I remember being a little kid and having pretend fights with friends shouting out Kamehameha and Final Flash with all the force our tiny bodies could muster. Screaming our lungs out hoping to awaken the legendary Super Saiyan in our blood. 16 years later and STILL I haven't been able to properly perform a fusion dance with someone. It has been years since I touched a Dragon Ball game. I've had an unexplained craving for one and Xenoverse 2 is currently out but Steam was kind enough to put the first game on sale for $10 and I jumped in.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse takes all the familiar story lines and characters we've come to love over the franchise's existence and places them all into one game with us as the players finally being able to achieve our dreams and become a character within the world. There's the option of being a Saiyan, an Earthling, Majin, Namekian or Frieza Race. You take on the role of a member of the Time Patrol, a task force led by Trunks which protects the timeline of the Dragon Ball universe. They make sure events play out as they should such as Gohan defeating Cell, Goku becoming a Super Saiyan after the death of Krillin etc. They mend distortions in the timeline and protect the history of the universe. After being summoned by Trunks to assist him in fixing the distortions in the timeline, you soon encounter Towa and Mira, inhabitants of the Demon Realm who are traveling across time causing time distortions by giving characters higher power levels than they should have at the moment. This creates some hilarious moments such as Goku and the Z Fighters being defeated by the Saibamen and Cell Jrs. or giving Hercule the power to defeat Cell himself. This also creates some interesting branches such as Frieza getting powered up and quickly disposing of Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin and Gohan thus resulting in not giving Goku enough time to recover in the healing tank. This is what the game boils down to essentially. One person has a higher power level than they should have so go help defeat them. This gets old pretty quickly but there's also the option of completing Parallel Quests which take time distortions to another level such as allowing your character to be a part of the the invading Saiyan force with Nappa and Vegeta and defeating Goku and company. There are a lot of interesting ones and they all offer cool rewards such as special attacks and items and equipment.

Xenoverse plays like a RPG where you level up your character and increase their stats and gain new abilities. One of the cool features I really enjoy is the master system where you can become a student of one of the titular characters of Dragon Ball like Vegeta or Piccolo and learn their moves to use in combat. It allows for customization of every aspect of your avatar in the world and it just feels good to use them. Another feature is the MMORPG like central hub of Toki Toki City where other players can battle each other and recruit one another for Parallel Quests. This also serves as the main menu where friends can casually battle each other on the couch to settle those age old disputes you used to act out.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a well made yet repetitive homage to Dragon Ball Z and its a fun way to celebrate such an amazing franchise. Take this or Xenoverse 2 to reminisce on perfect moments like Trunks going Super Saiyan after the death of Gohan and many other scream matches between your favorite characters.