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Dead Or Alive 4 Review for Xbox 360 |
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| Tuesday, January 03, 2006 |
| | Title:
Dead Or Alive 4
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
Martial Arts Fighting
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Publisher:
Tecmo
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Developer:
Team Ninja
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Release:
12/29/2005
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Mature (M)
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It’s been delayed numerous times worldwide. At first, it was an anticipated launch title. Then, a game one could get a few days after securing their 360. It moved back further and further, until finally it was pushed back until days after Christmas. It made numerous fans frustrated, and numerous potential fans give up on getting a 360 for Christmas. After all of the delays, Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive 4 has arrived—but was it worth the wait?
More of the same…but not quite
Like the previous installments, Dead or Alive 4 is a traditional fighter in the sense that the action is always one-on-one. While there are tag matches, three fighters can never be controlled on the screen simultaneously. This gameplay format has served for the previous installments of DOA, and once again it works beautifully.
The first time you start up DOA4, it may look like the classic DOA fighting you’re used to. Fast attacks, simple counters, quick matches. However, DOA 4 is easily the most polished and technical DOA game yet. Countering is simple to pull off as always (each counter being a direction and the X button), but the timing—and guessing what move your opponent is using—make it more difficult. Especially since the window of opportunity to perform a counter if you are able to tell what move your opponent is using is much shorter. So not only will you have to guess the move to counter like you’ve done in the past, but you have less than half the time to pull it off.
The counter damage is also much lower. Before, it was plausible to win a match by countering your opponent’s moves. In DOA 4, however, countering serves more as a way to stop your opponent from attacking than do a lot of damage.
Like in the past DOA games, the emphasis is on performing quick, devastating combos. Most of the damage you’ll do will come via these combo maneuvers, and once initiated it’s nearly impossible for the person being hit to escape it. But, that’s what countering is for. In many fights, a counter may not do more damage than a single punch, but stopping your opponents attacking and allowing yourself a chance to begin your own offense is the key to victory.
Countering also serves a purpose in the new-and-improved ground game. Before, when you were knocked down you could perform attacks while getting up every time. In DOA 4, however, you can only do that if you get knocked down from a normal attack. If an opponent counters your move and you end up on the floor, you’re open to being hit while on the ground, or in some cases being part of a submission move linked to the original counter.
Team Ninja also listened to some of the concerns of the diehard DOA fans, and in DOA 4 the environment no longer does an insane amount of damage to fighters. In the previous Dead or Alive games where the environment could be used to damage opponents (from Dead or Alive 2 and on), it always caused more damage than any normal attack, making many fights the result of “whom fell off the stairs first.” Environmental damage can also no longer kill you. No matter how little life you have left, if you get hit by a car, fall off a bridge, or get knocked through a window you won’t die; you’ll have a small amount of life left.
The Fighters?
Dead or Alive 4 brings back many favorites from past DOA installments, and adds a few new characters to the mix. Classic characters such as the famous Ryu Hayabusa (from Ninja Gaiden fame) and Jann Lee are back, and Brad Wong and Christie from Dead or Alive 3 return after a short hiatus. Other characters available from past DOA games include: Kasumi, Tina, Bayman, Ayane, Hitome, Zack, Bass, Leifang and Hayate.
The new fighters in this installment bring some new techniques to the classic lineup, however. One of them—a high-school student named Eliot—utilizes a praying mantis-type attack pattern, focusing on hand strikes. This is no surprise when you learn more of his background, given who his trainer is. Another new fighter, Kokoro, focuses on open palm attacks. The last new fighter, La Mariposa, is a luchadora. Her moves involve plenty of grapples, flips, and kicks.
Of course, being a fighting game, Dead or Alive 4 has its share of unlockable characters to choose from. These characters include Gen Fu, Ein, Leon, Helena, Tengu, and the character everyone talked about before DOA 4 launched: Bungie’s female Spartan-458.
The Spartan is a fun unlockable character for Halo fans—and a good way to see an early glimpse of what Master Chief may look like on the 360—but sadly, she isn’t a great fighter. Almost all of her moves are lifted from other big hitters, and with the exception of a combo involving a plasma grenade, nothing really screams out “Spartan!” when you play as her. The best part about unlocking the Spartan is unlocking her arena, which is a very detailed environment modeled off of Halo 2’s opening level. The arena has objects and vehicles any Halo fan will recognize, and while you can’t drive any of the vehicles, you can throw your opponents into them to cause environmental damage.
The modes of play
There’s nothing truly groundbreaking in terms of the gameplay modes available in Dead or Alive 4. There’s the staple Story Mode (which is a misleading name, since there is next to no story, save the entertaining little video at the end of each character’s mode), Sparring (a training mode), Time Attack (where you aim to beat the computer in the quickest time possible), Survival (where you battle a constant stream of foes until your fighter falls), Team Battle (where you create a tag team and battle seven other teams in a tournament), Watch (you can watch two AI characters battle), Album (photos you view which can be taken during Watch mode), and Movie Theater (where you can view the movies from each story mode ending).
You can also view replays from previous fights, user statistics—such as how often you pick each character and your win/loss ratio—and how you match up against your fellow DOA 4 players through the rankings menu.
In addition to the different modes of play, there are also 45 achievements you can unlock for your gamer profile. Achievements range from goals such as beating story mode, to beating 100 opponents in Survival, to playing the game for 10 total hours.
Of course, there is one mode of play in DOA 4 which has been hyped up for quite some time: Online play.
Online play
Online play in Dead or Alive isn’t new. DOA: Ultimate brought that feature out quite some time ago. That being said, the online play in DOA4 is much more advanced, customizable, and better all around; it’s easily the most enjoyable part of the game.
Dead or Alive 4’s online mode is unique in that it aims to capture the actual feeling of playing a fighting game in the arcade. Anyone who grew up in an arcade knows what it’s like to wait your turn, and watch people play. When you’re up, if you won you would stay on—if you lost you would wait all over again. Team Ninja designed online play in DOA4 the same way. In most matches I played, the default “winner stays” option was enabled. This meant that to keep playing, you have to keep winning. Thankfully, you don’t have to put in three quarters each time you want to start a new fight, though, or I would have gone broke extremely fast.
Before you start to play, however, you need to join or create a lobby. Lobbies can contain up to 16 players, but unless you plan on reading a book while you wait, having that many is completely unnecessary. Most online games range from three to six different players, which makes sure that not only is there little wait to have a turn to play, but if you need a short break to grab a drink or make a run to the restroom, you have some extra time between fights.
After each fight, you’re awarded a grade which goes towards factoring your rank (to help match up more evenly in online matches), and Zack Dollars which you can use to buy items in the shop to put on your online avatar. The avatars are very cartoony, which doesn’t fit well with the game’s visual design—but it’s a nice change of pace and often humorous. With the lobby to chat with friends, unlockables to earn in the shop to “pimp your avatar”, and many ways to customize matches, there’s never a dull moment in online play.
While there have been stories of people lagging while playing DOA 4 online, in my experiences lag was minimal. If you are watching a fight, you’ll lag a bit—but that’s expected since the competitors need the higher priority. During my own fights, though, I can only recall actually lagging against one—maybe two—opponents. And even when lag was prevalent, it wasn’t enough to change the outcome of the match. Combos still worked, and buttons responded quite accurately; the visuals just seemed a bit choppier than usual.
Team Ninja also added several achievements available only via online play. These range from fighting a certain amount of times to winning 20 consecutive battles online. Coupled with the offline achievements, Team Ninja did a great job of making a list that takes you through many aspects of the game, and truly makes the gamer want to accomplish them all. Thus far, I would be comfortable saying it’s the best list of achievements yet on the 360.
Eye-candy
Dead or Alive 4 is one of the better looking Xbox 360 games. The characters, environments, animations, and textures are all extremely detailed and well-done. While stylistically it doesn’t look too different from previous DOA games, the little details truly separate it from the previous generation of games.
The characters look good, but at times (especially on an HDTV) they look odd compared to the very realistic environment, and it’s almost as if you’re a CGI cartoon. This takes away a level of realism, but the details are all still there. For example, despite the fact all characters have perfect complexions and that “new Barbie sheen”, little things like veins popping out and joints moving or twisting are clearly visible, creating an awkward factor where the characters look both cartoonish, yet realistic.
The environments are easily the greatest graphical feat Team Ninja has accomplished to date. Even on a non-HDTV, you would never be able to guess the arenas are from a fighting game, and that you can fully interact with them. Trees look real, grass moves, objects break realistically, and animals or people (if there are any) look detailed just like the characters. My personal favorite level has to be one resembling the Strip in Las Vegas. The lighting there is just so well done, that at times you almost want to stop playing and just walk around to see everything.
Of course, there are a few shortcomings. First, the game could have used more costumes for characters. As it is, some have as few as three costumes in total. This is a far cry shy of what DOA:U had in terms of costume options, so it doesn’t really make sense. I can only hope that since online play is such a big feature, Team Ninja releases some new costumes in the future through downloads.
My other gripe with the graphics is how unrealistic hair can be portrayed at times. This isn’t always evident, but some of the female characters with longer hair look odd at times. The hair seems to clump together in thick ribbons rather than individual strands, so large clumps of it move at a time. After several fights with female characters, you may find yourself chuckling at seeing one-third of the character’s hair shifting in the wind simultaneously, while the rest is perfectly straight. Compared to the other visuals, though, this is only a minor gripe.
What was that I heard?
If you’ve played any other DOA game, you’ll know what to expect. For starters, the trademark “Japanese voices, English subtitles” is present like always. While some gamers may complain about that, it’s become such a trademark of the DOA series that I, for one, am glad they kept it as-is.
The announcer is also back. This time, though, you can change her voice to any of the game character’s voice once you beat the sparring mode with them. Every character besides the Spartan has their own voice, so you’ll have plenty of options available if you get sick of hearing the same person saying “You lose!” over and over (which happens quite a bit in this game—trust me).
The sound effects from the fighting are also spot-on in this installment. Punches sound like punches, kicks sound like kicks. When you hit an opponent, you hear it. There’s nothing too groundbreaking here. However, with the ability to use surround sound, there is a certain cruel pleasure in hearing your opponent being kicked through a window in Dolby.
Overall
In the end, if you enjoy fighting games and own an Xbox 360, Dead or Alive 4 is a must own game. If you were undecided on getting a 360 because of the lack of games, this may also be the game that helps convince you to put down the $400 for one.
Between the new-and-improved fighting, reworked ground game, beautiful visuals, and entertaining characters, Dead or Alive 4 is the best DOA game yet. The Online mode is also implemented incredibly well—which should be expected, after all the delays due to it. The online play also gives DOA4 truly great replay value. However, even if you don’t subscribe to Xbox Live, DOA4 is a game you won’t put down for quite a while. It’s one of those games where you can own it for years, and still not truly master it.
Much like Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox, Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360 is not only the first fighting game on the market, but it may also end up being one of the best when the 360’s run is over. Team Ninja not only released a product any gamer can appreciate, but they also released one which is going to truly get the ball rolling in the right direction for future fighting games on the Xbox 360.
| The Core Score |
Overall
9.3 |
| Fun |
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9.4 |
| Gameplay |
|
9.2 |
| Graphics |
|
9.2 |
| Audio |
|
8 |
| Replay |
|
9.5 |
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