Dead or Alive Ultimate - Xbox

From Tecmo comes another title in their big-selling Dead or Alive series. However this is not Dead or Alive 4, or even a revised version of DOA3, it’s a re-release of two games, the original Dead or Alive for SEGA Saturn, and Dead or Alive 2, released on Dreamcast and PS2 in 2000, so they can now be played on the Xbox. What at first sounds like a puzzling release quickly starts to make sense once you know a bit more about it: although the first DOA is included relatively unadulterated - as it appeared on the Saturn - DOA2 is fully revamped, with luscious Xbox graphics, and even more customisable outfits for the characters than ever before. Yes, the extrovert girls are there in all their splendour, as are the enormous and satisfying levels, and the fast-paced, reversal-based combat system is back. If this still isn’t provoking interest, we might also mention that DOA2 on this new version of the game will be compatible with Xbox Live! Not only that, but this new version was developed not by Tecmo in house but by Team Ninja, the outfit now best known for the last year’s critically acclaimed blockbuster, the highly impressive Ninja Gaiden. Now it’s beginning to make a little more sense.

Fighting game purists will tell you that if you must play 3D fighters, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution is the only option for the hardcore. DOA games, they’ll tell you, are for button bashers. But this is unfair. Surely accessiblity should be seen as a boon in any game by anyone but the snootiest elitist? And surely the greater simplicity of the button presses for even the more powerful special moves should be seen as a big-hearted and practical feature? DOA2 must be a game with depth that can stand up to a lot of playing. How else could it be re-released to such a fanfare 5 whole years after its original release? Because the controls are relatively simple, first time players will not be frustrated; at the same time though, they’re unlikely to be able to beat a seasoned pro by simply hammering a random selection of buttons. The reversal mechanic adds a dimension to the game that many other fighters lack, encouraging you to read and predict your opponent’s next move, and the countering system in DOA2 is in fact slightly more complex than in its successor DOA3.

But for many the gorgeous graphics are reason enough to play. The animation is smooth and fluid, and of course the real stars of the show are the six girls, every wobble and swell of their nubile bodies testament to the skill (and some might say, perversion) of Tecmo’s animators and modellers. All the characters from the original version are there, with the addition of Hitomi from DOA3. If you want to play a beautiful and fast-paced action game on your Xbox against challengers from all over the world, you’d better buy Dead or Alive Ultimate. more