12 Days of 3DS-mas Day 3: Game Review: Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Game: Dead Or Alive: Dimensions
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Tecmo Koei
Release Date: 20th May 2011

Dead Or Alive: Dimensions is a compilation game of sorts, offering the stories of many other Dead or Alive instalments told through cutscenes and fights, more fighters than in any other game, and a variety of different game modes. For me there are many issues with the game that prevent it from being as good as it could be. Firstly, an issue with the series; besides being able to launch enemies down inventive drops and cause additional damage to them, Dead Or Alive's moveset and system feels underwhelming and unexciting to me.

In the main mode, character stories are told via lengthy cutscenes, resulting in each chapter lasting at least 20 minutes or more, with just 8-10 fights, that could be completed in under 5 minutes without the cutscenes. Unless you're super interested in the backstory of Dead Or Alive fighters, there's very little to enjoy about the poor voice acting, dramatisation and scripting, coupled with character mouths with don't move, and confusion as to what's even going on.

Arcade mode offers some enjoyment, but unlike a regular arcade mode, there are 6 courses of varying difficulty (all of them too easy) where the same few fighters are pitted against each other. There's a good variety of unlockables and a few other game modes, but compared to many other standard fighting games, Dead Or Alive: Dimensions finds itself lacking. I couldn't find anywhere to change the difficulty of the game overall either, which was frustrating as I didn't lose a single fight in my review playthrough.

Graphically the game looks pretty good for a handheld release, but there are small issues like mouths not moving when characters are talking, and odd movements in cutscenes. For all the characters the game features, none seemed particularly original or memorable, even from previous instalments which I've played. The music behind fights and cutscenes is generic and almost difficult to even comment on, but it's the awful voice acting that lets the game down even further.

Overall Dead Or Alive: Dimensions is a bit of a mess as a fighting game; it's two main modes both have big issues which let the down in terms of player enjoyment. There are many other ways in which the game could have gone about presenting character stories from previous games in a much better way, and including a standard arcade mode should surely have been a priority.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D