➤ The review of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 in the Nintendo Switch version 🎮

A little less than a year ago, we saw Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 arrive on consoles and PCs, the latest iteration of the most thriving franchise that the Japanese manga has ever been lucky enough to see. While the whole world is, rightly, in turmoil for that FighterZ that will launch Dragon Ball in the Olympus of competitive fighting games at the beginning of next year, Nintendo Switch owners can finally get their hands on the port of the latest Dimps effort. The last few weeks have seen a series of announcements regarding the arrival of third-party titles on the Nintendo flagship: while on the one hand it has largely surprised Bethesda's choice to bring both Doom and the future Wolfenstein: The New Colossus to the Switch, less surprisingly came the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 conversion. Namco Bandai's title is exactly what we got to play last October, but enhanced by the ability to play it where and when you want; in light of this it would seem a must purchase for all fans of Goku and company, but it would not be exactly correct to put it in these terms. Let's try to understand why together.

Let's change history, again

The whole narrative arc included in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 lays its foundations on the idea that the saga, as we know it, will one day be altered through time travel. This would lead to the sudden modification of events already experienced by everyone, such as the death of Raditz and Goku at the hands of Piccolo. This premise serves as a pretext to give players the opportunity to enjoy some new twist in the Dragon Ball plot and, at the same time and much more importantly, the ability to give the player full freedom in creating their own character. Through a discreet editor and the presence of five races, we will be able to model the one we will wear the shoes of. We will therefore be called to move from era to era as members of the time patrol, in order to interfere with the changes in history and bring everyone back on the right threads of destiny. Although certainly not exciting and even partially taken from the previous first chapter of Xenoverse, the narrative arc written by the developers is pleasant, also thanks to some animated scenes of exquisite workmanship. Certainly do not expect introspection and depth of dialogue, but we are still talking about Dragon Ball and Bandai Namco knows well that the important thing is the blows. On a completely different level, and far worse, are the secondary missions: if it is true that Dimps has tried to insert as many situations and subplots as possible, there is probably not a single occasion in which you find yourself anxious to return to carry out yet another mission to recover the dragon spheres on Namek. Xenoverse 2 is therefore a mammoth title in terms of hours of gameplay, but if you are looking for a good story on Dragon Ball, go back to what has kept us glued to televisions for years.

Beat 'em up-RPG

There are those who went so far as to define Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 as the (almost) definitive experience in the world of Akira Toriyama. The structure put together by the Japanese team is actually interesting and boundless, without betraying the fans' desire to be able to play with a roster of characters that is incredible. That's why the idea of combining the now proven 3D fighting system on Dragon Ball, with an RPG one, allowed you to experience a freedom of customization that is actually fascinating for a good dose of hours. The central HUB, Conton City, is several times larger than that of the first chapter and has an exorbitant amount of activity inside. Between small recovery missions and very long series of lessons given by Krillin and associates, it will be difficult to run out of things to do. The main problem in this system, however, comes from the excruciating repetitiveness of a combat system that risks boring after a few dozen clashes with the CPU. Each fight, the real fulcrum of the action, otherwise set aside in favor of exploration and dialogue, will last for a few minutes during which the combos will inexorably link together, with extreme difficulty for the opponent to respond to our blows.

The possibility of inserting simple key combinations for the use of the most powerful attacks is certainly useful for managing the infinite number of abilities that can be equipped; but inexorably makes the gameplay cumbersome and not very varied during the clashes. It is a great shame because the whole world set up by Dimps, made up of shops, non-player characters, growth of the avatar and related characteristics, as well as learning through lessons new techniques and personalizing the clothing of one's alter ego, it is a world that we like and that deserves a much more accurate general realization. It would be extremely interesting to see a talented and respectful Western team working on a title like this. Where Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 amazes and brings to mind all our youthful fantasies, it fails to put them into practice, creating a mediocre fighting game that fails to approach such a daring, as only partially successful setting. Obviously the clashes with other players are completely different: the repetition and lack of technique of the gameplay are partly obviated by the absence of artificial intelligence, thus leaving room for epic and over the top clashes, which make you forget the lack soon. depth of pure gameplay.

But how are you doing on Switch?

It was right to give a new smattering of the title for all those who did not have the opportunity to try it about a year ago. But what really interests us is how the game behaves in its version for the Nintendo hybrid: if everything we have written so far was easily recognizable by the players, the technical flaws of the title are its real scourge. The city that is the background of the title, although it was not sparkling in terms of performance even in its first edition, can hardly keep the 30 frames per second, sometimes coming to collapse, to the point of making the title look like a splendid cinematic slow motion. Fortunately, in the clashes this problem does not occur, and certainly it is not a small detail, but it takes a moment to realize the technical compromises necessary to make this title run on Nintendo hardware. Alongside the resolutions of 720p on laptop and 900p in dock version, aliasing is what visually devastates Namco Bandai's title.

A problem by now established for this new Nintendo machine, this graphic limitation makes the porting really difficult to digest, especially when you are watching the title through a monitor. The goodness of the Nintendo Switch screen and the awareness of playing a main Dragon Ball in the palm of your hand, somehow manage to fill the gap. However, it is impossible not to notice a drop in performance that makes buying advice difficult for those who already own the original version. The only peculiarity that could make everyone waver, especially the most avid, is the possibility of using a new set of commands (simply called "movement") that will allow you to use the JoyCons as if they were the real punches of your avatar and perform specific movements to perform some particular moves. It would be stupid to say that we have not always dreamed of launching an energy wave in the first person: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, in its Switch version, also allows you this and we know that for many it could even be worth the price of the second round. But know that you will not be faced with a martial arts lesson and do not think you will find dozens and dozens of movements faithfully reproduced. It all boils down to a series of short sequences of movement and nothing more, sometimes erroneously perceived by the console's sensors.

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Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch represents exactly the canon of videogame productions of the great shonen. Titles full of content that try to reproduce as faithfully as possible the adventures that have made us dream for years. Despite an incredibly vast setting and the possibility of creating the hero of your choice, it is evident the difficulty of Dimps in amalgamating everything, in order to make it a coherent and interesting title for the many tens of hours of content present. Those who fell in love with the latest title from the Osaka team will continue to love it even in its hybrid version, but beware of the technical compromises that you will be called to digest.