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The Most Beautiful Fighter Available

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 32
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dead of Alive 4 doesn't disappoint. First of all, the graphics are just mind-blowingly beautiful. You've never seen such a beautifully designed fighter game before. To tell the truth, I bought an X-box 360 because I'm a big fan of the Dead or Alive series. Now that I've played the game, I can say that I'm satisfied.

I give a quick rundown of the changes from the previous version. Multiplayer is as fun as usual, but the story mode will be a little more difficult than in previous versions. The reason for this is that the computer AI is a little stronger than before. If you tend to use just a few moves, the computer will pick up on that and will counter you almost every time. If you learn to vary your moves, then it's not much of a problem. Also, the window for pulling off a counter has been reduced, so it's much more difficult than before to do a counter. Again, with practice and timing, you can improve your skills to make up for this. Also, I felt that the final boss in this game is a little more difficult than previous bosses. By that, I mean much faster and much trickier. I found that by using charges and footsweeps, you can usually beat the boss with only a few tries. Overall, the single player game has become more challenging.

So should you get it? The answer is YES! If you have an X-box 360 and you don't have this, then you need it. That's all I can say. This game has left me speechless.

The Atonement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 28
Date: January 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The newest installment in Team Ninja's fighting game series, Dead or Alive 4 has met all it's expectations. Every fighting game series on the market today has their respective strong points, DOA always being the amazing graphic edge, but more than anything on this newest edition, tecmo has slightly revamped the fighing techniques making DOA4 the most balanced game in it's genre.

Single player lacks an easy mode, so for the casual gamer, it might be somewhat of a challenge. But because of this factor, it helps develop the mechanical skills used in the game. Some veterans might find some slight difficulty at first, but should get the hang of things after a few goes. Definately not a "button mash" game. This aspect I gladly invite. I think that usually easy modes lack any challenge, if anything the only positive aspect of the mode is to learn move sets and combos, which can easily be learned in the Sparring mode. With unlockable costumes, characters, and other achievements, the single player mode will likely keep your interest.

The online mode has it's kinks, but for the most part is very good. I really like the lobbies and the avatars to install goals within the online game. Rankings and scores also helps keep a competative nature. Within the mode you can set-up tournaments, private matches, and many other fighting settings. Their has been a few glitches and every once and awhile some lag. The glitches I'm sure will be fixed as they are found and the lag in a lobby has more to do with a bad connection as opposed to bad service.

If you are into fighting games and want a challenge both offline and online, Dead or Alive 4 is a must have if you have a xbox360.

An Incredible Experience

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Dead or Alive 4, the most recent iteration of the popular DOA series, is an incredible experience. Everything is superb. The character models-though still cartoony in appearance-are still detailed enough to drop a few jaws. All 22 fighters have multiple costumes that can be unlocked that are almost life-like. Each costume has realistic textures to further enhance the experience, but the true pinnacle of DOA4 (graphically) are the battlefields. It is apparent that the level designers spent a lot of time crafting each individual level. All arenas feature multiple tiers, destructible items, and backgrounds that will make you question if you're still in reality.

Aside from graphics, DOA4 boasts gameplay that is extremely fun and easy to get into. While beginners may button-mash, the inclusion of small, yet important, improvements will keep veterans interested. Such improvements include a more difficult counter system, and a more in-depth ground game. Furthermore, all 22 fighters have their own unique fighting styles and each character has an expanded arsenal of moves.

Overall, this game does not leave much to be complained about and is a solid addition to the library of Xbox 360 games. If a game like DOA4 can achieve the best graphics of any game thus far only a month after the launch of the 360, imagine what future games are capable of once game developers adjust to the new system.

I would recommend Dead or Alive 4 not only to fans of the DOA series, but also to any fighting game fan.

Rewarding if you have staying power

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When is something entitled 'Ultimate' not actually meant to be 'Ultimate'? When you're Team Ninja of course. Painfully unfunny jokes aside, Tomonobu Itagaki was certainly suffering from a case of premature appellation with his stop-gap DoA reimagining for Microsoft's original games system. Dead or Alive 4 is actually the 'ultimate' Dead or Alive game so far, but for the purposes of clarity (and conformity) we'll continue to call it Number Four.

On 360 it was impossible to think that DoA4 would look anything less than stunning. Certainly DoA3 was one of the Xbox's best-looking earlier titles and the apple certainly hasn't fallen far from the tree. While the cherry blossom-strewn courtyards, Las Vegas-style strip and wrestling-ring levels are all graphically impressive, this time around it's the little things that make the major difference. The wavy heat haze on the Savannah level, the reflections of the characters and environment in glass and puddles, the neon lighting effects, the sense of scale provided by distant mountains visible from the top of the temple steps, even down to spectators in the wrestling-ring stage holding up boards with slogans and pictures that actually correspond to the fighters taking part (or booing if the fighters don't land a punch for a while) - these are just a few examples of some of the small details that, when combined, add up to a very large and juicy cherry atop the cake.

Characters have also received extra attention to detail, with clothing fabrics looking even more impressive than ever before. Fur, mesh and silk are all wonderfully recreated and richly produced. An attempt has also been made to accurately provide long flowing hair for the female fighters, however this is not always successful with some odd results where it appears to flow around their shoulders like liquid. There are also some Soul Calibur 2-esque clipping issues with hair and some characters' clothing. The game also allows for photos and replays of the action to be saved for posterity, preserving forever that moment when you dished out (or received) punishment.

The attention lavished on fine detail is unsurprising however when you look at the game's character models. As exquisitely produced as they are, again Team Ninja have backed themselves into a narrow cul-de-sac with the art direction of the game which now seems to have gone as far as it can and even peeked around Number Three. DoA has and always been the digital equivalent of playing Barbie Vs. Ken for adults, with characters that have an almost plastic sheen to them and with some male characters looking very much identikit aside from hair and clothing.

Following criticism of the earlier games' fighting system, Team Ninja have made quite a few changes to address issues such as unbalanced fighters and problematic mechanics. More emphasis has been placed on the Critical Hit and Counter system and while it may take a while to adapt, it certainly makes the game more tactical and interesting to play. Fights are much faster (to a giddying degree in later rounds and higher difficulties) and it certainly feels more fluid and fun, with amendments made to characters like Kasumi and Ayane to balance them. This tinkering will certainly go some way to making the game more appealing to those who found it unbearable before.

Scenery-smashing moves are again present and have been, quite literally, expanded upon. Levels now often sprawl in a multitude of different directions meaning fights can take any number of paths. As an example, brawling on the Temple Steps means players can fight under the archway and into the courtyard, or in the opposite direction down the steps. This in turn leads them to being able to knock opponents over a barrier and off a tiled rooftop, or down another flight of steps. Players can never be sure of which direction a fight will take them, meaning a new dimension of intra-level variety is created.

There are also static and moving obstacles such as benches, trees, fences, traffic and even dinosaurs. There's a real sense of showmanship in belting your opponent into an oncoming police car (as it swerves to avoid the two nutters fighting in the middle of the road), watching with glee as they roll over the bonnet with a thud of metal and a 'plink' of shattering glass. Or much more simply, but just as satisfyingly, kicking your nemesis over a stone table, following it up by vaulting across and punching them in the head as they struggle to recover.

Disappointingly Team Ninja is guilty of committing the same crime as in DoA3 (and a felony duplicated recently by Namco in Tekken 5); that of the cheap and dirty boss fight. Alpha-152, a see-through version of Kusami, is a nasty and unforgivable little addition to the game that introduces a difficulty spike that spoils the Story and Time Attack modes. Complete with a low-down, dirty, unavoidable charge-blast attack that decimates half your energy bar (something which should be outlawed from modern-day fighters under pain of death) players will find themselves (at the very least) gnashing their teeth at the vile tactics employed. Thankfully Alpha-152 is not present as the final encounter for every character in Story mode, meaning it's not all frustration and tears.

The A.I. also seems to occasionally lose all control and self-restraint, with characters like Hitomi, and most notably Jann Lee, presenting a spike in difficulty that is off-putting and soul-destroying at times.

There are noticeable problems with collision detection, meaning some grabs, punches or kicks don't connect. Thankfully there are workarounds as the player adjusts their gaming style, learning when these may occur. However a more sordid glitch means that floored opponents sometimes correct themselves and break into combos in a heartbeat, an almost impossible feat that no recovery move could ever produce and which feels like the A.I. is cheating. In a game where contact is everything, such activity will frustrate when, during a pivotal moment, the player finds their breathing space throttled from them and their opponent attacks instead of going prone.

The game's saving grace from niggly faults with the A.I. comes from the system's Live capability. While first unveiled in DoA: Ultimate, Live's seamless integration with the 360 and its games makes taking fighting online easier and much more fun than ever before. DoA4 contains an avatar-based lobby system that allows players to fight, meet others, or simply hang out and spectate. Winning the various online matches (including Winner Stays On, Loser Stays On, Team Battle, Survival etc) results in the player earning Zack Points which can be spent in Zack's shop to change the appearance of avatars or to buy new wacky costumes for the fighters themselves. Taking a leaf from DoA's Volleyball outing, items available change on a daily basis meaning that it will be some time before a full wardrobe of accessories and outfits is accrued. Online play is given a further edge in that losing fights means Zack Points are deducted, adding that real incentive to keep winning.

Although unique, DoA's lobby is not as innovative as it could have been. While understandably limited to one fight at a time per lobby, in order to join the queue to fight, players must leave and enter the in-game spectator view. If they choose to go back to the lobby, they then lose their place in the queue, making the fanciful and delightful lobby almost redundant. Far better would have been a system that allowed you to register your place in the queue and then transport you back into the game appropriately. Of course there's nothing stopping those who want to go off and challenge someone to a one-on-one in their own lobby (which is graciously donated free of charge the first time they go online), but that seems overly fiddly and may be far more trouble for some than it's worth. Presently some games also suffer serious lag that can stop proceedings mid-combo as everything plays catch up.

As an overall experience DoA4 is thoroughly capable and enjoyable, proving through its latest incarnation that it has certainly evolved into a fighter that can be taken seriously and seen as more than cheap titillation or a T&A simulator for prepubescents. While not as close to perfection as Team Ninja would have everyone believe, there is certainly enough substance to put the series back on track and offer a serious contender to the next round of Virtua Fighter and Tekken games.

Uhh...What happened to the easy mode?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: July 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I suppose this is what you call a 'hardcore' fighting game because it doesn't have an easy mode. It's too cool for all that easy mode jazz. Come to think of it, Soulcalibur 3 didn't either, whats up with that? Anyway, It's not actually that bad once you get some practice with fighting at a not so easy level. Once you finally defeat the evil jello mold kasumi clone after the twentieth time you will feel so tough that you didn't wimp out and set the game to easy (because you couldn't) that it makes the whole journey that much funner.

Seriously, though, do they expect the average gamer to unlock even half the achievements on this mother? This series has always been rough but now you don't even have the option to wimp out. I play fighting games to take out my aggression. How am I going to take out my aggression when I'm getting my head kicked in like a special olympics equipment manager that picked a fight with Jet Li. I'll tell you how, I aint. At least not with Tina. I have to play as friggin' Ein if I want to do any good in survival mode. I didn't buy this game to play as a guy, sheesh. Also, is it just me or does Kasumi suck now? She used to be my go to girl but now I can barely do anything with her. I could barely get a bronze medal in the survival mode and I about darn near broke my hand doing it. I have a better chance of unlocking all of rumble roses achievements and that's saying something because that game is tedious. But I digress...

On the plus side there are some great graphics but that goes without saying as this is a next generation system. There are also some interesting features like being able to take snapshots of computer controlled fighters. It's a fun diversion from getting pounded but 90% of my pictures are as blurry as all get out. I must not make a good video game photographer. As with Doa 3 Aerosmith music abounds in this game. Well, maybe not abounds per se but it is in there. If you beat the game with Helena. The ending credits have a nice Aerosmith song. The endings for the characters make no sense whatsoever but that's nothing new. I like Kasumi's little mermaid esque finale. It's so randomly silly that I liked it.

Anyway, the game is a solid fighting game that gives you plenty of action. Just don't expect it to be a cakewalk or any other sort of walk involving pastries. Pick a fighter, spend hours learning all his moves and go forward young warrior to unlock the achievements and gain glory. But don't expect me to be at the finish line with you. I'll be playing oblivion.

Do you have a lot of patience and unlimited time?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: January 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I don't know about you, but when I buy a new game, I want to open it, pop it in the console, and start playing. You're welcome to try this with DOA4, if you don't mind being that kid who gets thrown down and pummeled everytime he steps out on the playground.

Most console games provide a tutorial that, in the best cases, is built into the story-mode of the game and eases you into the gameplay by teaching you the abilities of your character. In DOA4, this is particularly important because every attack or defense involves an often complicated sequence of directional-movements (with the joystick or directional pad) combined with pushing the proper sequence of buttons on the controller. You also need a great sense of timing to know when to start each sequence. To compound the difficulty, each character in the game has an extensive series of special attacks that is unique to that character, and involves, you guessed it, a unique sequence of buttons and joystick movements for each special attack.

So lets say you're not intimidated by this complexity, and you actually want to spend the time required to learn how to play one of the game's many characters. DOA4's idea of "getting started" is to drop you into an arena with a computer opponent that has a sixth-degree black-belt in jujutso -- and that's on the lowest "normal" setting. How many times can you see yourself thrown down, your head twisted back, your legs bent in painful-looking directions, and your opponent announced the victor, before you've had enough "fun?"

In desperation, you might also be tempted to turn to that component of the game packaging that most of us would rather never open: the documentation. Tecmo gets points for consistency here by making an already complicated game even more difficult to understand with impossibly confusing descriptions of the game's basic controls. Ostensibly because the game gives you the ability to customize the controller, they decided to create their own button icons for punch, kick, and guard and use those to explain each control. The resulting problem is that the color and letters of the buttons in the documentation doesn't match the colors and letters of the buttons on the Xbox controller! So, for example, the documentation tells us that to execute a "low throw" on your opponent, you should simultaneously push the down directional and the green block button, followed immediately by the yellow punch button. So what does this mean for the default controller configuration? It means you push the down directional and the blue X button, followed by the yellow Y button. Clear as mud, right?

Finally, although the game graphics are beautiful (watching me get my butt kicked has never looked so good as in the high-def, gorgeous arenas of DOA4), Tecmo didn't bother to localize any of the game's dialogue in English. As a result, if you're adept enough to push the appropriate sequence of buttons required to "taunt" your opponent during combat, you'll hear your character say something unintelligible in Japanese. You'll hope that this is a biting, witty jab, but in actuality, it's probably (and more appropriately) a plea for mercy.

THE WORST 360 game for beginners -- and the worse fighting game for 360

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 21
Date: March 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is, without a doubt, the absolutely worse fighting game ever made. Tecmo has removed all the enjoyable elements including removing a difficulty level for beginners. If you aren't a DOA pro, you'll be pummled countless times while you just try to learn the controls. The computer will pull off 10x combos on you while you just try to land a punch or kick. What's worse, the game has 45 Achievements, including more than a dozen "secrets" which you must unlock. But you'll be so frustrated by this game that you won't even bother.

The worst part of it is that this is no longer a "party game." Meaning you can't invite over your friends and have fun fighting each other. The few people that master the game's new countering system (which is aptly named, since it's so COUNTER-intuitive) will slaughter the newbies and completely remove the fun of the multiplayer element.

Likewise, when you take your game online (which you must do to earn 10 of the public achievements), you'll get destroyed by users who are far better than you, if you haven't dedicated your life to DOA practice.

So before you waste half of your life trying to become the DOA guru of your social circle or the entire online world, remember that the only things that are new to this game from Dead or Alive Ultimate (which is 1/3 the cost) is a few new characters, the HD graphics (which are, I admit, absolutely amazing) and a set of new features which only make it tougher for those of us who weren't good at playing fighting games in the first place. Thanks, Tecmo, for completely ignoring the entire gaming community to make another game like Ninja Gaiden Black; a game that no one wants to play unless it's the only game they practice at.

Define: Opposite of Fun

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

DOA single player...

The single player portion of this game is by far the WORST of any fighting game to date - unless of course you enjoy spending hours fighting against an AI that cannot be described in any way other than RIDICULOUS! Even on the 'normal' setting (the easiest available), the AI can counter at will and string together impossible combinations of hits. 45+ minutes on ONE opponent to unlock ONE costume... not my idea of a good time.

The multi-player portion of the game would be a total blast if it wasn's constantly laggy and either booting people or freezing...

With a couple of patches, this game COULD be awesome, but as it stands now - I recommend skipping it...

Great Graphics with Not-Great Rampup

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dead or Alive is one of my favorite series, and I was waiting eagerly for DOA4 to come out for the XBox 360. The graphics were great! Gameplay, though, was not well ramped.

Let's start with the graphics. I've loved each new version of DOA with how it has pushed the envelope. This release was no exception. On our HD TV, the lushness of some scenes was just mind boggling. There were active characters in the background. There were tiny details in every scene. Foot movements would stir up the water or snow.

The audio was reasonably good - not nearly as awesome as the graphics, but certainly good enough that I didn't mind playing with it in the background, as well as it was turned down a bit.

The gameplay in this series is NOT a button masher. You might get lucky occasionally with button mashing, but it really works best if you learn the specific combos that match up to your character's style and for use in certain conditions. Having a near opponent vs a far-away opponent, having an opponent that stays low vs one that launches high attacks, all of them need the proper response.

I don't mind that at all. I respect the game a lot for that reason. On the other hand though, the game is KILLER tough without memorizing those combinations. I had several players in my home who were very, very good on the previous DOAs and they were slaughtered in the new game until they sat down and re-practiced the combos in sparring mode. Yes, sparring mode is there and a good training tool. But it is INCREDIBLY BORING. I would really rather "learn" in some sort of actual gameplay setting. Maybe they could have a "beginning set of rounds" that was easy, that advanced players could skip over.

Instead, the way the game is set up, there is no difficulty options at all. There is only one "main game" that you take each character through, to unlock his or her outfits and endings. That one path is rather hard. So either you sit there in boring sparring mode for a while to prepare - or you just dive into it and get smashed around a lot.

There are other issues. One of our household members went fully through 3 characters. I then took over and went fully through 3 more characters. When he woke up in the morning, the save games were all completely gone. He went through and re-unlocked 3 characters. Everything seemed fine when he was in the game - but come back later, and it had reset. There's just something very wrong with the save situation here.

On one hand I really appreciate that there are female characters in here, and that men as well as women enjoy playing them. It wasn't that long ago that all fighting games were all fighting characters, and that male players would refuse to play as "just a girl". In modern times we realize that girls can be just as good at karate as guys are. That being said, some of these outfits are crossing the line into sleaziness. It denigrates a highly trained female martial artist to say she's got to have a big chest that is almost naked.

If you're a fan of fighting games, definitely get this one. Just be sure to prepare for a serious round of training before you start taking on the actual combat.

Only For the Patient

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm sorry, but I have to defend Tecmo/Team Ninja here. I can easily understand why many people are frustrated with their work - nothing they have done is easy to pick up and play around with. Rather, their games are for the fast and furious, and those who are willing to take time and learn. This is why all the professional reviews are good; they are forced to learn, and they wind up liking it.

If you like an easy and accessible game, then this game is NOT for you. But, if you are patient, quick, and you actually USE YOUR HEAD instead of button-mashing (which the bad reviewers obviously did), then this game is a blast. (By the way, this game was designed to punish both button-mashers and countering whores - which really ups the multiplayer and forces the player to learn.) Fighting games are supposed to be fast and furious, and the winner will be the one who can think quickest and act the best upon their abilities and the actions of their opponent. This game balances that perfectly.

Besides, look at one screenshot and you'll know how beautiful this game is. It is especially amazing if you have an HDTV. If you have multiple controllers and a few friends, this game can entertain you for countless hours, and if you are motivated by unlockables, this game will addict you for a good 30+ hours even without friends.

This game is only for the patient, who are willing to develop themselves to it. I would also recommend Ninja Gaiden Black, an excellent action title from the same developer (for those of you who still have an old Xbox).

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