Dead or Alive 3

[Andy]

It seems like as far as games go, there are some games that are just surrounded with the strangest buzz. One such game, or series even, is the Dead or Alive series. This series has always been surrounded by one of the most diverse love and hate situations this side of Jerry Springer. Some fans love the series for it's fast pace and action, some bash it saying it's just a faster Virtua Fighter with not-as-solid game play. Some say the games have no replay; some can't get enough. And of course, you can't forget the babes. Some hate on the series for being so generous with the fan service, but the fans (and any man with a competent pair of testicles) of course, will take as much of said service as Team Ninja (the game's developer) is willing to render. So taking a look past the dust cloud of war-waging fanboys, how does Dead or Alive 3 really fare against its competitors?

First and foremost, what you're instantly going to notice when you slide this disc into your Xbox is the jaw-dropping graphics. Thus far, there is no other game in the genre that quite stands up to the visuals you will find on this disc. The characters are all modeled beautifully (and I really mean beautifully), everything animates great, and the levels are absolutely huge. There are tons of subtle, yet very impressive touches to be found as well, such as the crystal clear reflections on glass floor, gorgeous water effects, brilliant real-time shadows (wait until you see the shadow the palm trees cast!) and fully animated hair and clothing. There's really nothing I can say that is wrong with the graphics, other than the simple and fairly boring menus.

Other than some nicely done voice samples and sound effects, the sound you will find in Dead or Alive 3 is a pretty ho-hum affair. Not ho-hum as in catchy tunes, but ho-hum as in unmemorable, boring back ground music, that delivers what it's namesake describes -stays in the back ground. The game is complimented (though insulted would be more appropriate) by a decent amount of original, lame songs. But that wasn't enough, no, Microsoft took the liberty of incorporating a few licensed, lame songs. Who is the licensee, you ask? Why none other than the rockin'-est, smack talkin'-est, bad boys around; the one and only Areosmith!

....

That's all I've got to say about that.

Now after you've got the audio/visual stimulus out of your head, what you're going to be coming back to long after the hype and the praises and the bashing, is the game play. Or is it? Well, it's hard to say. Plain and simple, Dead or Alive 3 is a very fun game, but there are some serious flaws here. Many have drawn comparisons between the Dead or Alive series and Sega's Virtua Fighter series, and rightfully so, as you play Dead or Alive largely the same way VF is played. You're given a punch, kick, and counter button, and pressing a direction on the D-pad in conjunction with an attack button performs various combos for you to perform. Now then, with VF and DoA playing so similar, why exactly is VF so highly regarded among fighting game aficionados, and DoA bashed so feverishly? Well simply put, DoA just doesn't match up in the strategy department. The explanation? A combination of things. First, DoA has a very extensive move list like VF, but while VF rewards you for learning your entire repertoire and makes you do so to be successful, half of DoA's moves you can forget about and play just as well. Secondly, DoA really lends itself to easy combos, you'll be able to learn a dozen combos in a minute by just pressing buttons. And finally, the speed of DoA just clinches everything, making easy combos fair game and long move lists useless.

Honestly though, while I can spew technical and strategic merits for an hour, at the end of the day, DoA's game play is damned fun. It won't win any medals for a perfectly balanced cast or an innovative control scheme, and it certainly won't be a tourney fighter, but it's still one of those games that you and your idiot friends can play for hours.

The bottom line --DoA won't have your Virtua Fighter-toting friends getting jealous, but they and you will have a good time with this game. With a fair amount of play modes and ways to fight and it's fast and action packed game play, this game is definitely worth a look if you want a fun fighting game for your Box.

[cka]

... She kicks high.

[Andy]

I'd have to agree

[Tsubaki]

Actually you miss the biggest point about the gameplay, which is the counters. It reduces the game to waiting for opponent to attack and then deciding: "Rock? Paper? Scissors?" as you counter high, mid or low. Especially with the home version's setup where counters are amazingly easy to do (press back + throw button), it takes a lot of the risk out of it. That's the fundamental thing that breaks DoA gameplay really - that the entire game is reduced to counters. They're extremely easy to do and they do quite a lot of damage. It's like... why even bother trying to combo when you can sit back and counter all day?

[Andy]

Originally posted by Andy
but it's still one of those games that you and your idiot friends can play for hours.

[Prince Planet]

Originally posted by Tsubaki
Actually you miss the biggest point about the gameplay, which is the counters. It reduces the game to waiting for opponent to attack and then deciding: "Rock? Paper? Scissors?" as you counter high, mid or low. Especially with the home version's setup where counters are amazingly easy to do (press back + throw button), it takes a lot of the risk out of it. That's the fundamental thing that breaks DoA gameplay really - that the entire game is reduced to counters. They're extremely easy to do and they do quite a lot of damage. It's like... why even bother trying to combo when you can sit back and counter all day?

I was always under the impression that the "Rock, Paper Scissors" analogy was with respect to the priority that groups of moves have over one another; it's not a reference to deciding which counter to try.

Assuming it's the former, the bash is rather lame since the strategy in many fighting games revolves around move priority. Assuming it's the latter, it's still a lame bash since the competent player will cancel a move or otherwise dupe the opponent into a mis-timed counter, and then proceed to clobber him. I think many people have confused the relative ease of timing moves in DOA3 (as compared to say, VF) with a lack of depth. Of course, this is what makes DOA3 a fun game, as observed by Andy.

Andy: Maybe I missed it, but did you discuss the Tag Team mode? It's implemented incredibly well into DOA3 and, for the bashers, it also adds a bit more depth to the "easy" play mechanics. Team combos look cool, too.

[Andy]

Originally posted by Prince Planet Andy: Maybe I missed it, but did you discuss the Tag Team mode? It's implemented incredibly well into DOA3 and, for the bashers, it also adds a bit more depth to the "easy" play mechanics. Team combos look cool, too.

No, I didn't really go in depth with any individual mode, it was a pretty short review per usual for me, so that's probably also to blame for not going in to much about counters and timing. And yeah, the tag team mode is definitely DoA's biggest draw, it offers the best variety in the gameplay, and of course the most fun to play