To start Tecmo & Team Ninja have really out done themselves with this one, as the graphics in this game are simply awesome. Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox is a great follow up to the previous games in the franchise like Dead or Alive 2 for the Dreamcast. While Dead or Alive 3 will draw some comparisons to other 3-D fighting games like Soul Calibur 2 in particular because of the amazing character designs and background locations this really is not an accurate comparison. Beyond the quality of the character design and background locations found in both games they really do not share much of anything in common as all the characters in Soul Calibur 2 have and use weapons of some kind where as only the final boss in Dead or Alive 3 is the only character in the game that uses a weapon. The only other characters that have weapons in Dead or Alive 3 are Ryu Hayabusa, Kasumi, and Hayate, but even then Ryu and Kasumi do not have weapons with all of their costumes. In a way though it would have been nice if Ryu, Kasumi, and Hayate could have at least used their weapons against the end boss and even more so for Ryu Hayabusa as he wields the "Ryuken" sword, of Ninja Gaiden fame, but this would have unbalanced the game as the three of them would have had an advantage that none of the other characters would possess.
Another difference between Dead or Alive 3 and Soul Calibur 2 is the counter system. The counter system is rather strange in Soul Calibur and in some ways it is not much of a counter system as it really just pushes the incoming attack away and although this appears to allow you an opportunity for a free attack against the computer it usually does not result as such as the computer almost always recovers before you can land a counterstrike. The latter in Streetfighter games from Capcom also have a counter system somewhat like this, but at least in these games you can usually pull some kind of counterstrike before your human or computer opponent can recover. Dead or Alive 3 probably has one the best and most user friendly counter systems of any fighting game whether 2D or 3D. The counter system allows almost any move to be countered with a simple press on the d-pad and free action/guard button. With this basic or advanced counters can be formed with minimal effort depending on the attack being countered and the character being used. Some of the complaints with previous Dead or Alive games in the franchise were that there were way too many bouncing cleavage and panty shots and this has been greatly reduced in DOA3.
With all fighting games there has always been the problem of characters sharing too many of the same basic and special moves and this is especially true in the Mortal Kombat series with all their palette swap characters, but is not as much of an issue in DOA3. Although there are four different ninjas in the game with three of them being related in the case of Kasumi, Ayane, and Hayate they share only a small amount of moves in common and even among the moves they share they do not hit for the same damage. Another nice thing about DOA3 is that in spite of similarities between characters they really don't play that much a like where you can just move along from one to the other without any form of practice with that character. In Soul Calibur 2 the basic attacks mostly dealing with kicks were quite similar and almost everyone, but Nightmare and Astaroth had some sort of attack barrage with their weapon that essentially did not appear any different from one character to the next.
Tecmo's other games like Dead or Alive: Extreme Beach Volleyball and Ninja Gaiden have character designs and backgrounds that are wonderfully done and probably the best out there. Additionally the best features of the previous Dead or Alive games were kept and improved upon such as the character designs and backgrounds for the different locations you fight at. Other things like the ending movies for each of the individual characters in the game were greatly improved as they are all now much longer and much more entertaining. Another nice feature in DOA3 is the relationship between survival mode and DOAXBV. In survival mode the more of certain items a player collects for the female characters the higher your starting money will be DOAXBV with that character which is good though it won't make a huge difference in DOAXBV, but does help to get off to good start in their Dead or Alive spin-off game.
The story in Dead or Alive 3 is good for a fighting game and fits better than a lot of its competitors. DOA3 is also equally enjoyable whether playing story mode or playing in multi-player with or against some friends.
In all Dead or Alive 3 or DOA3 if you prefer is probably one of the best if not the best fighting game on the Xbox as it has the most amazing graphics complemented by a system that is fairly easy to pick up making it accessible to both casual and hardcore gamers a like. The sparring mode which is the equivalent of a practice mode has a feature which basically tests you on your ability to perform each individual characters moves and even rewards you with things like additional costumes for some characters if you can successfully perform all the moves on that particular list. DOA3 just like DOA2 has strengthened the franchise by improving the gaming experience offered by the previous members of the franchise.
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