Game: Dead Or Alive
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Team Ninja
Release Date: 31st March 1998
Released fairly late in the original Playstation's lifespan, Dead or Alive is somewhat to Tekken in terms of gameplay and visual style, though there are distinct differences between the two also. Players can choose from 11 fighters, none of whom have any of their motives for fighting explained as instead of ending sequences for each character, new costumes and/or options are unlocked once Tournament Mode is completed. While this is nice, many games feature both storylines in addition to unlockables, putting DoA at a disadvantage.
Controlwise the game is simple with only three attack types; punches, kicks and grabs. There's no real block move, instead a sort of counter system is featured but it's fiddly and difficult to make work. Consequently, most battles are spent attempting to hit opponents before they can hit you, with whatever combination of moves seems to work best, rather than waiting for an opportune moment to counter/developing an actual strategy for beating opponents.
The speed of fights is satisfactory and compares favourably to many other titles of the era. Where other Playstation games would feature slower movements an animations, Dead or Alive certainly attempts to keep the game flowing quickly. One of the game's main focal points was the large number of revealing outfits available for female fighters, with later spin-off games based almost solely on this concept. While it's nice to unlock many different outfits for fighters, 14 outfits for a single character seems a little excessive.
Other modes included in the game are pretty standard fighter fare, and though there's a good range of things to do (much like in Tekken), Tournament mode has the most appeal in terms of depth and unlockables, with 10 fights of two rounds each while most other modes are simply variants of an exhibition style gameplay and have little more to offer.
Graphically Dead or Alive looks pretty good for its time, with much less blockiness than Tekken and other early fighting games on the Playstation. Backgrounds are nicely detailed, and animations are smooth and realistic also. The music that plays behind the game is fairly standard for fighter-style titles, but suits the action well nonetheless. Some of the fighters vocal noises can become annoying if the same attacks are used over and over, but other than this the in game sound effects are generally good.
Overall Dead Or Alive doesn't play as well as some fighting games of its time, but show promise in fast gameplay and animation as well as a range of unlockable outfits and options. The lack of real depth in modes and storyline lets the game down somewhat, but it's still fairly enjoyable overall, especially in multiplayer modes.
Rating: 71/100
Grade: C
Game: Dead Or Alive 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Team Ninja
Release Date: 30th March 2000
Unlike many video game sequels, Dead or Alive 2 had the benefit of being on a new console with more power than the last to enhance the experience and feeling of the series moving forward. In addition to this, some changes were made to the overall gameplay experience. Tournament mode now features 7 fights of a single round each, meaning that less time is required to complete the mode. The controls have also been changed slightly, with the throw button remapped to X instead of Square, and Square taking on a new role as the "free" button, with different uses depending on the situation.
An attempt has been made to add an element of story to tournament mode, with various cutscenes playing before fights, and once the mode has been cleared, but there's hardly any dialogue and no consistent plot outlined in the scenes. Thanks to this, players can only guess at what's going on, rendering the story fairly useless as a narrative device. It doesn't provide an incentive to continue with tournament mode any more than wanting to get to the end.
Fighting seems to have generally improved since the last instalment of the series; it's smoother, more responsive and easier to pull off combos and counters. Additionally when counters are made, the animations are much clearer as to exactly how the attack was countered. Strangely the fights have been reduced to a single round, which makes Tournament Mode a lot shorter, but that could be seen as improvement as players will need to play through many times to unlock all outfits and characters.
As for the game's other modes, there's more than in the original Dead Or Alive, since Tag Battle mode acts like another Tournament mode, and Survival and Time Attack modes are also fairly enjoyable. As for the option to simply spectate on a CPU fight, I'm not completely sure when this'd be helpful, but there's no harm in having it there, I suppose. The game's overall difficulty is strange; sometimes it's pretty easy, as in Tournament Mode on the Normal difficulty setting (I beat the final boss first time, without any practice), and at other times it's out to destroy players without any mercy (as in Time Attack mode on Normal difficulty).
Graphically the game is pretty impressive, especially for a game which came along so early in the Playstation 2's lifespan. There's a wide range of outfits available for each character, and an interesting set of arenas in which to fight. The game runs just as fast as the original Dead Or Alive, if not faster and there's no noticeable slowdown anywhere. Musically some of the game's impact and general mood comes from its soundtrack, which is pretty enjoyable.
Overall Dead Or Alive 2 has many features that make it a good sequel; improved graphics, gameplay and controls mean that it is a distinct step up from the original, but without more story in its Tournament Mode, a wider selection of meaningful game modes and other options it still feels somewhat limited. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore was released shortly after the original version, possibly fixing all or some of these issues though.
Rating: 73/100
Grade: C
Game: Dead Or Alive 3
Console: Microsoft Xbox
Developer: Team Ninja
Release Date: 14th November 2001
As a launch game in all regions for the original Xbox, Dead or Alive 3 came out pretty soon after Dead or Alive 2 and its Hardcore edition. Thanks to this, the game is very similar to the last instalment as the controls and most movesets have hardly changed. The AI difficulty has been lessened slightly between the two games, and 4 new fighters have been added.
Story mode still features very few details of any coherant plot, opting instead for short cutscenes without much dialogue. Even the final boss goes unexplained for players who haven't read the Prologue to the game in the manual. Once again Story mode fights last only one round, with 7 fights needed to reach the final boss.
On the whole, Dead or Alive 3 plays like a slightly improved Dead or Alive 2. The gameplay is a little faster and smoother, with less issues surrounding counters. The arenas too seem to have become more detailed, with greater variety of terrain and location. Sometimes the use of ice and water on levels feels like the developers were attempting to show off the power of the Xbox graphically, but they're interesting effects nonetheless.
Another fun feature of the series is the ability to knock opponents down one or more levels of the arena. Many of the arenas feature breakable barriers which lead to sheer drops, which will damage fighters who fall, but not those who jump. There add an interesting tactical side to some battles, as 3D-axis rotation is unlimited in DOA3.
Graphically the game is the best yet in the series, which is unsurprising considering the game's exclusivity to the Xbox. Characters and locations are well defined and detailed, with impressive lighting effects and movements. The visual impact of the games has always been a big part of the Dead or Alive series and this game is no exception. Musically too the game works well, with exciting and engaging accompaniment to gameplay.
Overall even though Dead or Alive 3 is essentially an improved version of Dead or Alive 2 without any extra modes or real improvements to gameplay, it makes for a fun and engaging fighting game that features a host of familiar characters (if you've played the previous instalments, at least). With the difficulty issues fixed too, it continues the series' upwards trend in quality.
Rating: 75/100
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment