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Review: Dead or Alive 4
- Title: Dead or Alive 4
- Developer: Team Ninja
- Publisher: Tecmo
- System: Xbox 360
- Reviewer: Zonk (whoisdialogue)
- Score: 7/10
Despite the cachet of being part of the 360's 'launch window', Dead or Alive 4 doesn't quite live up to the pedigree of its Dreamcast cousin. It does come closer than any game since DOA2, though, with liquid-fast gameplay, stunning visuals, and a great online component.
There's only so much you can do to shake up the formula in a fighting game, but Dead or Alive has always managed to entertain on the gameplay front. People hit each other in the most interesting ways, with reversals, throws, unique fighting styles, and plenty of combos. The nearly two dozen fighters each have their own way of inflicting pain, and with so many options to choose from it's likely you'll find at least one character that fits with your preferred play style. Combat is lighting-fast and extremely smooth, with both PC and NPC fighters slipping into a groove within seconds of the match beginning. DOA 4 plays like real-life fights often pan out: quickly and painfully. Many matches don't last more than 20 seconds or so, ensuring you'll get plenty of gameplay for your time invested.
In fighting games, interesting modes are all-important to ensure continued interest. Regrettably, DOA doesn't show much imagination there. The 'Story' mode pits you against eight opponents, the order of which is set in advance for each character. Most of them are simple one knock-out fights, but some of them attempt to tell a (very confusing) tale by offering up short cutscenes afterwards. The final match-up is with a green-glowing character that just doesn't fight fair. While most of the matches are moderately challenging, the difficulty level with the final boss leaps off the scale. This can be a rude awakening for a player who's happily button-mashed his way through the other opponents. Even on the normal level of difficulty the disconnect between the last character and the one before it can be unnerving, and for some reason there is no easy level. You can continue an unlimited number of times, thankfully, which will be required to defeat boss lady. You are rewarded for your efforts with a meaningless but extremely pretty cut-scene when you do finally defeat her. Fighting game story modes are always fairly thin, but the tissue paper consistency of this title's story was frustrating in light of more sophisticated titles.
The other modes are standard fair. There's a 'vs. mode' for playing human opponents or trying one-off matches with the computer. 'Team Battle' allows for competitions, and the possibility of having tag-team battles. Only one fighter can compete at a time, but tagging allows for a second shot if your first fighter is taken out. 'Survival' pits you against a never-ending lineup of opponents, and is one of the primary sources of unlockables. Because of the speed of matches and the promptness of a new opponent appearing, Survival is probably one of the most replayable modes. 'Time Attack' challenges you to defeat six opponents, each twice in a row. You're racing against the clock, and the tough final opponent from the Story mode ensures this is an extremely challenging way to play. There's also a 'Sparring' mode that teaches you moves and techniques, but fails to inform on some of the more tactical aspects of the game. While Survival mode is entertaining, with a brisk pace that will satisfy a player looking to get out some tension, I was left wanting more. Soul Calibur III is the obvious comparison here, and despite the failure of the 'Chronicles of the Sword' mode Namco at least made the attempt to expand the genre.
Online play is the final mode the game offers, and for some will be where they live and breath for the next few months. Ninja has changed things up a bit by offering more than just a cookie-cutter game lobby. Joining a game actually places you into a small waiting room, which can be decorated in different styles. A little avatar of you (by default a ninja) wanders around the area. It's really just a hang-out before you enter the game, and I'm not really sure what the purpose of the waiting rooms are. Once you're in the game, there are several tweakable settings, allowing for tag-team matches as well as straight-up fights. By default the game type is 'winner stays', giving the game a neighborhood arcade feel of sociality to it. Winning matches increases your grade and earns you 'Zack points'. The grade is a measure of how you stack up to other players (From A to F), and the points can be spent on tweaking your little avatar. As your grade increases you'll be matched with ever-harder opponents, ensuring everyone has a fair fight.
While it is immensely fun to play against other people, even the ones who talk too much, there are issues. My net connection is fairly stable, but I experienced varying levels of lag in almost every match. At its smoothest you can hardly tell the difference between an online and offline match. At its worst characters pause in the air, and it can be hard to understand the flow of the fight. Reassuringly, even in laggy matches my actions seemed to be translating into combat reasonably quickly. Half the fun of a DOA fight is the speed, unfortunately, and that lag hurts the feel of the game. I've seen differing levels of complaint with this issue. As always, your mileage may vary. I also would have liked the 'Zack points' to have more meaning within the game. You can buy new costumes for the fighters, and purchase new avatar bodies, but I would have preferred to customize the fighters themselves rather than my dinky little waiting room avatar.
Eye candy is the most apt label you could put on this game. DOA's fighting rings go beyond good looks, and are probably some of the most interactive arenas seen in a fighting game to date. There are many to choose from, happily. Some examples include a downtown, night-time city streets brawl, a plateau on the serengeti, and a plot of dinosaur-infested jungle. What makes the venues special is the level of depth they exhibit. The street fight, for example, features neon glare off of the sidewalks, cheering onlookers, and the occasional speeding car. Other arenas feature multiple levels, such as the gorgeous river-crossing rope bridge arena. You can fight on the bridge, or toss your opponent over the edge and into the water. Parts of the arenas can be destroyed, as well. Getting your opponent to a lower floor in the plush ballroom arena can either be done via a set of painful looking stairs, or an even more painful looking toss through a plate-glass window. The arenas are well done, attractive, and definitely one of the highlights of the game.
The rest of the game looks good, but the moment-to-moment gaming only looks about as good as a high-end Xbox title. This may be because of the squeaky-clean anime style of the characters, but it just didn't look all *that* much better than DOA Ultimate for the original Microsoft console. Despite that, the sheer power of the 360 ensures extremely high framerates, and supports the speed of the title's combat. Additionally, there are occasional moments when it's obvious this is a next-gen console. My fighter of choice is Jann Lee, and there's a nice 'bulging veins' effect when he poses for the camera after a win. Similarly, the clothing and hair simulation is quite impressive on some of the female characters. Where the console really shows off is in the cut-scene rewards for defeating story mode. It's easy to talk about the beauty of cut-scenes, given their pre-rendered nature, but they're still some of the most impressive imagery I've yet seen on the 360. It's disappointing that the 'next-gen flavour' couldn't be maintained throughout the game.
Dead or Alive 4, then, continues the series tradition of offering typical fighting action with good looking and varied characters. Despite the game's late arrival, fighting game fans have no doubt already purchased and poured their heart into what this title has to offer. For more casual players, DOA 4 offers entirely typical gameplay. Button-mashing won't get you as far as it will in the Soul Calibur series, and the level of replayability for the average gamer may be somewhat low. If you're looking for a simple, good-looking fighter Dead or Alive 4 will serve your needs well. Those looking for brains with their beauty may want to look elsewhere.
The reviewer said "There's only so much you can do to shake up the formula in a fighting game". I wonder if there a fighting game out there which is similar to Gran Turismo, i.e. a Fighting Simulator?
Frankly I'm a bit tired of pure fighting, but if I can play a character, who comes into the scene with nothing but a pair of dirty underwear and eats out of rubbish bins.
First I'll have to compete with street animals like cats, dogs and the occasional bears, then maybe some thugs and police. As I fight, I grow stronger, faster, meaner, and acquire more fighting skills and styles.
When I reached a certain level, I will be spotted by this Donkey King, who pays me a little, and train me up to fight with some amateurs, and later pros.
The money I earned can be spent on further training, personal fighting training that I don't get from DK, or I can use it on drugs to temporarily improve my performance but will hurt me more in the long run -- the choice is mine.
Then maybe somewhere in the middle, I will be offered some mini-mission-style jobs, like modelling, acting, drinking hot coffee or playing beach volleyball, all with a tradeoff such as missed opportunity for some championship fights and becoming weaker.
My life and health is not unlimited though, they will decline as the game progresses, and it is up to me to announce my retirement, find a girl to marry, have a couple of children who, when I finally died, can become my playing character again and continue a new journey.
This should give enough variations so that if you regret something you did in the life, you can play as your children to choose another direction (such as not accepting DK's offer and continue as an Indy Fighter competing against DK).
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
Boobies!
In DOA 4, Team Ninja has focused their attention on making the most visually pleasing fighter available on consoles today.
Whooooo, boobies!
Eye candy is the most apt label you could put on this game.
Boingiddy-boingiddy-boingiddy-wheeeee!
Dead or Alive 4, then, continues the series tradition of offering typical fighting action with good looking and varied characters.
Boobies boobies!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
indeedy.
"In DOA 4, Team Ninja has focused their attention on making the most visually pleasing fighter available on consoles today."
Translation: revamped* jiggle physics!
*(pun partially intended)
I just check the mirror.
The less said about 2003's Xtreme Beach Volleyball, the better.
You, sir, are clearly not on my side.
DOAX was a triumph of the human spirit.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Similarly, the boob jiggling simulation is quite impressive on some of the female characters.
DOA is just a lame fighting franchise since it moved to xbox. it plays horribly in my opinion. then again im used to such great games as Soul Caliber and VF4. Soul Caliber is much better than DOA imo, and VF4 doesnt even compare in its godliness.
:)
Seriously if you want quality fighting game then DOA isnt it. If you want the best visuals, go for it, cuz DOA looks great. But personally i dont play fighting games for amazing rendered titties. I play it for the gameplay, the fighting.
So i suppose that saying DOA sucks compared to SC or VF4 is only saying "DOA sucks compared to the best." Take that for what you will, in the meantime i'll be having fun with VF4
I KUT J00 M4NG!!!
All this review and no mention of playing on Live. DOA4 has a great Live setup. They've extended the lobby in to almost another world. I don't get in to the lobby, but I'm sure a lot of the Japanese players do. You can tell who their aim was.
As for playing online... It's fast. It's fun. It keeps a lot of stats and achievements and seems to have a very good match making system. While playing I never felt outclassed and I was never just killing people. It kept matching up with good opponents.
This IS DOA: How good are the BoobBouncePhysics this time around?
Test your net with Netalyzr
You'd think he'd at least reference the recent Dead or Alive 4 save game bug in the review. I love the fact we're getting more games reviewed in here though. `8r)
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
When I first clicked on "Read More..." I hit a Slashdot error page that proclaimed "Nothing for you to see here. Move along."
I laughed for a moment, and then realized that I wasn't reading the shortest review of all time. Ah, well. It did sum up the impression I got from the full review fairly effectively.
Who out there has played Xtreme Barbie Doll Dressup? It is what it is -- mindless entertainment. But it is entertaining, and there's really no pretense about what it's there for. One thing you may or may not have noticed about the non-volleyball volleyball extravaganza: it's possible to control your character using only one hand.
Get over yourself, Zonk.
Wasn't this the game that had a bug wich prevented the restoring of game saves?
--
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..or does Tekken 5 for the PS2 look as good as, if not better than, that?
I'm not trying to provoke a "My fighting game kicks the shit out of your fighting game" argument here, it's just an observation.
Yep.
That didn't manage to make the front page though.
It's reasonably close to that description, anyway.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Best summary of all DOA "games", and the real reason why people actually buy them.
Not mentioned: you really need to play this on HDTV to get the full experience, on which it looks truly amazing. Otherwise, like several other 360 titles, on a non-HD set the graphics sometimes look a bit 'pinched' and choppy. For example the characters hair, which as the review mentions flows beautifully, on non-HD looks very blocky and striated rather than the correct whispy look on a HD.
and buttsecks too....
LOAL!
You'd be looking for the next PowerStone for that.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
The Inquirer is reporting that this game may have been rushed into release because its Save Game feature seems buggy enough to delete entire saved games in some cases. As usual, buyer beware.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Correction: The first console release in the Dead or Alive series was for the Sega Saturn. It was released in October of 97 in Japan, and received PLENTY of attention in that incarnation. DOA was first released on the original Playstation the following March (again, in Japan). If you're going to start doing internal game reviews here on Slashdot, expect to get blasted for not getting your gaming history correct. =)
m@
Having played the solo game extensively(just have to unlock Tengu and his outfits to complete my collection), I may have a couple of tips that will help with that last boss*. Oddly enough punch, punch, punch seems to be the best combo. Any time you try to get fancy on her she just warps, but the constant punching seems to take care of her pretty quickly. Sometimes delaying a bit between each punch helps as well so that you don't knock her down. Close distance with her as soon as possible if she gets away from you, otherwise you're gonna get tossed. Also, if you do manage to knock her down be sure to back off or she'll warp behind you and kick your ass some more.
[rant] I'm all for hard bosses in fighting games(especially in the arcade, where the machine is trying to suck up as many quarters as possible), but cheap, gimmicky bosses have no place in a console-only game. Make her as hard as you want(especially on the harder modes to challenge veterans), but there's no joy in losing to a cheezy boss. I mean, come on, 2 grabs and you're dead? It doesn't make the game more challenging, just frustrating. I expect more from Team Ninja.[/rant]
* - Side note: Not everyone fights Alpha-152 as the final boss. Also the review was wrong in that there are specific people that each character fights along the way, but there are also some random matches where different people will show up, usually the first couple of matches(but not always).
Wort Wort Wort!
Just another brilliant concept failing miserably in execution.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Are the physics such that that women commonly give themselves black eyes from the flailing jugs?
If not, I see room for improvement.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
"The rest of the game looks good, but the moment-to-moment gaming only looks about as good as a high-end Xbox title"
I hope you were playing this game on a WideScreen HDTV. I have the old DOA3 and have played both on my Sony SXRD and the differences are jaw-dropping. The cut scene and level detail are simply breathtaking.
Stop reviewing 360 games without the proper hardware. Its like reviewing Half Life 2 with a 13" monitor and playing with a gamepad.
Really, what's the big attraction about watching two chicks beat the crap out of each other?
Ah. Yes, I remember now. Say, does this game feature a secret mudbath mode?
when is DOAX2 going to be released?
------ Work is so much easier when you don't
3-dimensional bouncing boobies.
* of course I shuddered saying something so business-whorey. But it's accurate, damnit.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Eye candy is the most apt label you could put on this game. DOA's fighting rings go beyond good looks, and are probably some of the most interactive arenas seen in a fighting game to date.
That "interactive arena" bit reminded me of this comic, I expect the same interactivity in DOA4 :-P...
I used to get on well with these games until the RSI kicked in.. hitting those damn buttons 400 times a second kills anyones wrists :P
firesuite.com
*Gratuitous Sig/Plug* Heres my website - firesuite
IT'S TRUE
One would think, what with all the "sheer power of the 360", that the system would be able to detect when one character's leg was in the same place as the other character's leg, and be able to do something about it.
Looks like polygon collision detection hasn't come as far as the eye-candy-graphics which seem to be the 360's only selling point.
I really hope this game isn't a prelude of what we can expect down the road.
um, a fighting engine that doesn't suck?
seriously, playing street fighter is like eating a hearty medical waste stew (now with more fetus chunks!). it's an agressively terrible game.
and even if you meant street fighter 2, there is no comparison. 3d and 2d fighters are totally different beasts.
I don't like hearing people who are used to their 30 hit combo's in killer instinct/mortal kombat 3 and up.... or the people who are button mashers who hate dead or alive cause they think it has nothing to offer than any other fighting games. DOA when you actually learn to play it offers a lot of strategy when playing against another (equally good) human player. You have to guess what their next move is and counter it (if you wish) or you can be on the offense. It is tailored for adaptation. Which can make a games replay value skyrocket. All other games are just trying to wait till someone doesn't hold the block button and kick them in the face.
This is the second damned story on dead or alive 4 today. Hello!
How about a fighting game (since it IS a simple genre) where strikes are realistic? The crack of bones, the slap of meat against meat, and if you stick a knife in someone, a bloody gash with blood coming out.
Now that's what I call entertainment!
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
And in my book you need to spout more than common platitudes and trite cliches to make a good reviewer.
-- SIGFPE
Yup, no comparison. SF2 blows all these 3D fighters out of the water. Definitely a genre that should have stayed 2D.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Of course there's no comparison. There are 2D fighters and there are 3D fighters.
For what it's worth, the best 3D fighting game on a home system is still Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn. Fighting is a genre where more isn't necessarily better. If gainaxing is your cup of tea, probably DoA Extreme Beach Volleyball is a better investment, since at least the game doesn't get in the way as much.
"Be nice, veer left, and never stop thinking" Iain Banks - Walking On Glass
Something must be busted in Slashcode. Somehow this game was given a score of 7, rather than the usual 8.
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?
Basically the same as DoA, DoA2, and DoA3, except this time its much much shinier.
You can get the game here: Dead or Alive 4. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!
oh, please. if you want to keep some troll cred, at least say Hyper Fighting or Super SFII Turbo. nostalgic it may be, but SFII is broke-ass shit. unless you get to the machine first and pick Guile. then it's great.
Soul Calibur 1 and 2 are as close to fighting game perfection as I've ever seen. I haven't played Soul Calibur 3 yet, but something tells me that they probably didn't mess with the formula all that much. Never have I seen games that new players can enjoy as much as they can with Soul Calibur, while at the same time providing a ton of things for seasoned players to master (Parrying, for example).
The very first sentence of this review turns me off, and tells me this was not a review he should have written... Just because he was not aware of the complexity and nuonce (sp?) in the best fighting games does NOT mean that that complexity and depth do not exist.
In fact, because arcade fighters pit humans against humans so well, I know of no other genre that offers the immediate strategice expression of the best fighters...
I have dualed with humans who had instantaneous access to hundreads of moves that are combinable in thousands of offensive and defensive strategies... The best fighting games have a subtle rhythm of alternating offense and defense... they flow...
In short, this reviewer is a button masher... and I'd love to play a game of old school SF2 with him, just for the joy of invisible throwing his ass to death...
hard core geek-ware
Maybe it's because I've been playing the DOA games since the first one, but I have a few qualms with this review. First and foremost, while I'll be the first to admit that the DOA games, technically, haven't been up to snuff with the Virtua Fighters and the Tekkens of the 3d Fighting genre (DOA3 was an unbalanced train wreck), DOA4 is actually a pretty balanced and relatively deep fighter, probably tying with Soul Calibur after Virtua Fighter 4 and Tekken 5. Infamous developer Itagaki actually brought some of the "hardcore" DOA crowd in during the last stages of the game's development to balance out the characters and their fleshed out movelists, and the changes seem to be for the best... this could be the first Dead or Alive game to break the tournament fighter scene, usually reserved for the Virtua Fighters, Tekkens, and old-school 2D Capcom and SNK fighters. My other issue is the claim that Fighting games require interesting and varied modes. Actually, they don't. They require a versus mode, where you can play the game against another person. I really don't care if my game has Tekken Ball or a World Tour mode.. I just want the ability to play the game against other folks, and in that arena DOA has an online mode, something no other modern day 3D fighter can boast (no, the new Mortal Kombats don't count). Peripheral modes are a bonus, not a necessity, and a fighting game neither lives or dies by them. Points I do agree about include boobies, though. Those things are still all over the place. And if you're curious, Kasumi still kicks high.
I agree w/the daughter poster who talks about the ease of use factor in DOA . . . it really is a basic game and simple to pick up.
Tekken and VF are both more "rewarding" to the hard core who want to take the time to learn nuance. DOA series is a great party-type series because the learning curve is shallow enough so that every match is relatively reasonable.
Unless I'm Leon. Then you'll just cry and cry.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
The gameplay, unfortunately, blew goats.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Women of my dreams. Plays video games too. ;)
The other modes are standard fair.
So there are clowns? Leering carnies? A Tilt-o-Whirl that smells faintly of stale vomit? Awesome!
[Scene: Inside a fighting game match]
From Megatokyo, my favorite online comic.
The review said: Many matches don't last more than 20 seconds or so, ensuring you'll get plenty of gameplay for your time invested.
Funny, I always thought of fighting as the "gameplay" of a fighting game. In most fighting game the camera pans around as you're Preparing to Fight!" and after "Maxi wins!" for more than 20 seconds... is the reviewer being sarcastic?
The reviewer did not mention one major thing about the game, playing friends in the same room. Long nights of a group of close buds in the same room screaming and playing the game, laughing at each other's smack down. DOA series is the best for this followed only by the S-Cals, which really offer a totally different play experience. I like the VF series, but the play mechanics are not great for group related events. Tekken is to mind-numbingly-long-sequence-mash to fit the bill. The DOA series is not only fun to watch, but play. Moves, environments, sounds, chars, costumes, etc. It has everything to make an enjoyable experiece. I guess the reviewer, like many other game players today, is an introvert, and the only way he ever meets or talks to anyone is over the internet.
But seriously, Alpha-152 is a bitch and a half, and the reason why I traded DOA4 back in. A game should be fun, not frustrating as all hell. And yes, I beat her with five characters and nearly lost a 360 controller each time.
I have a couple HDTV channels:
NBC - 1080i
CBS - 1080i
ABC - 720p
FOX - 720p
UPN - 1080i
WB - 1080i
PBS - 1080i
HBO - 1080i
Showtime - 1080i
So 1080i is more popular in the US than 720p.
The 1360x768 mentioned is either the resolution of this person's HDTV (Plasma?) or because he's using a VGA adapter instead of an HDTV hookup.
720p may make more sense for games and such, but it just doesn't look nearly as good for TV content in general.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I've played every DOA game since DOA 1 came out on Playstation 1. Unfortunately, they've all been pretty irredeemable. Instead of focusing on better gameplay, Team Ninja has realized that it is far easier to sell games to desperate teenage boys by focusing on the sex appeal of their one-dimensional characters (Concessions made for the fact that they all have "favorite food" stats). If this game wasn't full of large breasted women, it simply wouldn't sell. DOA 4 displays impressive command of normal mapping in order to appeal to the absolute worst in human nature. Additionally, the character endings have become even more mindless: assaults on the senses that run a gradient between alternative rock videos and porn.
This game is, in fact, plagued by a complete lack of balance that other reviewers have mentioned. The primary problem is that the attacks from your opponent can come at three different levels (high, medium, and low) - each require their own type of reversal. For the majority of attacks, blows fly too fast for any human to respond other than pre-emptively, making defense just a bunch of guess work. The game is not overly difficult because of this, but brute force is ultimately the only viable strategy.
Although I like how the storyline of each character comes accross in an amalgam constructed by the interaction of various storylines - each of those storylines is complete crap. For example, the recurring socialist themes are poorly illustrated: An apparently destitute Hitomi (the proletariat) can't pay for a head of cabbage and attempts to use her good looks (Hard work) to seduce(Earn) an old cabbage vendor into giving her a discount. Lei Fang, seemingly socioeconomically more secure, (The bourgeoisie) pays(excercises illegitimate power) for said cabbage. Lei Fang's vulgar display of oppulence launches them into a battle to the death.
Team Ninja obviously isn't even trying anymore; they are simply repackaging their old game into a more technologically advanced package. DOA 4 looks errily like DOA Ultimate with busier levels. And although Xbox 360 has the power to handle the graphics and impressive models used in the game, their only hope of success lies in more substantial titles.
Take the DOA Volleyball game, add a whole shit load more presents, the capacity to add additional presents later, a few more characters, more locations (think rollercoaster) and minigames, Microsoft Live! enable that sucker, so everyone is a hot girl and can give others presents, and they'll have all but obsoleted TV and what is colloquially refered to as "the internet."
Of course men will stay at home all day while women are forced to run the world, but as long as there is electricity and underwear, we'll be happy, who cares if everything else goes to shit. And who knows, it might not.