It's fantastic flying around, tracking down characters from the Androids to Broly, and trying to capture them without killing them. This is definitely one of the best aspects of the game. Many of the famous characters join the team over the course of the story, but plenty of others are simply wandering the map or are part of side quests, and the only way to recruit them is to defeat them with a special Zenkai Attack.
The Pokémon aspect comes from the fact that the tournament is between teams of five, and the protagonist needs to recruit a team made up of the many iconic Z characters and the original creations that are scattered throughout this Xenoverse style world, and then lead that team to victory. There are elements of Pokémon, pool/billiards style trigonometry, Final Fantasy style ATB, and so much more here. It smashes together numerous different styles, genres, and ideas into an insanely glorious mess. Once your character is made, it's time to dive into a game that is quite unlike any Dragon Ball title that has come before. There are plenty of parts available to recreate some of the familiar faces from the series' history in each of these races, though, with Alien including pieces for the Frieza race, members of the Ginyu team and even Saiba Men, while Offworlder has Buu and Kai, amongst others. Each race has slight differences in their stats, but nothing to justify choosing one over the other based on stats alone. The nameless protag is customisable in the same style as the Xenoverse characters, deciding a race from Earthling, Saiyan, Namekian, Offworlder and Alien. The wish granted, the pair is whisked away to a land of floating islands reminiscent of the Xenoverse games where the (you guessed it) great martial arts tournament will take place to establish just who the strongest is.
A plucky nameless protagonist, along with his best friend/rival Pinich, has gathered up the seven Dragon Balls and summons Shenron to find the most powerful fighter in the 7th Universe. There will be no retelling of the old arcs here, not even with a new twist instead, there's a completely original story. Fusions breaks away from the regular go-to setting for Dragon Ball games.