I think from a functional standpoint, this game works. The game is optimized for PC hardware, and you don't need cutting-edge hardware to run it.
However, I think Bandai Namco needs to get their head out of their ass. They don't communicate with players at all regarding why they make changes or what goals they were trying to accomplish, nor do they give us any heads up regarding what will be happening with the game, if at all.
As someone who has been playing this game for its entire life cycle, I was under the impression that this game would stop receiving balance updates THREE SEPARATE TIMES! And, when a balance update would come after they announced that the update prior was the last one, they would drop it within 24 hours with no explanations attached. While on paper this seems decent, it seems like Bandai is milking players with balance patches when they repeat this behavior this many times.

On the topic of patches, they are completely nonsensical. The notes are not specific in a meaningful way, forcing players to test out every affected move manually. Bandai will also use confusing language that makes newer players completely lost regarding what exactly changed. Let's use patch 1.40 as an example. In that patch, they added the following change to Super Saiyan Vegeta's "Big Bang Attack":

Originally posted by Bandai Namco Marketing Team, 11/10/2025:

Big Bang Attack
- Increased stun time.

This tells you maybe one thing at most, that the enemy is unable to move for longer after the move makes contact. However, there is no data regarding how much longer the enemy is stunned, if it only affects enemies blocking or those who have been hit, or the motivation behind the change. These details are important for players because A) it's important to know what exactly has changed with a move so you can experiment with said move more effectively, and B) communicating clearly with the player base of your game establishes trust between the two, which will make your players more inclined to buy things from you.

The fact that a company with a TWENTY (20) BILLION DOLLAR MARKET CAP cannot communicate clearly with its customers about the product they are buying is a complete and utter failure. Patches have been communicated like this since the game's release. The fact that Bandai has not made any efforts to improve how they communicate proves my point even further.

Outside of how the company communicates their changes, the actual changes are dubious at best regarding game balance. In the most recent patch (1.40), Bandai added many changes that would make characters more powerful, including the following:

1. Gave Hit an infinite combo that kills from full health with little resources
   
2. Gave Teen Gohan and Goku (Ultra Instinct) moves with Air or Full invincibility that are safe on block
   
3. Made assist recovery time exactly two seconds, reduced from the previous cooldown of 5 seconds when the game originally launched

These changes completely remove the game from the fighting game identity it once had. Reversal moves with frame 1 invincibility are generally punishable because the opponent gains a lot from using a move like that. Being able to say "wow! i can ignore your offense with this move, so i'll just use it all the time" makes game-play 1-dimensional and predictable. With no room to consider other options, it streamlines decision-making and makes the core element of what makes fighting games fun unavailable to anyone who seeks it out. With the assist and Hit additions, they change the game from "oh, let's navigate neutral and try to hit each other to try to further our advantage" into "oh, lets hit each other so we can kill each other". While the Hit change obviously aids in this shift, the assist change allows players to build teams around long-lasting assists (for example, Super Saiyan Vegeta A assist and Goku (GT) B assist) to turn a single hit into a sparking blast combo. Combos in sparking blast allow your assists to recover during combos, which is normally not possible. This allows a player to fish for any combo to turn it into a kill, regardless of the situation they got the hit in. This shift in mentality reinforces the idea that Bandai Namco does not care about letting players express themselves with multi-dimensional gameplay. They instead invite the player to do the strongest thing at all times with no interaction.

This behavior is not exclusive to the latest patch; the previous battle version (1.38) had similar changes that aimed to further the power level of every character. Such changes included the following:

1. Gave every character frame 4 invincibility on their level 1 attacks
   
2. Allowed special moves to be canceled into each other when you are in Sparking Blast
   
3. Gave 3 characters truly fullscreen normal attacks

While these changes don't seem as bad as the ones in the latest version, they prove a trend that Bandai Namco wants to increase the power level of all characters universally, either with system mechanics or evenly distributed changes to each character's kits.

Because of these changes, I believe Bandai Namco is attempting to use shock factor to bring back casuals to the game. Casuals will see clips of crazy combos on Twitter (X) or YouTube and reinstall the game to check them out. This, on top of the announcement for a new DLC in April 2026, primes casuals to buy the new DLC. This, in turn, lines Bandai Namco's pockets from new players who simply do not care about fighting games. While it makes sense that Bandai gets paid for the DLC they put out, it is DISHONEST to drive away core fans by appeasing people who never cared about the game in the first place. Companies like this should not be trusted with your money or your time. As such, you should not buy this game.

TLDR: This game's power level is only going up, and communication about the game and its power level is nonexistent from the publishers or developers. Changes seem to be made to the game to draw in new people, not to retain an existing audience. As such, buying the game guarantees that you will be disrespected by Bandai as a buyer of this game. Do not buy this game.