Survivors of Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball: The Breakers are in hell, or at least purgatory. They are forever trapped in a tiny square, just waiting to be randomly pulled into a dark portal that the Time Patrol calls “Time Seam”. In doing so, they are teleported to one of three deadly maps filled with equally unlucky civilians, and then they are hunted down by the most powerful villains of many universes. And it will never end, because that’s how the game worked in the first place. The poor sobbed. Luckily, they’re not real, and Bandai Namco turns their suffering into a often hilarious, sometimes awkward adaptation of the asymmetrical survival horror formula.
Dragon Ball: The Breakers hasn’t changed much since I last played in network tests in 2021. You and seven other Survivors must then scramble across the map, avoiding a player-controlled Raider. Raider is based on a Dragon ball baddie, and three are available at launch: Cell, the super powerful Bio-Android, Galactic Emperor Frieza, and various forms of Majin Buu. More Raiders are planned, with Great Ape Vegeta being revealed for the sequel.
To keep things interesting, Survivors need to complete objectives scattered across the map to win. Every Dragon Ball: The Breakers the map is divided into several areas and each area hides a Power Key. Once all available Keys have been found and placed in specific locations, a Super Time Machine will descend to the center of the map. Activating that machine wins the game. The more keys are activated, the faster this process happens. And survivors will want to do it quickly, as the Raider can win by destroying the Ultimate Time Machine before it can be turned on.
Meanwhile, the Raider’s mission is to destroy the Survivors, or destroy the time machine. Although Raiders are powerful fighters even when they are most vulnerable, they are not invincible. They will need to evolve, usually by killing the Survivors or some civilians hiding around the map. Each Raider is unique and has four stages of evolution, as well as a different approach to leveling. Cell is quite vulnerable at Level 1, like a fast bug looking around for civilians, but he evolves out of this form pretty quickly. Frieza can fight pretty well even at the start, with lots of attacks to bully Survivors, but he needs to be proactive in chasing Survivors down, as he only evolves fast when in the hot battle. Finally, Majin Buu doesn’t even appear on the map at first, as the Raider player controls the minor villains Spopovich and Yamu. The pair are relatively weak on their own, but still need to hunt down civilians and Survivors to gather energy, then put it back in Majin Buu’s egg to fill it up and summon Buu on their own. The usual gameplay is to evolve a bit and harass the Survivors, then take advantage of the Super Time Machine to gather them all in one place for a duel.
While the Raider is a tough adversary at any time, and practically invincible when fully developed, the Survivor still has plenty of tools to deal with. They can use a wide range of active and passive skills, such as jump cushions, zip lines, grappling hooks, and even the classic Saiyan Pod to search the map or temporarily disable an oncoming Raider. chase. And as the battle progresses, every Survivor can use an equipped Transphere, which conveys the spirit of a Dragon ball heroes like Goku, Vegeta or Yamcha. Transspheres allow Survivors to take on Raiders, using classic moves like Vegeta’s Galick Gun or Kamehameha. They are charged by gaining Change Energy all over the map, but even when maxed, they don’t last long. Survivors will want to use their swings cautiously, taking advantage of the numbers to set up a beat.
And then there’s the Dragon Balls. All seven are scattered across the map, and when gathered, can be used to summon Shenron to grant wishes. A Survivor may want to push their limits, temporarily granting them enough power to defeat a max Raider, or even distribute more altering power to all surviving Survivors and make the whole team stronger.
In other words, despite the power imbalance inherent in Dragon Ball: The Breakers, Survivors and Raiders have even surprising odds of topping last. A coordinated group of Survivors can summon their time machine before a Raider can be strong enough to become invincible, while a tenacious Raider can derail the Survivors’ efforts. , crush them while they scramble across the map. And all of this is against the absurdly bright, cheerful, and frank tone of Dragon ball fit. Where similar games in this genre emulate horror titles and killer movies, being hunted by a Raider or running away feels like the time a giant dinosaur tried to eat Gohan.
Of course, with three maps and three Raiders, repeatable. Survivors can also use the skins of characters such as Bulma, Oolong, and Farmer, which often have distinct skills that can be equipped. For example, Bulma can summon a unicycle quickly, while Oolong can transform into a rocket. Transspheres also add more skills. Vegeta unlocks the Saiyan Pod, which can teleport to any point on the map, while Goku unlocks the Kaioken Rush, a quick move that can knock the Raider away for a short time.
These skills are complemented by Dragon Ball: The Breakers‘earn money. While the game is not free to play, it bears all the hallmarks of a modern microtransaction-based service title. There is a “Dragon Tier” passing match that gradually unlocks rewards, as well as an item shop with cosmetics for sale. Some can be purchased with coins earned in the game, but others use premium currency. You can also purchase emojis, Survivor clothes, entrances and victory poses (including Tao Pai Pai’s famous turret), and even a few extra active skills. There is also a gacha system “Spirit Siphon” where you launch new Transspheres. Transspheres unlock new characters to transform into Survivors or add cosmetics and super moves to existing characters. For example, getting Goku can unlock the character, but if you run into him again, it will add the Kaioken Assault super move you can choose instead of his Kamehameha.
It sounds like monetization could open the door to “pay-to-win” hecklings, as new moves and active skills can and do create a gameplay effect. That’s true in principle, that should be enough to care about, but at least as far as I’ve seen, what you can pay for Dragon Ball: The Breakers does not make a big difference in the results. For example, rolling gacha for a powerful Transphere can make you a powerful warrior, but the time limit for Goku is as strict as it is for Yamcha. It doesn’t matter if you have a powerful super move if you can only escape an explosion or two before the battle is over. Having a weird Active Skill can be more game-changing, but many have parities and the long skill cooldown means it’s up to the use of finding the right place and time to deploy Skills are still essential. All the same, that specter really hangs over the game, and blurs out what would otherwise be a fun contest.
All the same, despite the mismatched monetization options and the general feeling that the game might not last long enough to be a permanent part of your spin, Dragon Ball: The Breakers is a frenetic and fast-paced interpretation of another genre that has been saturated in horror film genres. Indulge in joy Dragon ball in jokes and goofy humour, there’s so much fun to be found in the game, that it wouldn’t be out of place if Benny Hill topic regular rock.
Dragon Ball: The Breakers available on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. This review is based on the PC version of the game purchased by the reviewer.
