This Time Patroller is tasked with the same job as last time: examine anomalies in history and make them right again. Picking up a while after Xenoverse’s ending, players control a customized rookie Time Patroller, while their custom character from the last game is transferred and becomes an actual side character. The narrative is probably the best-written piece of Dragon Ball fan fiction out there. The result is an extraordinarily polished, lean, mean punching machine of an anime game. It combines what worked with each game made in the past decade, and rightfully chucks out what doesn’t. The MMO-y bits of Xenoverse, Battle of Z’s frenetic multiplayer, Ultimate Tenkaichi’s streamlined giant ape battles-I could go on. As somebody who’s played every Dragon Ball game to date, I can trace the chronology leading up to everything in this game. It builds on the strengths of every Dragon Ball game made since 2005, while stripping away the less desirable bits and pieces. This is the game I wanted the first one to be, and so, so much more. I’m happy to report, then, that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has exceeded my expectations in every way.

Plus, if you slap “Dragon Ball” on something, there’s a good chance I’ll buy it. With Dimps promising a bigger, better sequel, I figured I’d give them another chance. What we got was a good but not exceptional riff on something we’d played a million times. It felt like a proof-of-concept, albeit a darn good one-like a bigger idea that ran out of time. While it felt like a breath of fresh air, it didn’t exactly feel revolutionary for me. It took the established arena combat, added in a new story, and let players navigate a small online hub world. Xenoverse was, for many, the change that the series needed.

Dragon ball xenoverse 2 pc game