Dead Or Alive 5
Developed by Team Ninja
Published by TecmoKoei
Dead or Alive 5 (DOA5) is the latest in the 3D fighting game series and the first without series creator Tomonobu Itagaki. The cast from the previous Dead Or Alive games returns along with new faces Rig and Mila and guest stars Pai, Akira and Sarah from Virtua Fighter.
Gameplay:
Dead or Alive 5 keeps the basic mechanics of the previous games with the 4 button layout which has the following commands "punch, kick, block/hold, and throw". The gameplay is slowed down for more methodical fighting, but that isn't to say it moves anywhere near a snail's pace. The fights are still pretty frenetic though holds don't have to come out near as fast as they had to in DOA4. If you mistime holds by going too fast you will be punished.
Each character plays differently enough that you won't feel like you're not playing the same few character types in different skins. Especially the Virtua Fighter characters. The story mode gives tutorials on all the mechanics in the game but it isn't necessary to play casually without any headaches, the game can be as deep or as casual as you want.
Content:
In fighting games instead of story we'll go with content, because fighting games, although having stories, are not played for them normally. But that isn't to say it shouldn't have a story as it can be a good way for casual players to have fun with the game. With that out of the way let's see what DOA5 has.
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| People play this for the fighting, right? |
There is a story mode in Dead Or Alive 5 that lasts for about three hours, maybe more if you decided to go after all the bonus missions and you are bound to run into one or two that will have you be stuck for a while. There are the standard arcade modes which have one on one and tag battle courses. There's also survival mode which is also a standard for fighting games. Unique to Dead Or Alive is a mode for taking pictures during a fight which is just called Photo Mode you can control the camera and pause at the exact time you want to take the picture. Not really groundbreaking or anything but it's neat. Of course there is online play, on day 1 the net-code wasn't that great and matches I played were a bit laggy but there was a patch to address this. Unfortunately I haven't tried online after patching the game but from what was seen during live streams of online play the patch did improve things quite a bit.
Presentation:
The menus in the game are very clean looking nothing too spectacular. Navigating them isn't a pain. The stages are pretty well done especially the stages taking place outdoors. The character models which has been the selling point for the game, especially the female characters, look great. Their faces look good but it doesn't seem like they animate that much though. Also about the character models is that during the fight they will start to sweat and get dirt on them during the fight. Depending on what they're wearing the sweat can drench their clothes making them see through. Lots of attention like this make the game pretty visually appealing. Though the jiggle physics still seem to just be nowhere near reality. Then again, they never were. But the over sexualization of the female characters has been toned down. Yes, they can still wear skimpy outfits and yes they still jiggle but the breast sizes have been reduced for some characters and not every character has a skimpy outfit. Only characters that big breasts make sense for have larger bust sizes. The male characters look good too though, Ryu Hayabusa looks great and this has to be the best Akira and the rest of the Virtua Fighter characters have ever looked.
Verdict:
This game is great for casual players and for hardcore players in the FGC. With bonus missions in the story mode helping out people that do want to learn the game and all the arcade mode routes and online play that's been improved this game is definitely worth picking up.
I give this an 8.5 out of 10
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