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Review: Dead or Alive 3 |
Dead or Alive! What comes to mind when you hear that name? Many see big boobs, bigger boobs, and the biggest boobs, but amidst the numerous erections you are bound to get while playing the game, there is a fairly solid game.
More… Dead or Alive 3 is a game that comes with the launch of the Xbox and is one of the two top sellers of the system, along with Halo. The story takes off where DOA2 leaves off. Ryu Haybusa stopped Tengu Bankotsu-bo, but he is too late and there’s a big worldwide collapse thingy. Things at DOATEC aren’t so hot either, it isn’t until they realize that Dr. Donovan has completed his Omega project that they notice him. They take the former leader of the Hajin Mon Ninja, Genra, who, after the experiments, is now a superhuman. That’s what I got from all the endings and the booklet that came along, maybe a couple of things are off but that’s the basic story (I hope).
Okay, DOA has been to known to have excellent graphics, and this game is no disappointment either. The backgrounds and characters are amazing, but they don’t mean a thing if they don’t do anything right? There are over 10 highly detailed levels, each with its own touch of magic in it. First we have the some of the arenas that are caged or have some sort perimeter, in the octagon hell one, we have tall fences which are electrically wired so when your back is slammed against it you receive a little extra damage, and sparks fly out from it which creates a really neat 2 second light show, there are about 3 of these types of levels, plus one part of a level that you have to access by knocking your opponent off the top of a building. Another level we have is the beach level that comes in a couple of time settings such as twilight, morning, and day (I’ve yet to see a night one). An excellent setting where there are palm trees and well, or course, a beach. Another level where you can be slammed up against the palm trees, you can get your opponent to wet their feet a little by just beating the crap out of them until they move their asses into the water, though I don’t know how Team Ninja did it, you really somehow don’t go that far into the water and before you know it your back on the sand again. I’ll explain one more level, (don’t know the names of the levels too lazy to look) the one where waterfalls surround you and you are on top of a mountain. You can knock your opponent down 3 levels, but if you keep doing you just end up where you started, I don’t know why they did that, they could have just ended it and have you eventually land on the ground, oh well, I guess you would be robbed of the fun of seeing your opponent fall hundreds of feet, to what in reality should be their death. The background is purty to look at with the water and the fog, even stupid stuff we don’t notice like grass is fairly interesting. Okay, on to character designs. We have two costumes to start out with for each character, they all correspond to what they should wear, like Tina should were a cowboy hat and a thong because she’s a wrestler and Helena with her opera suit. Character movements are very intricate in this game, even though we left the days of a block as your hand in a 3d fighting games, you are still drawn in, now he have colored finger nails, individual hair strands, and facial features such as lines. In some of the costumes we see patterns such as the flowers in Kasumi’s outfit. With the game going at a buttery smooth 60 fps, the interaction is great, when you fight in the forest and are slammed against a tree leaves come own and just don’t sink into you, they bounce and slide off you. The glass that shatters when you are hit into it is just amazing and oddly realistic. The snow footprints that your character makes just don’t disappear they stay there the entire time. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Team Ninja really went all out on this game with so many visuals and eye candy, and any basterd who tells you ‘It’s the same as DOA2, only a little better’, kick them in their sack or punch them in their boob, whichever applies. There are some small smudges here and there, but you’ll probably be lost in the spectacle itself.
Sound. We have an original soundtrack and some songs by Aerosmith. The music all in all is pretty good, and because you might be paying more attention to the breasts err game, you might forget that fossil Steven Tyler has anything to do with it. The music goes along with the characters. Kasumi with her model runway music and Tina with her techno-Aretha Franklin song, like I said before, it’s goooood stuff. The voices are in Japanese and are done well, and match with their corresponding personalities. With Bass, we have a deep, Hulk Hogan-like voice, and so on. The same fighting announcer from DOA2 has returned with its ‘Ready Fiiiiight!’, it’s okay, but well, it’s okay. Glass shattering, thumps, waterfalls sound great but not without some kinks. But, God, I just love it when Tina say, ‘Come on’, it’s a classical Oriental person trying to sound American, but Tina from the U.S. right? Oh well. Overall music is okay, there are no customizable soundtracks that the Xbox is capable of producing, but that’s what the mute button is for right?
As we have more astounding visuals, the gameplay has to go along with it too, and if you can’t do that then, well, you’ve done a half-assed job. For the controls we got a punch, kick, throw, free, and movement. When some of the buttons are combined together, you get throws and high attacks and other goodies. For anyone who’s ever played previous DOA’s, then you know the controls only this time it’s a little different. You can counter your enemy into a throw or a counter hold and then even into a combo hold which deals massive damage, Team Ninja lessened the amount of damage that a counter can do, but it still gives you an edge if you can do it. Blocking can be done high or low, and super high attacks, which are unblockable. Like many 3d fighters, each character has 50 or above moves with only a handful of any use. The AI is okay too, it’ll give you a run for your money but after playing for a couple of days you’ll need a bigger challenge, but you can always master your skills in the meantime.
There’s some good stuff, not a lot, but a decent amount. You’ve got a survival, time attack, tag team, sparring, and costumes to unlock. The Tag Team mode is basically the same as story mode, only you have a partner who you can tag on by hitting the black button, with that, you can also do some tag combos, which hurt a lot. While one character is active the other can recover health. So many people rave about how good the VF4 training system was, DOA3 isn’t as good but it’s a basic one, you can practice moves which can in turn give you access to more costumes. The game also has some neat characters too, like the Drunken Master technique used by Brad Wong, She Quan used by Christie, who is an assassin sent to kill Helena. Then you also have Hitomi, who is a hot German Karate girl, but most of the DOA2 cast is still there. When you complete a character’s story mode, you get their ending sequence, which is a pretty good looking FMV, especially Brad Wong’s, IMO.
DOA3 is a good game with some new stuff, if you have DOA2, you might think twice before getting this one, but if you don’t go for it. As of the writing of this review, DOA Extreme Volleyball is coming out( *shudder*) soon. Then by 2003 we have DOA4 and I don’t know how Team Ninja will be able to top this one, but for now buy this game if you have an Xbox, if you don’t sit your ass down and go back to playing Tekken.
