Dead Or Alive 4 Review

In the build up to the launch of the first Xbox there were three titles that captured the intentions of Microsoft for its debut console: Halo, Project Gotham Racing, and Dead or Alive 3. Created by Team Ninja, Dead or Alive 3 visually showed the potential of the system, and was followed in 2005 by Dead or Alive Ultimate, which brought the original version of the game and its visually updated sequel to Xbox Live. Since then all eyes turned to Dead or Alive 4, which was being worked on by the developers as a launch title for Xbox 360; ultimately released later than expected in North America and Japan at the end of December 2005, the game is finally released in Europe, but can it replicate DOA3 and show off the capabilities of the Xbox 360?

Dead or Alive 4 features a similar vein of Dead or Alive Ultimate with Story, Time Attack, Survival, and Versus modes, as well as Xbox Live enabled gameplay. Sixteen characters are available for the Story mode, which this time focuses on Helena and the development of the Alpha-152 hyperclone - the final boss battle for several of the characters, with unlocked characters available to fight in the other modes (once unlocked, obviously.) Eight rounds of attacks, counter-attacks, and at times desperate button-bashing, and players can finally begin to access new elements including the trademark wardrobes, and stunning CGI-movies.

Of course one of the elements of DOA4 revealed in the weeks leading up to its release was the appearance of a Spartan warrior from the Halo universe. Spartan-458 (or Nicole to her friends) is one of the unlockable characters in Dead or Alive, but she's very much a bonus novelty and a bit of back-slapping between Team Ninja and Bungie; a nod to one of Xbox's other big franchises (perhaps Ryu Hyabusa will make a cameo in Halo3 or Cortana in Ninja Gaiden 2?)

Discuss the Dead or Alive series, which celebrates its ten anniversary this year, and veterans will generally break it down into its most simple parts: rock, scissors, stone (throws, holds, and blows.) The ability to block or counter attacks is more complex than in other fighting series, and has always been one area that has challenged gamers over the years. Team Ninja has continued to refine the feature in Dead or Alive 4, but for a lot of the time it seems to be overly specific in its execution; split second reactions are required to pull off the manoeuvres, and the whole thing just seems to be hit-and-miss, quite literally. Compounding this is the fact that when opponents get into their stride and start belting you with a barrage of hits, it's incredibly difficult to break free, block or even counter that quite often leads to a hefty chunk of health lost in a single combo sequence alone. The result is an occasional breakdown of gameplay where players are reduced to basic button-bashing and thumbstick twiddling, bypassing the key dynamic of a Dead or Alive title.

Aside from issues surrounding the countering system, the balancing between the different fighters is just as solid as it's always been in the Dead or Alive series; obviously there's an increased level of difficulty as you progress through the game with Aplha-152 the most difficult to defeat, but every fighter has their own pros and cons. The raft of special moves continues with DoA4 with every fighter enjoying a good selection of holds, throws, and attacks, and it's worth remembering that the game comes with a Sparring Mode for practising some of the more complicated moves. The use of 'bouncing' (and on this occasion we're not talking about the boobs) has always been an important one in Dead or Alive; as fighters land after some attacks they bounce off the ground, enabling gamers to continue with the beating and building up further combos - this feature of course is retained in the game although it can go against a player when they are one the receiving end...

Besides the Story Mode, gamers can engage in Time Attack and Survival modes, the latter in particular challenging thanks to the Xbox Live rankings table for the mode, which only serves to spur players on to giving it another shot. Providing players with such information is a good way of encouraging them to continue playing, and in that encouragement Team Ninja has done well. Coupled with the online gameplay, the modes seem perfectly suited to global leaderboards (as are many other titles, which have integrated them in the past.) Besides trying to survive the endless waves of opponents in the Survival Mode, gamers can also attempt to beat the clock in the Time Attack Mode, which can be hampered by the issues with the countering/blocking systems.

In terms of visuals, Dead or Alive 3 was head and shoulders above any other fight game when it was first shown on Xbox, but quite frankly its successor is disappointing in this area. Whilst the multi-tiered environments on the whole look nice (especially the rippling water), the character models barely offer an improvement. Of course fans of the series will argue that the game flows extremely fluidly, which it does, however the fact is that the visual quality of the character models themselves is disappointing and look very current-gen Xbox. In fact the environments look so much better than the fighters, making their deficiencies stand out even more. Sure the visual effects such as the explosions, and the reflections of light and shadow in the game world and on characters do offer a slight improvement, these are very superficial and fail to really mask the models themselves. The flow of the fabric does look at times impressive, so too the detail of the thread, but then you notice that hair and some creases break through the body quite unnaturally, destroying any illusion. It's troubling that the CGI-movie sequences shown at the end of the Story mode continue to look so much better than the in-game graphics themselves - perhaps Team Ninja will eventually get a Dead or Alive instalment looking as good.

The interactivity between the fighters and the environments is as high as it's always been in recent years, with the danger of being run down by traffic (as seen in one of the promo videos for the Xbox 360) added to the countless other perils such as flights of stairs, bridges, and exploding laboratories. Like most of DoA4's features, these aren't new to the series and can largely be taken for granted.

As with all Xbox 360 titles, Achievements feature in DoA4 and are largely balanced between online and offline play, with awards for unlocking characters, completing the Story Mode, and winning certain milestones during Xbox Live play. Several achievements are Secrets and therefore have to be unveiled through game progression, needless to say that perseverance will prove to be quite rewarding in the Gamerscore stakes.

Online matches were introduced in Dead or Alive Ultimate, but suffered a level of lag that on occasion made it nearly impossible to play, so it was important that DOA4's Live elements ran as smoothly as possible. With the aim of introducing the old school arcade experience of winner stays on and a queue of challengers, DOA4 expands upon the ability of allowing those in the queue to watch the battle live by including one of the most original lobby systems seen in an Xbox Live title to date. Players are given their own avatar (a black-clad ninja) and can then personalise them by purchasing accessories and even whole new avatars from a store run by Zack. The lobbies themselves take place in a range of bizarre locations including space stations, and feature voice, and text communication capabilities - manifesting as speech bubbles above the avatars' heads. It's a neat idea and certainly feels fresh, and is a big improvement over the lobby in Dead or Alive Ultimate.

Upon entering the online battles themselves the biggest came when there turned out to be no lag at all, in fact the game ran as smoothly as the offline game modes. It's difficult to say how much life will be in Dead or Alive 4; on the one hand it's part of a very successful franchise, but whether enough people will actually find themselves drawn to take it online is questionable - no doubt the hardcore fans will be permanently present, but whether it'll enjoy a wider appeal will have to be seen.