Simple Dragon Ball Fun
Dragon Ball Legends is probably the first game that comes to mind when you think of mobile Dragon Ball Z fighter games. But the whole card system and tap, tap, blast and swipe might not be for everyone. Developed by OneStick, Legendary Fighter: Battle of God offers up a more traditional fighting game experience. It plays a lot like a slower paced version of the DBZ classic Supersonic Warriors.
Wide Cast of Z-Fighters
The developers did a great job of including characters from almost every point in time in the franchise. There are characters from Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super and even Dragon Ball Heroes on the current roster. Most of the original Z-Fighters and villains are here, but there are some unexpected picks too. The developers have included characters like Xeno Gotenks, Cumber, Bergamo and even Xicor from Dragon bBall: Next Future. It is clear that the people who made this game love the Dragon Ball franchise.
You only have access to a handful of characters to start, but the complete roster is already above 50 characters. Each of the locked characters cost a certain amount of Z coins to unlock. Some cost as little as 100 Z coins, while others set you back as many as 30,000. You can earn Z coins by playing in three game modes, watching ads or purchasing them with money.
Despite the relatively big cast of characters that Legendary Fighter: Battle of God currently has, there are some strange gaps. Android 18 is here, but Androids 16 and 17 are not for some reason. Semi-Perfect and Perfect Cell are both here, but Imperfect Cell isn’t. Where are guys like Nappa, Master Roshi and Bardock? Fifty characters and not a single member of the Ginyu Force managed to make the final cut. Where are Bergamo’s brothers Lavender and Basil, or better yet, the Pride Troopers? How come there isn’t a single version of Gogeta on the roster? It’s just a little weird seeing a fanfiction character like Xicor here when many fan-favorite characters aren’t playable.
Not a Great Combat System
As expected of your typical Dragon Ball fighting game, this one centers around punches, kicks and Ki blasts. Most warriors have special skills, can teleport, juggle opponents and counter as well. However, nearly everything in this game relies on Ki, which results in having to charge Ki almost constantly.
Characters in this game can be interrupted very easily with basic attacks or Ki blasts. Most special skills have long windups, during which the enemy often cancels it out, meaning you spent 50 Ki for nothing. Characters can also block any attack in this game, resulting in no damage taken. When you go for your special skill after hitting an enemy with a combo, the special skill windup often gives the enemy time to recover and block.
Additionally, for whatever reason, the developers did not give a bunch of characters any special skills. As hard as they are to pull off, special skills are the biggest damage-dealing moves, so unintentionally nerfing members of the roster like this was a poor decision.
The AI in this game is very cheap. You will notice this the most when it comes to the teleporting mechanic. You typically want to use it to get the drop on your opponent and nail them with a combo. For me, eight times out of 10, teleporting results in me getting countered and hit with a combo. Even on Easy difficulty, you can expect the AI to laugh at your teleporting attempts and punish you for it. I’m all for high difficulty levels in video games, but not when they are cheap. And some aspects of Legendary Fighter: Battle of God, particularly the AI’s almost psychic-like abilities, feel cheap.
Lots of Problems and Untapped Potential
There are four game modes in Legendary Fighter: Battle of God: Training, Boss, Tournament and Versus. Training lets you get used to playing a specific fighter, though this game’s combat is very simplified. So if you know one, you know them all. The other three game modes allow you to fight against the AI to earn Z coins to unlock more fighters. And therein lies the biggest problem with Legendary Fighter: Battle of God; there’s nothing to do. Despite the Google Play Store description saying there’s a Story Mode, there isn’t. There’s no live PVP yet either, so you can’t fight against other people.
The worst offender is easily Boss Mode. Piccolo is the first boss you face off against, and he has 10 times the HP you do. Later down the road, you’ll fight bosses with 70,000 HP while you have 1200, and it’s just absurd.
The developers of Legendary Fighter: Battle of God did a great job with the aesthetics and the little things. The animations look fantastic, and everything from punches and kicks to Ki charges and Ki blasts sound great. One of my favorite parts of this game is how Goku uses Instant Transmission to teleport while everyone else has a standard teleporting animation.
The technical side of things is where the game fails, however. The combat system has a lot of flaws, and the game modes quickly become boring to play. Legendary Fighter: Battle of God could end up being one of the best Dragon Ball games on Android. But the developers have a lot of work to do. Maybe a wish from Shenron could help.
Is It Hardcore?
Kinda.
Legendary Fighter: Battle of God feels like a passion project made by people who are avid fans of the Dragon Ball franchise. But in its current state, the game has a lot of flaws on the technical side that make it hard to enjoy for very long.
