While the Z fighters fear almost nothing, the citizens of earth have had their fair share of horror. From killing machines, alien invasions, and to even a giant pink blob rummaging around and turning people into chocolate. Living as an ordinary citizen in the world of Dragon Ball can be rather a challenging thing. It’s not a thought many think about, which was surprising to say the least when Bandai Namco announced a new Dragon Ball game that would see us put in the very role of those citizens, as they’re hunted by menacing monsters. That’s the premise of Dragon Ball: The Breakers, and while a strange concept at first, it’s one that makes complete sense. Sadly, as we explain in our Dragon Ball: The Breaker review, it’s not one that’s fully realized. 

Surprisingly a Great Idea. Execution? Well… 

When you picture a Dragon Ball game, you’re probably imagining one of the many fighting titles it has released over the last few decades. After all, the genre is one that makes the most sense for a video game adaptation of the IP, and has been so far, extremely successful. However, despite the success it has found in that particular genre, the IP has never been shy of stretching its legs into other genres. We have gotten a card game, an RPG, and even a side-scroller shoot’em up. And to the credit of those titles, some of them have been very good. 

So when Bandai announced a new Dragon Ball game that, rather than focus on our iconic Z warriors, would instead put us in the shoes of the very humans they protected, I scratched my head a bit, but came to the realization that a game like that could actually work. Keyword here is could. 

Dragon Ball: The Breakers sets itself up as asymmetrical multiplayer following in the steps of games like Dead By Daylight, Friday the 13th: The Game, and the recently released, Evil Dead: The Game.

You take on the role of one of seven ordinary citizens who are being hunted by what the game calls a Raider. Raiders are essentially your monsters/killers in The Breaker, with that role being filled by the very iconic villains found in the Dragon Ball universe.  Those being Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. If you think that’s a bit crazy, it is, but it also makes a lot of sense at the same time, because in the anime, it’s exactly what they did. Frieza hunted Namekians in search of the Dragon Ball, while Cell absorbed people in hopes of gaining power, and Majin Buu, well, he realized he ate all the chocolate in the world and started turning people into it to help ease his endless hunger. When you think about it, these villains all have the perfect ingredients to be pretty scary. I know they were when they first debuted ages ago. 

As I said, it’s not such a far-fetched concept, if not a great one, at least on paper. The execution of it all, is well, a bit muddy. 

Like with a lot of asymmetrical games out there, the goal is to survive by either escaping, or defeating the Raider. In order to escape, survivors must work together and clear areas on the map by finding a power key in each of the six zones. Once all the keys have been collected, you and your teammates will be able to use a machine that summons the time machine that’ll help you escape. However, a Raider is on the constant hunt during this time. 

As noted, the Raider is one of the three main villains as seen in the long running Dragon Ball Z series. For those who aren’t too familiar with them (stop reading this review then, and go watch the show!!) in the anime, each villain had three different forms that they would transform into, each new one being stronger than the last. It’s the same here, Raiders start out in their first form, and as they hunt and defeat survivors or NPC civilians, they’ll gain more and more power to eventually evolve into their next form.

Raiders evolving isn’t the only thing survivors have to worry about either, as they can also go around and obliterate entire zones. I mean it, they can destroy a full section of the map in hopes of drawing you and your allies out. They’re incredibly strong, which shouldn’t be a surprise, and in 1v1 match ups, you are almost guaranteed to lose. 

If all goes well, and everything properly falls in place with a team of random people, it’s actually very fun. There’s a feeling of suspense as you hide behind a small structure, hoping the raider doesn’t find you. 

And while balancing is certainly going to have some issues, I do like that team ensured that raiders can’t downright go all out on the survivors, as any well organized group could easily take a Raider out should they go after them early game. That leaves a bit of planning to the Raider player. Do they hunt down each survivor one by one? Or maybe try to flush them out, and force them to summon the time machine so that the time machine could be destroyed before anyone takes off?

On the other side of the battle, in addition to searching for the power keys, the survivors will also need to salvage what little resources are littered around the map. These include Dragon Balls, power ups, and weaponry, like a bazooka, or even some iconic Z warrior attire, like Vegeta’s gloves so that you can perform his special to temporarily stun the raider. 

But the biggest weapon in the survivors arsenal is the Dragon change. This is an ability that lets you transform into one of the Z warriors for a short time, giving you a fighting chance against a Raider. It’s a pretty neat mechanic, and I’ve used it in several instances in order to buy my allies some time to get the Time Machine up.

However, Dragon Change is rather janky as the camera flails all over the place, making it hard to do battle with a raider. I account for a majority of my losses due to how much the camera flips out, and the combat itself isn’t at all that better. I like the mechanic, but honestly it could have used some more polishing to make it feel better at controlling. You wrestle more with it than you should. 

The general character movement for the survivor has a similar feeling too. Slow, sluggish, and unresponsive at times. The camera doesn’t help much either, considering you’ll spend a lot of time going through caves, buildings, and other close spaces, where the camera will just clip into the nearby structures. That makes playing as a survivor all the more frustrating, as not only do you have to fend against a world destroying monster, but also with everything else that should have been built for them.  

It also doesn’t help that these heroes, as well as skills, are locked behind a gacha system. Bandai Namco are no strangers to that kind of system, as it’s heavily used in their Gundam Battle Operation 2 Online game, and it’s about the same here. There’s a shop you visit where you can trade TP Tokens, a currency that you earn a bit each day, or downright buy, in order to roll for a chance to earn new skills and heroes. You are at the mercy of RNG here, and anyone familiar with gacha mechanics knows exactly how unfair it can be. Maybe you get lucky and manage to get everything you want, but there’s no doubt that the game really wants you to spend money.

You could technically buy a ton of coins to get more rolls and possibly get the skill you always wanted, and then use any currency given from duplicate items to upgrade that skill. Sure, it’s optional, but it clearly affects the overall grinding, if not remove it entirely. It’s not welcoming at all. I’m a bit shocked that Breaker isn’t free-to-play either because of that mechanic, though the asking price is only $20 versus full retail. There’s a Battle Pass also, but at least it’s “free.”

Verdict

Dragon Ball: The Breakers is certainly an interesting concept for a Dragon Ball game, if not a great one. The idea of being hunted down by these villains that can literally blow up the entire planet may seem silly, but it’s nothing new to fans who have watched the show. It should be a terrifying and thrilling experience, and it is when everything clicks together. However, it’s hard to ignore all the technical issues, clumsy controls, uncontrollable camera, and of course, the gacha system that is obviously built to draw people to spend money, with its pay-to-win rewards. If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise, it might be worth a visit at some point down the road, but as it stands, I can’t really recommend it in its current state. Maybe in a year’s time it’ll improve, but I just cannot see this winning over anyone who is a fan of the asymmetrical genre. 

Score: 6/10

Pros

• The raiders are pretty fun to play as, and love that they go through different transformations. They feel terrifying too.
• It can be fun at times if everything goes right, but that’s asking a lot from seven other players. 

Cons

• Gacha system that is tied to core game mechanics such as skills, and unlocking new heroes. 
• All components can be grinded for, but it’s clear the system is better catered to those who buy-in, making it more of a pay-to-win game. 
• Survivor’s general movement is clunky. Camera clipping is also an issue that gets annoying. 
• You sort of just get thrown in. There is a short tutorial you can play as the survivor, but nothing for the raider. You have to figure things for yourself as the raider. 

Dragon Ball: The Breakers review code provided by the publisher. Main version tested was the PS4. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.