Dead or Alive 5
Reviewed By Stephen Pastic
Team Ninja's flagship fighting game series has generally been regarded as solid, if not the breast of the breast in the genre. Whilst the series sports a degree of technical depth that can make total boobs out of new players, DOA is generally a little more forgiving to rookies than technical fighters such as Tekken.
So then, how does DDead or Alive 5 measure up to the current competition? Does a purchase guarantee that you won't feel like a total tit? Or is this series from Team Ninja now only good for nostalgic mammaries?
As someone who is mainly familiar with DOA 4, it is tough for me to put an accurate spin on the story framing behind this game. From what I am able to work out, there is a company (DOATEC) which specialises in holding fighting tournaments geared towards bringing the characters of prior games together to knock the hell out of each other all over again.
It is immediately apparent via DOA 5's story mode that there is far more to it than that, but as for what that is...I am totally clueless. Combatants routinely cross paths and engage in fisticuffs for the weirdest reasons, and unless you know far more than I about the history of DOA, you should not be expecting to understand much of it beyond two or three simple bullet points.
DOA 5 is a good looking game - albeit one that seems to be very plain with regard to its visual identity. For want of a better description, DOA 5 goes for a somewhat more realistic look than many of the more heavily visually stylised fighters knocking about. Whilst there are some nice environmental effects here and there, the action is not terribly big on flashiness outside of the fluidity of the characters movement.
Combat is based on buttons assigned to punches, kicks, holds and throws - and these moves have something of a rock-paper-scissors element to them in terms of which moves will take priority over incoming attacks. Whilst there is a standard training mode available to players, it must be said that the way that the game's story mode gradually reveals new mechanics to players is admirable.
As players progress through this mode, each battle will be pre-empted by a text box explaining both how to achieve certain moves, as well as that technique's relationship to opposing attacks - presenting the player with an optional challenge on each stage to pull off the relevant technique x number of times throughout the fight definitely helps to ease you into the more complex moves, as opposed to studying a wall of commands in the move list right from the get go.
New to the series is the option to play with a tag team partner and environmental opportunities for added pain exist in most of DOA 5's arenas. For those looking to master the game, it will be imperative to get a handle on both the counter system as well as how to back an opponent up against a wall, given how quickly the damage dished out can stack up with these mechanics - if you get your back pinned against a wall, you can expect to cop several successive hits unless you possess the reflexes of a cat on amphetamines.
In terms of the game modes offered, DOA 5 is pretty solid yet standard. Aside from story mode, players can tackle versus, arcade, training, time attack and survival modes in addition to competing online where players will be swiftly humbled if they so much as attempt it with anything resembling a button mashing mentality. By achieving certain conditions, varying player titles will become unlocked which can then be applied to your online DOA identity. In addition to this, the game also keeps a pretty hefty record of elements relating to a player's online performance, which the more hardcore crowd is sure to appreciate.
DOA 5 is quite solid all round - however, there are a few little bugbears which warrant a mention. Primarily, any sense of fighting strategy seems to depend either on the player having a ludicrously quick reaction time, or dumb luck from moment to moment given the way that conflicting inputs interact with each other - whilst this is almost true by definition in a fighter, it seems particularly noticeable here.
Whilst it is all well and good to know that a hold will take precedence over an incoming strike (for example), players must not only react with a hold at the right time but they must execute the right kind of hold for a particular strike lest a fist wind up in their face - just how any human being is meant to be able to achieve this with a reasonable rate of success outside of being lucky (or happen to be facing an opponent spamming a single move over and over) is beyond me.
Story mode is also something of a mixed bag - whilst the optional challenges mentioned above is a great move, for all the effort put into the structure and framing of the plot, it is something of a disappointment...for all the time spent watching cut scenes over the course of this mode, I could have skipped every one of them and been no poorer or any more clueless than I was at the conclusion.
Finally, if you happen to be completely unfamiliar with the series as a whole, there is a reason for the opening paragraph to this review - whilst not a criticism per se, DOA as a series is somewhat infamous for its obsession with ludicrous jugs and skimpy outfits on its female combatants...whether this is a selling point, a turn off or cause for indifference to you, DOA 5 is certainly not bucking this trend in any shape way or form. Take that for what you will.
In short, DOA 5 is a solid addition to the series - existing fans are unlikely to be disappointed, and newcomers looking to dive into a technical fighter could do a lot worse than this.
Game: Dead or Alive 5
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Tecmo Koei
