MadCap's Game Reviews - "Dragon Ball Xenoverse - Resurrection of F"

Ooooh, another week of Xenoverse! Can I do nothing outside the realms of Dragon Ball anymore? I can, but as the things keep coming out, I'm gonna keep reviewing them so nobody can accuse me of not being current - after all, my only other options are a TV show from the 90s and the occasional summer blockbuster whenever I get the determination to actually go to the movies - and thus we are brought to the meal today, Xenovverse's brand new "Resurrection of F" pack.

It seems that the Dragon Ball universe's resurge in popularity that began with TeamFourStar beginning Dragon Ball Z Abridged that seemingly culminated in the release of the full length feature "Battle of the Gods" is ready for a Second Coming with the release of the new movie - "Resurrection F". Who's revived? You already know, everyone's favorite shapeshifting space tyrant. Freeza is back and is none too happy about having been on Namek when it asploded after five minutes and then sliced and diced by Future Trunks.

Also, while in Hell, he learned a new mode he can transform into - A "Golden Freeza" mode. To combat him and save the Earth, Goku and Vegeta must unlock the power of the blue haired "Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan", and without it - the Earth is doomed!

Of course, that's an accurate summation of the movie as far as American audiences know, not the DLC pack we've come to hear about. And it's...kind of underwhelming, really. You unlock the playable characters of Goku and Vegeta as their Blue-per Saiyan modes, Freeza as the Golden Child, and another character called "Jaco" - a space patrolman who is apparently Akira Toriyama's favorite character ever. One can also pick up the Old Kai and Jaco himself as Masters, some new Parallel Quests, and some new moves, as well as some outfit and accessory fluff. So, basically, the same as we got for the GT Pack, just with one minor difference...

NO STORY MODE!

Yeah, that was kind of a shock for me, given how big a deal the new movie seems to be. I'm all up for protecting people from spoilers, but the only people who really play Xenoverse anyway are the hardcore DBZ fans and they've already downloaded the movie illegally months ago (no, NSA, get away from my external hard drives!), so there's really no reason to put a spoiler cap on things and not bother.  The fluff alone isn't gonna do it, seeing as you didn't bother adding enough content to justify ten bucks from Xbox Live for download. Don't get lazy like other devs would, Dimps! Give us some more meat.

Bluper Saiyan Vegeta paying Freeza back for a life of torment and pain.

That being said, the parallel quests are nice, but some of them have the air of padding about them - particularly the one against Freeza in all of his forms simply to work up to defeating Golden Freeza, I mean really. As if the first Bardock level was not punishment enough in terms of grinding, you throw more of it at the player. It's not challenging, it's just irritating.

That being said, I'm also disappointed that Super Saiyan 3, Super Saiyan God, and the new Super Saiyan mode (no, I'm not using the full name for it, it's really dumb) aren't available to the player. Yes, I know we have to do our best to balance the playable races (except we don't), but setting the player up as an unstoppable badass on the level of Goku himself and then not giving us the goodies to back it up is a little depressing.  There are very easy ways to balance things out.

Super Namekian mode for Namekians...give us Transformation Levels for Majins...and so on...

...but not Humans. Nobody plays humans.

...it's Dragon Ball. Why would you?

Dragon Ball: Xenoverse is now available from Dimps and Bandi Namco for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and Steam.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Dragonball: Xenoverse GT DLC Pack 1 and 2"

'I'm flying because my little feet hurt...from kicking so much ass!"

Oooh, more Xenoverse goodies! And they've been out long enough that I figured I better get to it before the third one hits the market (that is to say, I had it written and edited before the release of DLC Pack 3) - though anyone who follows my blog knows I have absolutely no illusions about trying to be remotely "current".  Regardless, Dragon Ball: Xenoverse was a game I took great pains to review not too long after it came out, mostly because my interest in the series had been reignited due to the "Battle of the Gods" being out, and the announcement of "The Revival of F" coming later this year.

Oh, and Dragonball Super.  Because we needed a little more crack to go with our crack, Japan.

But regardless of Toriyama giving me an itch that I must now violently and ritualistically scratch, there is one section of the Dragon Ball Saga that receives outright loathing.  Maybe it's because of the sudden tone shift from where Z was, maybe it's because of the fact that Dragon Ball's creator Akira Toriyama had nothing to do with it beyond some character designs. Whatever the case may be, it's reviled by most of the Dragon Ball fandom.  Indeed, so much as saying the two little letters at the end of the beloved manga and anime is enough to turn even the most placid and well-adjusted anime fan into a crazed, bloodthirsty monster narrowly focused upon vengeance.

The last time this happened...well, you all may be too young to remember the Great Purge. The bodies piling up in the streets, homes and businesses burned and looted, the very fabric of scoiety itself was ripped into as the innocent and guilty alike could naught but scream in agony as the flesh sizzled from their bones and...

...okay, yeah, it's GT. The joke is Dragonball GT.

Xenoverse, having to do with time, does what it can to keep the purists off its back about including this section - it's another of several alternate timelines that were created accidentally by Trunks because of the time he was time travelling before God invented time machines that don't create alternate timeline (and, no, that explanation has gotten no less stupid).

"Hey! You're not Trunks! Where is the real Trunks?!"

But after talking with a robot buddy that the Time Patrol has quite a few of, the Future Warrior - in my particular case, the Saiyan warrior Butarega - learns from Trunks that there are distortions in a timeline that should not have been to begin with, but was because of wibbley wobbley timey wimey. So, given a scroll once more, the Warrior must go on two different mission paths. One to cover the Baby and Super 17 sagas, and one to cover the Shadow Dragons and Omega Shenron, ending with a grand old fight - the Future Warrior and Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta vs. Baby, Super 17, and Omega Shenron.

And granted, it's all very epic and grand in scale, but the lack of storyline content just shows how little they had to work with.  The entire arc in the beginning with Goku, Pan, and Trunks going across space to try and find the Black Star Dragon Balls is completely glossed over...and rightly so. But without that, there's really not that much of GT to use.  Mind you, they make up for that in the new Parallel Quests, so hush my mouth I guess.

The new DLC also allows a bunch of tasty new costumes and moves...most of which have to be unlocked via the Parallel Quests which are no less stingy in handing out items. Okay, Dimps, I'm gonna level with you here: 1) Increase the rate of item drops, at least a little.  2) Remove Gotenks from the game You need to work on the AI of our allies. A lot.  Actually, the AI in general can use some work, and the enemies just a wee bit of nerfing.

And no, I'm not referring to the boss characters. I'm referring to the fact that Butarega can go Super Saiyan 2 and shouldn't be able to be knocked around by Appule of all people like a rubber ball.

Also, the sections of just slogs of enemies, come to think of it.  This was a problem in the Legendary Super Saiyan Saga during the Bardock mission and it's a problem here.  Giving us a slew of enemies to fight that are infinitely respawning not only A) tells me how little thought you put into enemy selection, but also B) shows me that you cared more about padding out the game instead of actually making it difficult.

In addition to all the tasty gameplay content, you also unlock a few new masters such as Yamcha and Pan. Though since I didn't want to learn to die more times than Krillin, I've foregone said training with them.

But I will say, for the first two gameplay packs they definitely wanted to see that people got their money's worth and I think they most certainly did. I haven't even completed the entire thing and, much like the vanilla game, I would definitely say I don't feel cheated in terms of bang for my buck. If you're a particularly diehard fan, check it out. If not, then you won't miss too much by not picking it up.

I'm honestly just waiting until we can get the Super Saiyan 3 power up. I'm sure they'll do it eventually.

Dragon Ball: Xenoverse is now available from Dimps and Bandi Namco for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and Steam.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.