Look at a screenshot of Dragon Ball: The Breakers for more than five seconds and you’ll start to notice something. It feels familiar, right? It should. Dimps, the developer behind the massive Xenoverse series, basically raided their own closet to build this asymmetrical survival game. But if you’ve spent any real time customization your Survivor or staring down a Level 4 Cell, you know the Dragon Ball The Breakers character models aren’t just a simple copy-paste job. There’s a specific, almost jarring "plastic" quality to them that separates this game from the more polished, cinematic look of FighterZ or the upcoming Sparking! Zero.
It’s about scale. And honestly, it’s about budget.
When you’re playing a Survivor, you are tiny. You’re a speck. The game has to render seven of these little humans alongside a massive, evolving Raider like Frieza or Majin Buu, all while maintaining a stable frame rate on the Nintendo Switch. That’s a tall order. To make it work, the developers leaned into a very specific aesthetic that prioritizes readability over high-fidelity textures.
The Xenoverse DNA in The Breakers Character Models
If the animations look like you’ve seen them before, you have. Most of the Dragon Ball The Breakers character models for the Raiders and the Transpheres (the spirits you transform into) are direct ports from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. This isn't a secret. In fact, it's a smart use of assets. Why rebuild Goku from scratch for the tenth time?
However, the lighting engine in The Breakers is notably different. In Xenoverse, characters have a glossy, almost metallic sheen that helps them pop against the colorful 3D arenas. In The Breakers, the lighting is flatter. This makes the Survivors look a bit more grounded in the environment, but it can also make the Raider models look slightly "older" than they did in their original game.
Check out the way Cell’s carapace reflects light in the Highland River map. It’s less about the individual polygons and more about the "cell-shading lite" approach. The outlines are thinner. The shadows are harsher. It creates a vibe that feels less like the anime and more like a high-end action figure collection come to life. Some fans hate it. I actually think it fits the "ordinary people trapped in a nightmare" theme.
Why Survivors Feel "Off" Compared to Raiders
There’s a massive gap in quality between the Raiders and the Survivors.
The Survivors are built using a modular system. You can swap hair, eyes, clothes, and accessories. Because of this "mix-and-match" nature, the Dragon Ball The Breakers character models for Survivors often lack the cohesive flow seen in the Raiders. Have you noticed how the clothing often clips through the character’s legs when they’re crouching in a cave? Or how the capes have a mind of their own? That’s the trade-off for customization.
Raiders, on the other hand, are static. They don’t change outfits (mostly). This allows Dimps to bake in more detail. When Frieza moves from his First Form to his Golden Form, the model swap is seamless because the skeleton underneath is rigid and predefined. They aren't worrying about whether a custom backpack is going to glitch through Frieza's tail.
Breaking Down the Technical Limitations
Let's get into the weeds.
The game runs on the Unreal Engine, but it’s heavily modified. One of the biggest hurdles for the Dragon Ball The Breakers character models is the draw distance. Since the maps are significantly larger than a standard fighting game stage, the "Level of Detail" (LOD) scaling is aggressive.
- At a distance, a Survivor model might drop from several thousand polygons to just a few hundred.
- This is why characters sometimes look like N64 blocks when you see them across the map through a Sniper Scope.
- The animations also simplify. A running Survivor might only update their pose every few frames if they are far enough away.
It’s a balancing act. If the models were as dense as the ones in Kakarot, the game would crawl at 10 frames per second the moment a Raider used an Area Destruction attack. Dimps chose performance over prestige.
The "Special Skin" Exception
Then we have the "Special Skins." Think Bulma, Oolong, or the Farmer. These models are unique. They aren't built on the standard Survivor rig. Because they represent specific characters from the manga and anime, they usually have much better facial animations and more accurate proportions.
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When you play as Oolong, his hitbox is smaller, and his model reflects that. He isn't just a shrunk-down human; he’s a completely unique asset. This is where the game actually shines. These skins feel "premium" because they bypass the awkwardness of the character creator's sliders. If you’re looking for the best-looking Dragon Ball The Breakers character models, you’ll usually find them in the Dragon Tier rewards or the shop, not the default avatar.
The Problem With "Glow" and Transpheres
We need to talk about the Transpheres. When you trigger a Dragon Change, your Survivor is replaced by a ghostly version of a Z-Warrior.
These models are essentially "echoes." To save on processing power, they use a heavy aura effect—usually blue or gold—to mask the fact that the models are lower resolution than their Xenoverse counterparts. It’s a clever trick. The particle effects distract the eye from the lack of fine detail on Goku’s boots or Vegeta’s armor.
But this creates a visual clutter issue. In a 7-on-1 fight, when three people have transformed, the screen becomes a mess of glowing Dragon Ball The Breakers character models. This is where the art style starts to fight the gameplay. It becomes hard to tell who is attacking and who is just standing there.
Modding and the Community Perspective
Interestingly, the PC modding community has been digging into these models since day one. They’ve found that many of the files retain the naming conventions from Xenoverse 2. This has allowed modders to port high-definition textures back into The Breakers.
If you see a YouTuber playing the game and it looks incredibly crisp, they are likely using a reshade or a texture pack. The base game is much "muddier." This confirms that the models themselves are actually quite good; it's the game's internal rendering settings—like the anti-aliasing and the shadows—that hold them back.
How to Get the Best Visuals Out of the Models
If the look of the game bothers you, there are a few things you can do. Most of it comes down to your hardware, but even on console, some settings help.
- Turn off Motion Blur: This is the first thing everyone should do. The blur in this game is particularly heavy and makes the character models look like a smear of paint whenever the camera rotates.
- Adjust Brightness/Contrast: The default settings are often too washed out. Dropping the brightness by 10-15% makes the blacks deeper and gives the cel-shaded outlines more "punch."
- Pick Solid Outfits: Avoid the complex, multi-layered "Survivor" gear if you hate clipping. Stick to the simpler gi or the "Civilian" clothes. They tend to behave better with the physics engine.
The reality is that Dragon Ball The Breakers character models represent a very specific era of Bandai Namco games. They are "good enough" to get the job done but they aren't going to win any beauty pageants. They prioritize the chaos of the hunt over the beauty of the characters.
If you want to improve your experience, focus on the "Special Skins." They offer the most visual consistency. Also, keep an eye on the Season updates. Dimps has been slowly patching the lighting in certain areas of the maps, which indirectly makes the character models look a lot more integrated and less like they were photoshopped into the world.
To really see the difference, try jumping between a default Survivor and a character like King Furry or Mai. The difference in model "weight" and how they interact with the floor is night and day. It’s clear where the extra dev time went. If you're looking for that classic Toriyama look, the unique skins are your best bet every time.