You don't have to look far these days to find a fighting game. But most of the time you'll find them to have the run of the mill graphics with two stereotypical characters tearing the heck of each other for well just for the heck of it. In Dead or Alive 3's case you have more than this. It adds a few elements to help it separate itself from a button-masher and allows for some strategy, while it also builds up onto some tried and tested methods like a counter system and environment interaction.
-- Gameplay --
DOA3 is your typical fighter. You have your combos, your kicks, punches, throws etc. DOA3 also has the counter-system whereas pressing a direction and 'Y' you'll be able to counter your opponent's move. The system is based on three directions, high, mid, and low range attacks so you'll only be able to counter if your able to guess correctly, which direction the next hit is aimed for. In the beginning it'll just be simply trying to guess where the enemy is attacking and hoping your correct, but once you start learning the character's behaviors you can start accurately taking down your opponents more effectively. The counter-system really separates DOA3 from a button-masher as you'll soon find out if you continue a pattern of the same moves the computer will catch on and reverse you time and time again.
DOA3 features a few different types of gameplay including story mode, sparring, time attack, survival, and versus. Story mode takes you through each of the character's tale through DOA3. It's really lackluster as it leaves you to wonder where the tournament part comes in. The prize comes in with a full cinematic closure to each character, which can be gripping, entertaining, amusing, and downright confusing. They don't really fill you in on the story, so you'll have to guess most of it if you don't know the backgrounds of each character.
The greatest feature (in my opinion) of DOA3 is the tag team battle. You'll be able to face off your opponent in a 2v2 situation where you'll be able to quickly switch characters during battle. You can actually create some nifty strategies and combo moves from this. You also have the ability to team up with a friend and take on two computer opponents. This feature kept me coming back.
-- Graphics
Beautiful. DOA3 is one of, if not the best looking fighter out there. The character models are really nicely done. You can see the separation of hairlines, the body lines, the facial details, the richly textured clothing, everything is sculptured nicely. The environment is as beautiful as the characters. The beach environment looks realistic with seagulls circling the area, the forest has a nice homely touch to it, the snowy level has you encased in a realistic wintry storm. The game just looks perfect and that being said with this game being over a year old now. What more can be said?
-- Music/Sound
I'm not a big Aerosmith fan, so I can't say I was really thrilled with them. They only really had three songs and two of them were entrance/ending themes. I wasn't able to locate the third. Musically otherwise the game had a nice touch. Each character had their own song that fit their personality. Like Helena has a classical feel to it as being an opera singer and Tina's had a heavy metal sound for her wrestling style. It was nothing gripping and amazing, but it fit well. During fighting you had your obvious 'ohs' and 'ows' and a few environmental sounds. Nothing too exciting. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't include the customizing of soundtracks. Some Linkin Park and Metallica definitely could've spiced up some battles.
The one bad part I feel is that the chatting is in Japanese. Team Ninja has always had their Dead or Alive games in Japanese for some reason. But then again, chatting between fighters really isn't an important aspect and they'd probably get cheap voice actors anyway, so in the end it doesn't matter, I suppose.
-- Price Tag/Final Thoughts --
Dead or Alive 3 has recently made it into the honorable "Platinum Hits Collection" for the Xbox. Most of these games on this list are in the twenty dollar range, which is a perfect price for DOA3. Twenty dollars is definitely worth the price for a great looking game with some enjoyable elements that separates itself from other fighting games.
In the end of it all, Dead or Alive 3 doesn't really add anything new, but it really polishes the different elements found in a fighting genre to be an enjoyable game that will please your average gamer. The hardcore gamer will probably complain about the lack of indepth strategy and how shallow the game is and how it's only to 'look pretty,' but hey, I found it to be an enjoyable game that you can quickly get into and have loads of fun without having to get totally immersed into and play bazillion of pointless hours worth trying to figure out strategies to beat your inexperienced friends at. Just have fun with it!
-- Breakdown -
Graphics 10 out of 10
Gameplay 9.0 out of 10
Music/Sound 8.7 out of 10
Price Around $20-25 (Excellent Price)
Final (Not an Average) 9.2 out of 10
Create an Account
Member Login
