The Dragon Ball franchise has received many game adaptations over the years, but a multiplayer online battle arena game, or MOBA for short, is one I didn’t expect before the reveal of DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA. It’s a possibility I should have expected, though, especially with the plethora of heroes and villains that Dragon Ball introduced in the past 40 years. In fact, DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is a really good team-based multiplayer game and offers a solid foundation that can be built upon with updates, similarly to some of the most popular MOBAs on the market today.
DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA essentially takes the concept of Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power and puts an angled top-down MOBA spin on it. Unsurprisingly, there’s no story mode here, and you can get straight into the 4v4 team battle action after completing a brief tutorial to get the basics down pat. In general, DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is the epitome of a free-to-play “pick-up-and-play” game for short bursts of fun, but I still found myself playing it for several hours.
DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is Chaotic, Strategic, and Beginner-Friendly
After the tutorial, you can jump right into Standard Battle under Gekishin Rules, which involves two teams of four players battling it out on a map to claim the opposing team’s Dragon Ball. On the way to the opposing team’s base, players will need to defeat mobs to level up, fend off enemy players, and use their Ki to unleash Gekishin Bursts on checkpoints protected by Gods of Destruction to clear the path forward, all while leveling up and growing stronger on the field. Once you’ve reached the enemy’s base, you must destroy the Dragon Shell around the Dragon Ball to finally claim it. Gekishin Rules are really simple, and so is gameplay, but the game’s depth comes from the roles you play.
Despite using a tried-and-true role system, DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA manages to make the Damage (DPS), Tank, and Technical (healer/support) roles feel unique and Dragon Ball-like, for lack of a better term. Damage heroes like Super Saiyan Goku and Super Saiyan Kale (Berserk) are great at clearing mobs and defeating enemy players, Tank heroes like Super Saiyan Vegeta and Zamasu can take more damage and handle enemy opposition, and Technical heroes like Android 17 and Hit can buff, heal, and support allies, making their way toward each God of Destruction checkpoint. They all have a range of abilities that you’d come to expect, especially if you played previous Dragon Ball games.
In my experience, Technical characters require more practice due to how important positioning and aim can be with some of their moves. For example, Android 17 uses his signature volleys of Ki blasts to push back enemies, and his energy dome can both push back enemies and protect allies in proximity. Although DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is quite easy to pick up and play, mastering characters will take some effort and dedication. As someone who prefers Tank roles, I enjoyed playing as Super Saiyan Vegeta because he still has respectable damage output while maintaining a high enough HP to serve as a good defensive unit. I also enjoy learning what each character can do, and there’s quite a large roster to choose from.
There’s also a Divine Combo Cards system, which gives you an avenue to diversify your specific character build for their role. These cards grant you special effects for meeting certain conditions in battle, and you can get these cards automatically as you play, which is what I did for most of my time playing the game for this review. These cards can synergize and grant a combo bonus if the right pairings are made.
A Strong Launch-Day Roster
DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA’s launch roster is very respectable at 22 fighters from across Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super. Overall gameplay balance seems fair from what I experienced, and I was quite surprised by some of the fighters here, including Super Baby, Uub, Gamma 1 & 2, and Bojack. Although the roster isn’t as massive as other entries in the Dragon Ball games franchise, each roster member feels unique and tailor-made for the role they represent while respecting the source material they pull from. This also extends to Helpers, which are support characters that offer unique abilities in addition to those of your selected playable character.
Like the 22 fighters on the roster, Helpers are classified by their Damage, Tank, and Technical roles due to the status effects they bring. For instance, the Farmer (yes, that farmer from Dragon Ball Z) has a Technical ability that can attack the nearest enemy hero within range and applies defense and movement debuffs. Helpers are quite useful since they can offer abilities your favorite character doesn’t normally have access to, but it’s worth noting that Helpers can only be paired with heroes of the same role.
A key aspect of the gameplay loop in DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA involves upgrading each hero on the roster, which requires the use of Hero Memories and Zeni. If you’re out of Zeni for whatever reason, you can fund the hero’s upgrade by using Super Dragon Gems, which are a premium currency you can also earn in the game. Performing these upgrades will increase your rank on the Star Collection, which unlocks more rewards and heroes. I think Star Collection is a really good incentive for trying out new heroes and consistently keeping up with the game.
Well-Rounded Set of Features and Content
Although DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is light on content, I wouldn’t say it’s to the detriment of the game entirely. Standard Battle is very fun and doesn’t feel overly competitive, and you can easily pair up with up to three other friends at parties. Setting up rooms with Party IDs is very simple and easy to do, and the inclusion of cross-play and cross-progression is great for sustaining a healthy player base over time.
In addition, up to 10 players can enjoy Custom Match, with eight players being in the match with up to two spectators. Custom Match has many adjustable settings and options, including passwords and Room IDs for invite-only access. With the way Custom Match is set up, it feels streamlined enough for Discord servers, which may have been something the developers considered from the start.
This is all in addition to the aforementioned Star Collection system and the in-game Battle Pass. You can rank up the Battle Pass by completing in-game missions. These missions range from completing matches as a specific role, defeating a certain number of enemies, and performing a number of actions as a certain hero. There are dozens of missions to do, and these will likely get updated quite frequently. You can also level up your Role Rank as you play and win matches to keep track of your mastery.
I’m also pleased to say that DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA doesn’t skip out on options either, from what I’ve played in the PC version. On PC, I was able to play DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA at a consistent and smooth 120 FPS at 1440p with virtually no frame rate dips or glitches on a maxed-out preset. You have complete control of key bindings for both controller and keyboard and mice, and there are also streamer-oriented options, including a Streamer Mode that will hide the names of other players and simply label them as “Player 1, Player 2, etc.” There are also those iconic English and Japanese voice-overs that you can switch between, too.
Customization and Monetization
As I mentioned briefly, DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is a free-to-play game. There will be in-app purchases for currency that can be used to purchase new customization items like skins, special finisher animations, emotes, and stamps, similarly to Overwatch 2. Like many other free-to-play games, you can also grind and complete in-game missions and matches to earn what you need to buy skins and earn currency necessary for pulls, such as G-Capsules and SG-Capsules.
It’s too early for me to judge these systems, but from the looks of it, it appears that all heroes will be free, so paid content seems to be relegated to only skins and optional cosmetics at the moment. There are plenty of cosmetics that are obtainable through standard progression systems like Star Collection and the Battle Pass, too. I do like that there are personalization elements to each character that aren’t just a costume, and I hope that these systems don’t change in a negative way.
What DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA Lacks
Of course, DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA isn’t perfect and can be better. Although the launch roster is great, it’s still missing some fan favorite characters that I know players would have been happy about, such as Ultimate Gohan, Gotenks, Broly, and Jiren. I would also like to see some more game modes with different rule sets to help spice up the gameplay loop soon after launch.
Additionally, I seriously want a Nintendo Switch 2 version to be released as soon as possible because DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA would be quite fun to play portably on the new system. The Nintendo Switch version being locked to 30 FPS is disappointing since MOBAs feel optimal when running at 60 FPS and above.
DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is an Extremely Fun Game with a Solid Foundation
I think DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA is a great game that has the potential to be really consistent and fun over time, especially with free updates and events. At launch, the game has a solid foundation that the developers can build upon, and it’s already very addictive and fun to play. DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA doesn’t overdeliver on its promise, but it does exactly what it should, and that’s to deliver a fun multiplayer experience for Dragon Ball fans.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided a PC (Steam) key of DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA for review purposes.
