Dragon Ball Fusions (2016)

Dragon Ball Fusions is loaded with content and high production values wrapped around a unique and fun battle system, making this an essential purchase for fans of the series who will be delighted to spend dozens or even hundreds of hours creating characters and sending them into combat. While its campaign mode can get repetitive for those unfamiliar with the Dragon Ball universe, the combat system alone is certain to keep players focused on its virtues and improving their characters.

At the end of the day Dragon Ball Fusions is a fun little game, although its likely to get more mileage out of Dragon Ball fans than anyone else. I found myself “fused” to my 3ds for the whole 50 or so hours I played before setting it down.

If you’re a franchise newbie that wants a good RPG, look elsewhere.

Dragon Ball Fusions is a wish forfilment to some degree. While it gives us the concept of being able to fuse any character we want, the rest of the game doesn't live up to that one mechanic. Personally I blame the release of it on the Nintendo 3DS as it limited the other aspects of the game in order to pull off the main mechanic. The game is still fun to play, if not easy to abuse. Dragon Ball Fusions is a game that is going to cater to the casual Dragon Ball fan and the hardcore alike, but the hardcores might not like the overall package once the thrill of fan service wears off.

Dragon Ball Fusions is such an original and fun idea, yet is plagued with so many flaws and annoyingly flawed aspects of the gameplay that the final product is reduced to something that ends up being a specialist game for hardcore fans that can ignore a 10-12-hour title tripling in lifespan due to so many repeating animations bloating out every combat sequence. There's still an enjoyable game here with some addictive aspects, but it could be so much better with just a few minor tweaks. Quite disappointing.