The Dragon Ball Z Game We Deserve?

When I first saw screen shots of Dragon Ball Xenoverse I was extremely skeptical. And why shouldn't I be? Every game with DBZ in the title has been pretty average to terrible since the release of Burst Limit.

The most recent release, Battle of Z, was plagued by horrific team AI and mediocre gameplay. Needless to say it sucked, but for some reason when I read about Xenoverse it gives me hope and fills me with excitement. An excitement I haven't felt since the original Budokai games. Probably because this game is being developed by DIMPS, who were the masterminds behind some of the best DBZ games ever made. To anyone that has been following this franchise since the beginning this is awesome news. I have no problem putting faith in the development team to put together a DBZ game where the fighting lives up to its name. They've done it before. The big question for me is whats going to be new? As with all anime/manga based games they will attempt to cram as many characters in the game as possible for fan service, but what else will DIMPS do to make this feel like a new experience? I think the answer will come in the form of the new "what if" story mode being used in Xenoverse.

What we know so far is that Trunks send your created character back in time to intervene in different parts of the DBZ timeline. This is a creative way of keeping the story line fresh and new for gamers used to the normal story telling routine. The showstopper for me though is the character creation. This isnt Ultimate Tenaichi's shallow attempt at a create a character mode. From the available screen shots of the game the creation process is surprisingly deep.

It might be hard to see from the above picture, but just on this screen you can customize your character head, body size, eye shape, pupil shape, nose, mouth and ears.

Upper Costume, Bottom Costume, Hands, Feet, Z Accessories( sword, cape?)

This game is looking great so far, unfortunately there is not a release date set for it as of yet. We do know that it will be available for Xbox 360/One and PlayStation 3/4( no mention of Wii U...). As a huge DBZ fan I'm stoked for this game, and I'm hoping that the character creator is as deep as it seems from these screenshots. With DIMPS at the helm we should be getting a game that plays as good as it looks,and if the new twist on the story mode is as exciting as it sounds we might finally get the Dragon Ball Z game we deserve.

Credit goes to SaiyanIsland for posting and translating the screenshots.