Edition

Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 3-on-3 tag fighter built by Arc System Works, the studio behind Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, so the mechanical pedigree here is serious even if the license screams "gift shop." You pick a team of three fighters, swap between them mid-combo, and race to knock out the opponent's entire squad. The combat is accessible on the surface - auto-combos let newcomers mash their way through flashy super moves without reading a manual - but genuine depth waits underneath in assist timing, vanish counters, dragon rush mix-ups, and the Super Dash pressure game. It rewards the time you put into it without punishing you for putting in none. The visual presentation is the headline feature and it genuinely earns the attention. Arc System Works rendered the characters in a cel-shaded style that reproduces the anime's linework almost exactly. Cut to a Kamehameha super and it looks like a broadcast clip. The stages are destructible and layered, and the UI never clutters the spectacle. If you have ever watched the show and felt the urge to actually control one of those fights, the game delivers that feeling better than anything else in the genre. The FighterZ Edition bundles the FighterZ Pass alongside the base game, which adds 8 characters beyond the launch roster. The base roster already covers the major Dragon Ball arcs well - Goku and Vegeta appear in multiple forms, Android 16, 17, and 18 are all distinct fighters, and Cell and Frieza play exactly as bruising as you want them to. The DLC pass extends into more niche fan territory, pulling in characters like Bardock and Broly. Roster breadth is solid for a Dragon Ball fan; if you come in as a pure fighting game player with no attachment to the IP, the character variety in terms of playstyle is decent but not exceptional - several fighters share movement and pressure patterns. The single-player story mode is long, voice-acted, and structured around a mysterious cloning event that pulls every major character into one narrative. It is serviceable, occasionally fun, and mostly an excuse to see the cast interact. Arcade and training modes cover the basics. Where the game lives, though, is online. Ranked and casual lobbies use a ring-match format inside chibi avatar lobbies, which felt novel at launch. The PC player base has thinned since 2018, so finding matches at specific rank tiers can take patience depending on the time of day, though dedicated players are still around. Split-screen local play is supported if you want couch competition. The rough edges are real. The auto-combo system that helps beginners also means the gap between "pressing buttons" and "playing optimally" is steep enough that casual players may hit a wall fast in online modes. The story mode overstays its welcome by several chapters. And if you want the complete roster beyond the FighterZ Pass, additional DLC character packs exist separately, which means even this edition is not quite everything. For Dragon Ball fans who want a fighter that respects both the source material and the genre, this is still the best answer available. For fighting game players curious about the IP, the mechanical core is genuinely good enough to hold interest on its own terms.

Alex · Scout Team

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