Dragon Ball: Origins Review
Before his power level was over 9000!
By Ben Salter
The Dragon Ball universe, in particular the more popular Dragonball Z, has proven that not all licensed games are automatically cast into the shovelware basket. While nothing spectacular, past games have been decent portrayals of the DBZ series and have created a strong following among fans. Dragon Ball: Origins takes players a step back in the franchise, back to when Goku was just a boy, before giant energy beams created by an overload of manly screaming in order to get a power level over 9000. It’s clear that Game Republic have taken a leaf out of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’ book in terms of gameplay and control. Along side this familiar gameplay Origins retells the story of a majority of the Dragon Ball series through entertaining action and episodic cut-scenes.
Dragon Ball: Origins is an action adventure game with RPG elements thrown into the mix. To say that The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has inspired developer Game Republic would be a massive understatement. You could be forgiven for thinking that the controls have directly been lifted from Zelda and placed into Origins. Players control Goku, a young boy discovering the world, to move him simply touch the desired direction on the screen. Tap enemies to attack and include that with a slide or spin of the stylus to pull of new abilities as you acquire them such as charge and spin moves. The option to use the D-Pad to control Goku is included, but the touch controls work so well that you’ll never feel the need to. Goku can switch between ‘Combat Mode” allowing him to attack with his fists and “power pole mode” allowing him to use his newly acquired ‘power pole’ which gives him a greater range and more traditional "sword like" attacks.
Dragon Ball was always more about exploration than fighting, unlike its predecessor. Goku joins the teenage Bulma in her search for the seven Dragon Balls in order to summon the dragon to have a wish granted. Dragon Ball: Origins is played in episodes, which essentially see Goku running into an area and killing a horde of enemies (there are a lot of pigs) on his journey from A-B before encountering a boss. Some of the more complex episodes feature a dungeon type environment which takes a little more exploration, but for the most part the game is fairly linear and will guide you along your way. As you progress Goku learns new abilities, including the all conquering Kamehameha, which are required to solve puzzles as well as to defeat more difficult enemies. Bulma will travel with you for nearly half the levels, and while she is annoyingly weak she’ll generally run ahead and wait while you do your thing. The main quest will take you around 12 hours to complete, and retell a majority of the Dragon Ball saga in the process. The only gripe is that the gameplay begins to become very repetitive due to its basic nature. Almost none of the enemies you encounter will challenge you at all due to poor AI with the exception of some bosses.
The story told throughout Dragon Ball: Origins is where the game shines for fans of the series, and those who caught on during DBZ and missed out on the original saga. The cut-scenes and skits are played between episodes and throughout the levels which are generally parallel to the story told in the anime. In this sense Dragon Ball: Origins essentially acts as a recap of the series. Many of the scenes have been re-created into full 3D DS graphics including shots from multiple angles and comic backgrounds. You’ll be happy to know that the classic Dragon Ball humour is still here, even if things do begin to get a little weird from time to time. A memorable scene sees Goku return a turtle to Master Roshi who in turn rewards him with his flying cloud Nimbus. But that’s not fair Bulma wants a gift to! The dirty old man Roshi requests that Bulma show him her underwear in exchange for the Dragon Ball in his possession. After a variety of shots from every angle imaginable of Bulma flashing the old man in classic anime style (with the gap in the DS screens covering any distasteful content) Bulma returns home to find her underwear on her bed. The curious Goku had a peak during the previous night and forgot to put them back on, not that it matters because she "doesn't have anything down there anyways” (remember Goku doesn’t really know what a girl is at this point). In a massive overreaction she pulls a machine gun out of nowhere and blasts the hell out of him. Classic Dragon Ball. The game is full of slightly perverted scenes like this, but they are hilarious in full motion and yes this isn't everything, you’ll also be treated to some decent Dragon Ball Story as you track Goku’s progress to the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Dragon Ball: Origins is visually stunning, but has pushed the DS to it’s limits. The classic series is brought to life with very detailed character models and vibrant environments. The cut-scenes feature a full range of animated facial features accompanied by comic-style flashing backdrops in a clear reference to the anime series. The in-game graphics are up there with some of the best on the DS. For the most part both screens are used to display the level, with the action taking place on the bottom screen while the top screen shows of what’s up ahead. The visuals are fantastic and are obviously pushing the DS to its limits which results in some minor frame rate issues when the screen is bombarded with enemies. The sound like the visuals have been based on those used in the classic series. The lighthearted tunes give the game an anime feel which are mixed with some very occasional voice acting used at appropriate moments.
Summary
Dragon Ball: Origins is the most rounded adaptation of Akira Toriyama's classic manga series. Origins sticks to the original story far closer than any of the DBZ games to date, and does a fantastic job of retelling the saga through engaging cut-scenes. The game provides a visually well polished adventure combined with great, but repetitive, gameplay and well thought out controls. Offering over 12 hours of gameplay along with hundreds of collectibles to discover Dragon Ball Origins offers a decent adventure and shows that licensed games can truly be fantastic on the DS. A must own for Dragon Ball fans, especially DBZ fans who missed out on the first saga and an enjoyable experience for anyone looking for a Zelda inspired Action/Adventure game on the DS.
Gameplay
8.5/10
A relatively straight forward A-B action-adventure with a few more complex dungeons thrown into the mix. Simple and to an extent repetitive but still great fun and easily some of the best gameplay in any Dragon Ball game to date.
Graphics
9.0/10
Great 3D graphics for the DS, some of best on the system, but unfortunately suffers from frame rate issues occasionally. The cut-scenes are great and true to the anime series, but the character animations in these came across a little blocky and could be improved in a sequel, impressive none the less.
Sound
8.0/10
Classic Dragon Ball sounds give the game a light-hearted anime feel, nice sparing use of voice overs.
Value
8.5/10
The main quest will take you around 12 hours to complete, but on top of that there’s hundreds of hidden figures to find to extend your adventure. Once you’ve completed it though there’s not a lot to come back for.
Overall
8.7/10