Saiyan Attack Xenoverse 3

Features 161 characters, almost the largest in any fighting game.

Features 161 characters, almost the largest in any fighting game.

Brings all the frenzied battles between Goku and his fiercest rivals, such as Vegeta, Frieza, Cell and many more, with new gameplay design.

Combat is at the heart of the experience, and Xenoverse 3 generally does a good job of translating the omni-directional, all-over-the-place scraps of the show. Basic chain combos can just be mashed out haphazardly, but these alone will not grant you victory. Building real combos requires a sound understanding of various cancel mechanics, and different resource meters.

Ki powers all of your special abilities, and unless you equip skills or gear that helps you build it efficiently, you'll need to be smart about when to spend it. Stamina is even more vital; it powers your defensive and evasive skills, as well as your ability to Vanish Cancel, a special combo-extending tool that's crucial for dealing big bursts of damage. Especially against human opponents, forcing foes to waste their resources and saving yours for key moments becomes the key to victory, making Xenoverse 2's brawling a lot more satisfying than it initially comes off.

In terms of execution, none of it is any more difficult than pressing a couple of buttons at the same time. But where it didn’t necessarily test my fighting-game dexterity, it did reward me for experimenting with its huge cache of special abilities, which offer a wide range of tactical options. From space-controlling abilities that help you zone out aggressive opponents, to attacks that trade away damage for the chance to inflict debilitating status effects, there are enough interesting tools to support almost any playstyle, as well as ample opportunity for counterplay.

Some of my enthusiasm is dampened by the wet-mop hit effects, which rob even the beefiest looking combos of much of their sense of impact. The camera is downright unruly at times too, in its over-zealous attempts to keep up with the action. Since some commands require character-relative directional inputs, this can lead to frustrating missed attacks at the worst possible moments.