Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 (PlayStation 4) Review

The story is again following the Time Patrollers of Xenoverse, a team made up of many races that are all travelling through time and making sure the essential events of history play out as they are meant to. Towa and Mira, demon villains from Dragon Ball Online and the previous Xenoverse title, step up here, becoming the main antagonists along with their new muscle, a mysterious "Masked Saiyan" (series fans will be able to guess this character's true identity). After his previous defeat, Mira is obsessed with learning how to awaken and unleash his true power, while Towa is continuing to manipulate iconic characters from the series. The story then takes the player through each of the iconic eras and introduces "What If" scenarios to them; for example, what if Frieza had his big brother to back him up against Goku or Buu has Broly in his corner?

Now, each of these sagas has been covered many, many times. With so many Dragon Ball titles out there, it has to be expected, but the method of introducing new "What If" or "Elseworlds" style stories has really made them seem fresh again. Not to mention that this also covers some content yet seen in Dragon Ball titles: Beerus, Whis, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (or Super Saiyan Blue). All of this, absolutely stuffed with Dragon Ball fan service, means fans of the franchise will adore it.

Upon beginning the game, players from the first release can transfer their character over and edit it, or merely head into the character creation to make their own Time Patrolling Z Fighter. The character creation gives the same race choices as the first title: Human, Namekian, Saiyan, Frieza Clan and Majin. Each of these has plenty of customisation to choose from and there are signature outfits to unlock throughout. A problem with the previous title was the need to wear ugly outfits for the stats, but this has been addressed here by adding an ability to combine clothing items, and to transfer the stats onto whatever outfit the player prefers.

Once the character is made, it's time to head out into Conton City, a massive new hub for everything from online PvP, to shops, to side-quests. This new city is a welcomed change to the previous Xenoverse as it feels absolutely huge and teeming with life, filled with iconic characters, Easter Eggs and so many things to do. This is the type of game that will keep people invested for a long while, and playing through the story itself takes a considerable amount of time - upwards of 30 hours easily - and, thankfully, the story can be played through without the same type of grinding that felt necessary in the original. Outside of the story mode, there are plenty of side-quests to massively extend the lifespan; there are 100 parallel quests to take on, and challenging battles against fan favourite characters from all iterations of the franchise. The parallel quests can be taken on solo or online with up to three players. Then there are the expert missions, the most challenging stages that can be attempted with teams of up to six.

On top of all of these missions, there are also plenty of other side-quests; for example, learning new skills requires going under the tutelage of each of the Z Fighters and completing challenges for them to learn some of their signature abilities. Whether it is learning Hercules' deadly martial arts, or the stylish poses of the Ginyu force, or even training under the legendary god of destruction, Beerus. There are 25 iconic characters to learn from. There are also Time Rifts scattered through Conton City, which lead to some familiar locales, one for each of the selectable races Humans can visit: Hercules, Namekian's Nail, Majin can visit Majin Buu, and so on. These characters have requests to complete, too, which rewards with essential character boosts.

The combat is quite a faithful representation of the battles seen in the series. Characters can fight on the ground or take to the air, use signature energy blast attacks and, of course, slip into the faster than eye exchanges of blows where characters are sent hurtling through the air only for their opponent to vanish from sight, appear behind them to the iconic whistling sound effect, and smash them once again. The combat can be mashed through with little trouble in the basic story mode, but there is a surprising amount of depth to it with cancels, chains, and combos that will need to be mastered to attempt the most difficult challenges.

As enjoyable as Xenoverse 2 is, and as solid as the fundamental mechanics are, it is all tarnished by a fatal flaw: loading… screens. The loading times are abundant and ridiculously long. Starting a mission? One-minute loading screen before that three-minute fight. Fight finished? Another one-minute loading screen! It's completely unforgivable in this day and age. The combat is equally marred by a very frustrating camera, which seems to have trouble keeping up with the action on the screen, especially when fights take to the air and teleportation is involved, often resulting in missed attacks and being left open to counters.