The Dragon ball series is an IP that doesn't even need an introduction. Inspired by "Journey to the west", mangaka Akira Toriyama created the legendary adventure of Son Goku in 1984. The series emphasizes the adventure of the heroes but also the spectacular over the top battles. This work is considered a masterpiece
as 40 years later people are still talking about the adventures of Goku and company. The IP itself continues to make profits through advertising products.
In the recent years, this legendary series has created games for every type of gaming fans. In the field of 3D arena fighting they created "Dragon ball Xenoverse 2", in the field of Fighting Dragon ball FighterZ, for RPGs Dragon ball Kakarot, in card games "Dragon ball Super Heroes" and on Android “Dragon ball Legends/Dokkan”.
All of the above games are supported by their respective teams to this day. In November 2021, Bandai announced a new game for the series that would be very different from all the others. For the first time in the history of the series, a game of the Asymmetric survival game category would be released. The game would be
under the supervision of Dimps, a company connected to the series as it had created the series "Budokai", "Xenoverse" and others.
On September 2022, the game was released in the following forms:
Based in the same universe as the “Xenoverse”, your playable hero wakes up with the help of Time-Patroller Trunks, who asks you to tell him the events that led you to the floor. All you remember is being sucked into a dark hole that opened up out of nowhere. Trunks asks you to
follow him in order to escape the area. It reveals to you that you and others have fallen into time warps that take you to different times. Then with his help and the time machine you manage to escape through the seams. But since you can't go back in time, Trunks prepares
you for the possibility of reliving this event by giving you equipment and instructions in various possible scenarios.
The game scenario is straight up bad and not the reason for someone to purchase the game. This kind of game doesn't need to have a story. In "breakers" the story not only gives the impression that it simply copied "Jump Force" but it doesn't even make sense. In both games the time patroller Trunks wake your character who simply cannot recall anything from their past. How they ended up and how they got themselves down. Furthermore, in both games a hero/villain of the series will appear out of nowhere to interupt the discussion that is corrently taking place. The developers use the story as an excuse to give you the tutorial where they will teach you how to play. The tutorial lasts around 30-40 minutes (it doesn't allow you to skip it) during which it doesn't teach you anything "important" and doesn't show you anything when your role is the raider. Asymmetric survival games like “Dead by Daylight” usually avoid having a story as the creators know that their game will not sell for its plot but for its gameplay. What has been mentioned in the tutorial will be announced by Trunks during a round and you can read it while you wait in the loading screens.
When you're done with the game's opening act, you're free to move to the new area. The problem is that the Hub world is literally a small circle with 4 buildings, 5 NPCs and 2-3 robots. At a quick glance, any player who has some experience with the “Xenoverse” series can recognize that this area
is part of “Cotton City” which acts as the hub-world in “Xenoverse 2”. The robots, buildings, furniture as well as the sky itself are exactly the same. This fact disappointed the majority of players as the game 'screams' low effort. In this area, you can buy new clothing,
change your appearance, and summon heroes.
When you are ready, you can start the lobby survey where you have the option to play as a survivor or a raider or both. When the room is filled with seven other players, then a time seam will absorb you. At this point it will reveal the role that corresponds to you and the loading screen
will be activated where you will find the survivors and the raider. While you wait, you can activate emotes like survivors and voice-lines like raiders. When the time runs out, the game begins.
Each player can give their hero four passive skills and hero transformations in the series based on the souls they have. Each soul represents a character from the series which in turn will give you their transformation and if you're lucky, this can include a combat technique or a passive/active
technique or both or neither. Techniques you got from summon can only be used if you have equipped the hero's soul. E.g. if you don't have Vegeta's soul you can't place the Saiyan escape pot technique. But if you really want a technique without the corresponding soul, you can go to the "training"
building and raise the level of the technique to "+10".
As a survivor you want to stay as far away from the raider as you can unless you think you can beat him. When the raider is near you, you will hear your heart pounding. The closer it is to you, the stronger and faster the heartbeat will be. The enemy's location will be revealed to you if even one
survivor has their eyes on them. If you fall on the battlefield, the first time a countdown starts in which your allies can pick you up. If you fall a second time, or if no one helps you when you're down, then you have nothing else to contribute to the fight as your hero is out of the game.
If your role is the raider, then your goal is to kill all the survivors or destroy the time machine, which will result in the destruction of the world. The only two ways you can lose is to be dropped on the battlefield by the survivors or let them fix their engine. At the game's launch, there are only
three characters available, Cell, Frieza, and Majin Buu. With the released of the new seasons, raiders such as the Sayians(Nappa/Vegeta), the Ginyus, Broly(DragonBall Super) and more recently Goku Black and Zamasu. Each raider has its own play style, skills and in-game mechanics that distinguish them,
but the central core is the same.
As the raider you usually flying around the areas hoping to autolock into the survivors. Some of the villains have ki sensing abilities which makes it easier. All raiders start from level 1 and try to build up to level 4. Each level represent a transformation status and has its own abilities. For example Frieza
level 1 has the villain on his chair and he relys on Zarbon and Dodoria, whereas in level 2 he moves around on his own. Others such as the Saiyans and the Ginyus begin with their weakest member(Saibaman/Guldo) and whether you kill them or they level up they re replaced with the next member. During combat the raider
hits the opponent/players until they passed out. Once a player is knowcked out, the raider can finish them off to gain power up. Once a raider levels up, they re free to create an explotion to eliminate a piece of the map/an area.
The game wouldn't be called “Dragon ball” without the 7 balls.
In the anime, when one has collected all 7 orbs he can summon the magical dragon Shenron who will grant him any wish. In the game these orbs are scattered everywhere and can be collected by both the survivors and the raider. If the player who collected the orbs is a survivor then he can fully transform into a
hero of the story and fight the raider.
On the other hand, if the player who collected the orbs is the raider, he can wish to either automatically level up a transformation, refill his life, or take much less damage. Dragonballs are very powerful and can only be used once per match as using them will affect the outcome of the round.
The company Dimps took a big risk in creating the game as the “Xenoverse” fanbase has been waiting for the third game in the series, “Xenoverse 3” for four years now. Breakers while it is fun as an experience, does not fail to show that it is an idea that was made with pre-downloaded materials in a very short period of time.
The hub world, tracks, characters, most cosmetics and emotes are all from the “Xenoverse” series. Also other items such as cosmetics, furniture, stamps and power items (Saiyan Pot) come from the "Fighter-Z" series. Of course the company knows this and precisely for this reason, the game costs a third of the price of a "Dragon
ball" game.
"If the game isn't expensive and it's fun, then what's the problem if it uses items from old games?" one would ask. "None" would be the answer if there weren't problems like goofy animations and micro-transactions. In the game every new animation looks very strange. The running and jumping of the survivors has nothing to do with
the “Xenoverse” animations and the people do not move their lips when they speak. Micro-transactions in themselves are bad and it's worse when they hide great techniques. It is worth mentioning that the game while you pay for it does not have a "pity system". This system is used in free games like "gacha" and allows you 4
to win one of the rare items if you didn't manage to get it on your twentieth summon for example. A game that since you pay for it, should not only have a pity system but also be more generous than usual.
When a game pits many players against one the many must work as a team. Games such as "Friday the 13th", "among us", etc., allow players to communicate with each other through "Proximity Chat". This allows players to talk to each other only if the characters are close to each other. In this way they can collude and plan ways
to win. Dimps game does not include such a mechanism and this is a disadvantage.
Finally, it is proven that such games usually suffer after some time after release. The game does not have a "cross platform" fact which in 2022 is unjustified. Cross platform allows players to play with each other regardless of their platform choice (Ps5,X-box.Switch,PC). When it limits players to their platform of choice there is
a great risk that the game will not have enough players to fill the room. In 2024 the game did announced that cross platform would be released so that many people can enjoy plating together.
In conclusion, “Dragon ball: The Breakers” is a special case. The gameplay is very different from all the games in the series and is accessible for everyone both financially and in terms of convenience. It has many problems, but despite this, it is a game that you will probably visit often because, quite simply, it is fun. If you have
five friends who have the game, then the experience will be much better.
On the other hand, the game is not for everyone, as it can easily be considered repetitive due to its simple formula. Then, while the game has a financial price next to its name, in its content it hides various cosmetics and hero summons behind micro-transactions which do not include a pity system. In addition, this project does not
include mechanisms such as proximity chat which have a main role in the "survival" and experience of the game. The game's animations and sound effects are not at the level of Dimps' work, as her other works in this series prove. From mouths that don't move, to strange animations, to repetitive sayings. Also, the company used too many
elements from the Xenoverse series which shows a lack of effort. With reference to the Xenoverse series, the script tried to unite the two titles together which did not work as they would have liked as questions like "since we are safe in the lobby, why can we find a game like raiders?", "if we ever go back to the time we came from
before Trunks found us?”etc. Finally, the game's tutorial is almost unhelpful. It teaches nothing as far as raider gameplay is concerned and nothing in case you come face to face with the raider. On the other hand, when you are the survivor, it teaches you the basics like "approach the target (fallen friend, time machine, etc.) and
hold down the button you see to fly your goal."