Review of Dragon Ball Z Kakarot: go back to your earliest childhood

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, the new video game from Bandai Namco based on the most popular character in manga and anime, Goku. A video game that promises to relive the memorable story of the most powerful saiyan and the Z Warriors, in a way that we have never experienced before, with new scenes, characters and scenarios, all based on the universe created by master Toriyama. Are we facing the most important Dragon Ball Z video game ever created?

Of course, in order to make this review of the game on PC, we had to connect the Arkadia gamepad and we have connected our Scylla to live all the excitement of its fantastic soundtrack and sing the CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA when the game starts.

The story of your childhood made video game

The story is the same as the one seen in the series, thus being a retelling of the events that happened in all seasons of the anime with which many of us grew up. And although every fan knows this story from head to toe, Kakarot is the perfect reunion for fans and manages to present it perfectly and faithfully, yes, some filler has been removed to give more fluidity to the story.

The game opens with Goku living a quiet life in a small house on the outskirts of the city, with his wife Chi-Chi and little Gohan, their son

Kakarot covers from the Saiyajin Saga to the Majin Buu Saga and reproduces them faithfully. We will relive epic moments, such as the battle of Raditz, the encounter with Prince Vegeta, who will later become our faithful ally, the mythical saga of Namek with Freezer as our mortal enemy, the saga of the androids and Cell and the story will come to an end with the saga of Buu. And we will live everything: Yamcha's death, Krillin's death... Goku's death. Our hair will stand on end when we see GOku become Super Sayan against Freezer and we will shriek when Gohan throws his Kameha to Cell... All this and much more, it's the return to childhood. If you are a fan of Dragon Ball, do not be confused or doubt, this is your video game, it is created by and for you. Enjoy it.

But unfortunately all that glitters is not gold. And the game has some flaws... The fights are not Dragon Ball FighterZ, but they are not bad, resembling more to those of the Tenkaichi saga, less frenetic but with more playability as there is more freedom of movement in combat and no doubt they are full of fun... Yes, the combos are improvable as they are a bit repetitive. And although the one VS one fights are memorable, the multiple fights are a bit chaotic, but in the end, we have just as much fun.

The game has a role-playing feel to it that has characters leveling up and sharing skills and upgrades

In Kakarot, each character has their own level, although eventually there comes a point where they all share the same level. This is thanks to a shared experience system where each experience point we obtain with different characters will be transmitted to another character once we have control of it. Let's say that during the Cell saga, Gohan is one of the most important characters and most of the time we will be playing with him, and maybe we will reach level 40. On the other hand, Goku was maybe not as relevant at that point in the story, and his level might be lower than Gohan's. Once we retake control of Goku, all the experience we gained with Gohan will be transferred to Goku and thus we will maintain a constant level in all our characters.

Kakarot has main missions and side missions. The title follows a fairly generic formula that can get a bit repetitive, something you won't care if you're a fan, since playing these side missions will leave you wanting more... I wish they never ended! The missions in Kakarot consist of performing the same type of activities, which is usually divided into fighting someone, collecting materials or traveling from area to area.

The game takes place in an open world divided into zones, some smaller than others, and to access all of them we must first progress to a certain point in the story. Due to the game's narrative, the missions follow a linear structure, and the only variation we have between our options is whether to do a main mission or a secondary one first, and at many points in the title this is not even going to be possible, as we will be forced to progress with the story until we reach an intermission. These happen every time we finish with a saga, and this is where you can complete the side quests you didn't do previously, or collect resources or simply explore the world collecting orbs, which serve to improve skills

In addition to the quests, we can also perform other activities such as fishing, cooking, collecting minerals and fighting dinosaurs.

The ultimate experience for Dragon Ball fans

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is one of the best games of the franchise for this generation. The title offers us an experience that will leave all fans of the saga more than satisfied, with incredible animations, details, story and epic battles that will make us relive our childhood and youth. It is undoubtedly an ode to the master Akira Toriyama and a tribute to the entire universe he has created. Universe that will continue to conquer everyone who sees it, because all of us, adults and children, have dreamed of doing a ¡KAME HAME HAME HAME HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Or become a super warrior and now, thanks to this game, we can get into the skin of Goku and face Freezer in a Namek about to be destroyed.

In short, a superb game that you will love.

The best thing about it

The story, faithful to the anime

The Japanese dubbing is the same as in the anime.

The opening, you will sing like crazy every time the game starts.

The worst

The rhythm of the battles could be more frenetic.

Little variety in the secondary missions.

We have analyzed this videogame thanks to a PC download code provided by Bandai Namco.