Always known for their epic smooth combos and beautifully
animated characters, the Dead or Alive lives on with DOA 5, which we had the
chance to try out at the Tecmo Koei stand last week, at the E3 Expo 2012. With
the slogan “I am a Fighter”, they plan to make this title accessible to all
kind of gamers.
To get the best perspective on the new features, my versus player was none
other than the beautiful and deadly Vanessa Arteaga, the worlds #1 ranked
Female DOA 4 player, and let me tell you one thing: Dead or Alive 5 is looky
pretty good, and I got my ass kicked by Vanessa (but you can forget that part).
So what’s new with Dead or Alive 5? As most of us men that
played the series, we wanted to hear about one thing: the female characters.
And yes, the lovely female killing machines are as beautifully modeled as ever.
Team Ninja opted for a more realistic feel, adding genuine sweat effect on the
faces and some transparent apparel. Who ever said that sexism doesn’t sell?
Other than the attention to detail the fighting mechanics
are full with power, with its share of male and female characters equally great
in number, from the iconic Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series, or even the
first ever cross-game appearance of Virtua Fighter’s Akira Yuki. The demo
featured a staggering dozen of playable characters all with their own
strategies, looks, powers and weaknesses.
I picked up the controller and tried my luck with Hayabusa,
against the champion Arteaga. By combining punches and kicks, I’ve realized
that the game is very technical, pushing you to time your attacks, as they can
be slow to recover after a miss. But a seasoned veteran fighter as I am, I
picked up really quickly, and once one hit reach the opponent, the combos just
goes on fluently, unless you get countered.
On the visual side, you see the difference from other known
fighting games, as dust fills your fighter’s clothes, sweat drips from their
faces, dirt smudges the pants. Sadly no blood will be seen, or bruises on the
body parts of the players, which I think should’ve on the personal side. The
stages are well constructed too, with some having extreme action happening in
the background such as the Circus and the Battlefield’s tank shooting folly of
canon shots.
The rotating cameras are back, with the addition of dynamic
events, powered by your surroundings. Cornering a character next to a wall is
quite deadly as you can use it to power your hits from explosions, barriers,
falls and breaking falls. The seasoned fighter should also find something worth
the upgrade with the counter system fixed now, less tolerant, making it harder
to perform, but worth the training as they are as powerful as a series of well
hit moves.
For the moment, we only know that Arcade and Versus modes were
available on Tecmo Koei booth, but the final product will feature online and
ranked matches, a tournament mode, and of course a Story mode to unlock
alternate costumes and other extras.
Dead or Alive 5 is coming to all major platforms in
September so tune in soon as we get you more details about the game closing in
the release date.
Ozimandus has been reviewing games and gadgets since 2003. He's not afraid of speaking his mind, and loves to share his love of everything geeky.
RELATED NEWS