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| Dead or Alive 4 |
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| Fighting |
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| Team Ninja |
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| Microsoft |
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27th January 06 |
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29th December 05 |
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16+ |
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(M) - Mature |
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DOA 4 received a little bit of flak from various gamers when some early screens were revealed. Many were quick to dismiss the game as looking no better than the current generation of Dead or Alive games like DOA: Ultimate. Well I think the most important things to remember here is that a) Team Ninja have done a great job with the previous DOA titles on Xbox and they simply look great anyways and b) The DOA games have their own distinctive art direction when it comes to the look of the characters. I think the guys at Team Ninja have favoured their own style of anime inspired characters over more realistic looking people which some gamers obviously don’t fully appreciate. Well during my visit to X05 I was able to have a go at the game and believe me all I can say is that once you have actually played the game then seeing some screens or videos simply do not do the game justice.
Let’s not get deluded here for a moment; yes DOA 4 is another fighting game in the popular series and in this respect is pretty much the same game. You pick a character and you fight, simple. The fighting system has been reworked a little and I think certain lifting moves have been emphasised so to help the more skilled get some juggles in. Fine this has been in the previous games but I got the feeling that it was more pronounced here. The counter system is the same as DOA: Ultimate which in my opinion is a good thing, because it means players can’t simply spam the counter button and hope for the best. Evasive moves and get up attacks are all featured and remain pretty fluid.
Playing the game is a familiar experience and those of you well versed with previous DOA games will be right at home. For those of you who missed out on DOA Ultimate then there will be some learning to do especially with the 3 point counter system that is used here. The action is extremely fluid and very fast and with the health bars at default rounds can be over very quickly. With careful skill players can simply dominate their opponent if they are not skilled enough to recover from being knocked down. DOA games on Xbox have always had multi tiered stages and in DOA4 these are even better; there is an element of tactics here especially the position of your character because one swift move can send you flying over the edge, into a car or through a wall, whatever. I did find that circling your opponent felt a lot smoother rather than being locked in a crouch move when you were actually trying to side step away.
The characters available in the demo were plentiful (usually you are restricted to just 2 characters in these fighting game demos) so and if I can recall correctly there was Kasumi, Jann lee, Christie, Hayabusa, Lei Fang, Zack, Hitomi and the three new comers selectable. Of the three new comers I only managed to use Lisa and found that she fitted in well with the other characters despite having some extremely fast low kick attack moves in her repertoire.
As I mentioned earlier the game is pretty much the same game as any fan would expect from a DOA game but what really sets it apart from the Xbox versions are the small attentions to detail. Sure, the character’s faces look very similar but what you really notice are things like the fabric used for the clothing having a certain sheen to them that was simply not possible in previous games. The animation is extremely fluid and then there are things like flowing hair and strings from clothing that all move realistically. Whilst these differences might be subtle, the fact that you notice them when playing definitely heightens the playing experience and simply makes the game feel more detailed.
The stages themselves are simply amazing and although they have always been pretty spectacular I think this time round, players are going to be amazed. Sure you have seen the movies of some stages but there are plenty of them and in the flesh they are stunning. There is a real sense of scale to some of the stages this time and with the quality textures and lighting effects used means that fighting never looked so good before. I think these are what sets this version apart from the current Xbox versions because there just feels like a lot more detail in general.
Having played DOA 4 and won and lost against a few random opponents at X05 I can truly say that fighting fans are in for a real treat. This is a major title and I’m sure Team Ninja will deliver when it is released. Sadly I didn’t get to experience the Live side of play but was told that players should really focus on playing people in their own region because these types of games really do suffer when lag rears its ugly head. The person I spoke to wasn’t sure but said that regional tournaments set up by the team are being discussed and downloadable content will be featured. Overall DOA 4 will be a great title to own come launch and good contrast from the other games that will be available.
Preview By: Robert Cram
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