The Dead or Alive franchise is known for some peculiar traits in the world of fighting video games. The saga has spawned five sequels to this days, and while the gameplay doesn’t break any grounds the way Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat do, the characters have made the transition to other games beyond the original saga, such as Ninja Gaiden.
DOA is also known for the massive amounts of fan service it offers. The games are widely known for adding what is known as “boob physics.” It’s as funny as is bothersome for many people in the era of political correctness and the #MeToo movement. We are not about to barge politics in your enjoyment of videogames. DOA has a new entry mostly because their fans demanded it and that’s what we are going to discuss her.
The Return of a Classic
Dead or Alive 6 is back again, and it has every single one of the elements that have kept the saga popular since it was introduced in 1996: women wearing the most impractical costumes to fight and a story that makes little sense. The story begins with the main cast of characters having a go at the right before being gathered to fulfill a critical mission as a group. While most of the new features are graphics enhancements, the fighting system is has borrowed some aspects from other games to make it more visually striking
Players have the option to play a story mode, a versus option, a tournament, and of course a series of online matches. Story mode will feel messier and convoluted if you get caught on how to the way to lead it. Each mission is unlocked on a very complicated character board that forces you to dredge around it to fight all the characters. At times it can feel unnecessarily complicated, but once you get to understand how it works, it should be easy to handle.
A Game that Looks and Feels Good
The main storyline of the game features some of the most beautifully crafted cut scenes, worth of the visuals that this generation of gaming is capable of providing. You get one before and after each fight. The battles are fought in a single round. If you are not prepared to handle all the characters, maybe you should avoid this mode. It borrows heavily from the mechanics of the story mode used by Mortal Kombat since the 9th game of the saga.
Each character has its own storyline and their special reasons to complete the adventure. Some of the motivations for returning characters to participate could be labeled as boring, but then again, Tecmo-Koei keeps putting out these games because all of them have a fan base. The visual elements that make the fighting more enticing are slow-motion hits that unveils the damage done to your adversary and a new rush mode based on single button combos that are best suited for beginners
Taking a look at the whole package, it certainly makes it look half full. For better or worse, there is a new Dead or Alive game out. It certainly feels that the developers have put some work into making it a better game with a lot of improvements to the combat system and by keeping the elements that are heavily criticized by many but also very popular to the core fan base of the saga.