With so many fighting games out there (like the recently reviewed by me Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3), it's a wonder that there are a surprising amount of decent fighters out here, and this game isn't so different. Dead or Alive 4, which is now a Platinum Hits games so it's only $30, is a hardcore fighting game, whose sole purpose is to make you lose. And you'll love it too.
Girls, girls, and even more girls!
-Sorry to sound like a pervert, but there's no denying that the majority of the cast is essentially female. Female gamers out there who feel offended that women in video games are being objectified aren't going to find refuge here. Lots of the women in this game, if not all (I can't tell since someone has too much armor...) have a big... bustline (yeah, that's a good word for it, yeah). Although I'm neutral on this subject, it also should be noted to female gamers that people who put their profile age in DOA4 at 99 will make the girls... you know... bounce more... (sarcasm) man, that so didn't sound perverted... (/sarcasm).
However, there are some male characters out there (like Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja most famously known for his role in Ninja Gaiden) are present in the game, so if you're one of those people who only play as their gender (like my sexist friends), then you'll find someone to play as. Each character has their own fighting style and movement, making who you choose to fight with important. Although there's only about 16-20 characters in this game, they all animate beautifully, they look beautiful (graphic-wise), and their moves are so awesome, especially a certain someone's plasma grenade...
Get ready... GO!
-Ok, let's get to the meat of the game, the fighting system. You start with more than half the characters in the game (the lovely runaway kunoichi Kasumi, the totally awesome Ryu Hayabusa, the crazy climber Zack, and many more) all ready to duke it out. The selection is simple: if they look big and tough, they'll slow. If they're a ninja or looks lightweight, then they're fast. There's a big reason why you want to consider who to pick, and that's because it just has to match with your fighting style.
To punch, all you have to is hit the Y button. To kick, you would press B, and to grab you would press A. Sounds simple huh? Not really when you're getting totally hammered because you choose a slow, heavyweight dude and you're button-mashing. All you're going to get is slow, off-beat punches that anyone can either block, avoid, or counter (more on that later). And it's not fun to lose all the time. So think about the type of gamer you are before choosing. If you're a button-masher, pick a lightweight fighter so you can keep doing combos by pressing Y. If you prefer power and like to time hits because it prefers REAL skill, then choose a heavyweight. If you like to mix them up, then choose a medium weight.
See, that's the beauty of the game: it's easy enough for button-mashers to get into, and yet it takes skill to be a master of the game. For the first 2 weeks or so of playing this game, I got by by just rapidly pressing Y with the two ninjas Kasumi and Ryu. But, after a few defeats, I became better by knowing when to attack, and how to counter. Now, the countering system is more difficult to pull off than before. Istead of pressing X at the right time, you need to know what TYPE of hit it is (low, medium, and high) and use the left analog stick to match it (diagonal down left for low attacks, left for medium attacks, etc). It's much more complicated, but once you do it a couple of times, you'll know it like the back of your hand (what the heck is that on my hand?).
Plus, this game also does what many games doesn't: a dangerous environment. Yes, as pretty as they are, not only do you have to focus on fighting your opponent, you have to watch the environment in certain areas. In one safari level, a random cheetah could run into you while in the Gambler's Paradise level (my favorite) it could be a car (or a Warthog). Some stages in the game even have electric wall, so if they push you towards them, you'll receive extra damage (and it looks darn sweet if it's the finishing blow). So now, novice could get lucky in the game by these random events and pros could learn how to chain all these together somehow. Now that's depth!
Settle down kids, there's a story to tell.
-One of the most expected failures of a fighting game is its story mode. All you do is fight over and over again. However, this game's different. I actually found myself to love this games storyline. There's this evil company called DOATec where they're making this... you know what? You'll have to play to figure it out.
You start story mode by picking someone and their costume (there's not a lot sadly, but it's awesome being Ryu's original Ninja Gaiden costume!) and then you start fighting. After the 3rd and 6th, 7th, and 8th (final) fight, you're treated to a cut-scene. Some of them are pretty awesome (like the final cut-scene for Ayane), although the acting could be a teeny bit better, and some of them has no relation to the story whatsoever (Hitomi's having an fight because someone bought the lettuce she wanted). Still, the CG cut-scenes are totally wicked! They are graphically beautiful and most of them, if not all of them, are well-worth watching.
One MAJOR complaint: The last boss (Alpha-152) is EXTREMELY CHEAP! Ok, maybe I just suck at the game, but she can take off a lot of damage, move very fast, and can even teleport! Once you're close enough to hit her, she teleports behind you and beats you up. You can't block because she's behind you, so all you can do is hope that she doesn't kill you! Darn you Team NINJA! First Ninja Gaiden, now this!
I wAnn/a f1ght y0u to\O...
-What's also cool about DOA4 is it's online play!
(***Note: I have never played online, but I know the details about it. I have no way of knowing if there's any problems with it or if people still play it due to Halo 3's success. I decided to add it here because I know too much about it.***)
Now, you can either fight against someone, or just hang out with other people watching the other people fight. You get to pick an avatar and then go to a room with a theme (like the ocean floor), also with a huge monitor so you can watch other people fight as you wait your turn. It's an interesting concept, but as stated before: I have never played it, nor know if people still play it.
Closing comments
-It's really a great game to play, but the game does have its "DARN IT!" moments. The graphics are good, the musical score is well above decent, the character models are detailed (check out Kasumi... hair. I mean, in those CG cut-scenes, you can see every strand of hair!... what did you think I was gonna say?), and the fighting is so fast and furious, that it's addicting! There's also a lot to do in this game like unlocking characters by playing EVERYONE'S story mode (except the unlockable characters sans Helena), unlock costumes by playing story mode again (other characters can get their by playing time-attack mode), playing survival mode, tag-team matches, or just kick back and watch those CG cut-scenes or two A.I.s duke it in an endless match. There's a lot to see and do here, and that's including playing as Spartan-458, or a female Master Chief! How can you call yourself a Halo fan with this game!? So to quote one of my favorite Linkin Park songs, "What the hell are you waitin' for?"
OX writes: " Ideally, the end of a game delivers a satisfying last bout of gameplay and wraps up the narrative. On occasion, though, a finale is so left field that they could be having Coachella in the right field and you wouldn't notice. Take these bizarre endings, for instance. "
It must be hard enough making just a handful of endings for your game, just look at how badly Mass Effect 3 stuffed it up. With fighting games boasting rosters of up to 40 characters, all of whom need their own little arc to string together the beatings, that's a lot of endings to write. Perhaps that's why fighting game ending sequences are so frequently completely, unashamedly mental. Here are the seven weirdest.
IM PLAYIN continues its series of fail related articles by looking at fighting games, and how badly they suck at them.
"There are no games that require nearly as much practice to master than a fighting game. There are always several characters to use that possess countless move combinations, and deep systems that will take countless hours to master. On the one hand, I get endless hours of enjoyment watching people play these games: watching people who have mastered these games throw down is awesome. But on the other hand, I absolutely suck at them. However, at the same time I can’t get enough. Here’s my story of my attempts at mastering fighting games, and also what I’ve learned from each failure."
Overall good review but I would say graphics go 8.5 and souind goes up 8.5 sopund is really decent I like it. Also you were saying abt last boss yeah its tough for sure but still the main fun of DOA is form being tough you can learn it and have t try combos no cheap attacks will give you progres.
It was the first game that I played on 360 and it is decent I have stoped playing VF5 but DOA4 is still on. Its easy to pick up stilll has a lot of moves. Yreah and dont get me wrong with VF5 its just that there are no cinematics in it and the game is hard to pick up.
Nice review and awesome game. This is the best fighter around VF Tekken and MK be hecked! Hecked I say!
The only problem I see is they dumbed it down a bit and DOA3 is still the cream of the crop.