Sparking Zero just came out and you know what that means... a review on a completely different Dragon Ball game!

All seriousness though I will get to that game eventually, but for now I wanted to talk about breakers. It really is a fascinating game to me, even with all the jank. As someone who loves games like DBD, Friday the 13th, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre to name a few, I never expected to find an asymmetrical multiplayer game with the Dragon Ball license. It amazes me actually that this game even exists.

The premise is intriguing. Instead of a fighting game or an RPG where you're already this powered-up force to be reckoned with (either as an established db character, or someone you created on your own), you are exactly like a citizen of the DB Super Goku Black arc. By this, I mean you and 6 other people are trying to hide, gather resources, and stall out whatever powerful db villain you are against long enough to escape using a timemachine or to actually gather power through dragon balls and cubes to somehow overwhelm and defeat the villain. Now whoever's the villain starts off incredibly weak, evolving through phases and special conditions to reach their final form and kill everyone else. It's a simple but surprisingly addictive gameplay loop that I wish had another shot with the community.

Just like DBD, there are some really creative raiders in this game (DB Breakers equivalent to DBD killers). The newest of the bunch is Baby from GT, which starts off as an infected citizen and in order to evolve requires to spread its infection to other citizens. These NPC citizens you track down and infect then become beacons almost for the raider, when a survivor is near the infected citizen they are marked on the raiders map and also slowed greatly. And that's just phase 1 of 4 phase evolution stage, all of which have totally different mechanics to deal with and strategies for the survivors to be mindful of. There are currently 7 raiders as of writing this review, and an insane amount of abilities for the survivors. Which brings me to my first "mixed bag" for the review.

Up until this point I have been quite positive about the game. It is difficult to get into, especially with how small the community is, it's a difficult game for newcomers to really jump in. That being said, besides graphics being outdated and some animations being clearly reused from Xenoverse, the biggest downside about this game is the progression, mainly with survivors. So this game uses a Gacha model for survivor abilities which is just... horrible. It defeats the purpose of working towards perks, a skill tree, or whatever system. You can't go for specific perks like in DBD, and even if there are microtransactions for DBD, you can either earn currency through grinding or if you are spending money, you are at the very least guaranteed value with the instant perk unlock. Perks here, however, are obtained through "summons". Summons are random rolls that may or may not get you a good item. Some could be dogsh**, some could be good. It's totally luck-based and defeats of proper play sessions with meaningful rewards for your time. It's a massive flaw for the game that even with its already egregious battle pass system, Bandai still doubles down on its microtransactions and unnecessary mobile game tactics. It drags the enjoyment of the game down significantly and although I find it extremely fun to play regardless of the jank, it's just a huge downside with the game that can't be ignored. It's the reason players started to drift away from the game in the first place.

Overall, DB The Breakers is a solid game. I would say if I were to rate it, it would be a 7/10. I really do enjoy the game and the variety of mechanics and scenarios you can tackle here. It is a tough game to get into though, you'll be whipped around by sweaty breakers players constantly (both survivors and raiders). If you can get past the microtransaction progression, the outdated graphics, and some jank with the controls, you'll find a really fun multiplayer game. Especially for Dragon Ball fans.

this game is fun but has no playerbase :(