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Amazing graphics and fighting styles

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 23
Date: December 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Sure, we've been spoiled recently with incredible graphics in fighting games. Tekken, on the Playstation 2, is one of my favorites, with its shimmering waters and floating leaves. It's pretty amazing that barely a year later, it's been blown out of the water!

First, I have to admit that the 'story mode' is very cheezy. Well, that's the same for any fighting game. You choose one of the many characters, choose an outfit, and jump into battles. Your person says a few words, the enemy says a few words, and they fight. With some good button-mashing, you can zip through any story in no time at all.

That's not what these games are built for, though. They're best when played multiplayer against a real human opponent! The story mode and other training modes are just to get you to learn the moves. And this is where it truly begins to shine! There are a variety of fighting styles represented in the game, and each one has a wide number of moves. They're truly amazing once you get them down, and the graphics are incredible. Their movements are smooth and fluid, from the slice of the hand to the bouncing of the pom-poms.

The backgrounds are true eye candy. There's a level where you're playing surrounded by aquariums, and even the floor you're on is the glass top of a fish tank! Another level has you fighting in the snow - and your feet mess up the snowdrifts! You can fight in a candle-surrounded room, with beautiful flickering fire, and knock them over with your opponent. Smash through a wall, and you're out on the roof! Roll off the roof, and you're down in the courtyard! It's truly like watching a fighting animation on tv, but you can control the action.

Half the fun is figuring out the secrets of each level. Can you smash through the trees? Can you throw your enemy through that plate glass window? The water splashes with each step you take, the electric fence zaps your enemy, the neon sign flickers as you fall against it.

This game definitely shows off the incredible capability of the X-Box, and is a must-have for anyone who loves fighting games. Even if you don't currently, this game might convince you why they're so much fun!

Amazing Graphics, Okay Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: November 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Okay, so we all know that Halo is the best Xbox game out there. But we need more then one game to play on our shiny new Xboxs right?

DOA3 is a sheep wrapped in wolf's clothing (well a very cool sheep anyways). I'm not the biggest fan of fighting games, but I found this title to be quite entertaining. From a purely gameplay standpoint it certainly holds up. Not the best fighting game in the world, but a damn solid one.

The really exceptional part about DOA3 is the graphics. Animation is smooth and fluid with breathtaking effects (yes I know it's an overused term, but the graphics really are amazing). This has to be the most graphically inspired game I have ever played. If your looking for a showpiece title, this one qualifies easily. The anime style characters are nice to look at, and the level design is borderline obsessive. Seriously, levels look confined at first until you knock your opponent out of a window and see them fall 100 feet to the ground and continue to fight.

If you like 3D fighting games or if your looking for a showpiece title then by all means pick this one up. However, its hardly a must have title. Lots of fun sure, but not nearly as much replay value as Halo. Of course nothing in my recent experience has the replay or fun factor of Halo but as far as a great looking 3D fighter goes this game rocks.

This game just absolutely rocks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: June 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

-Chad Steingraber-
-Paradigm/Infogrames-
-Level Designer/Game Designer/3D Artist on The Terminator: Dawn of Fate-

The graphics are intense...and so are the fights! This has to be the best fighting game to date. How can you not like half dressed women (with obvious enhancements) duke'n it out on beautiful landscapes? The beach stage is awesome with realistic water rippling up on the shores. The forest is way cool with flowing leaves. And all the multi-tier stages where you end up kicking the opponet seemingly miles downward.....awesome! This game is coolness beyond cool. It's a ton of fun when playing against other people, as single player can get a bit boring after awhile. The story mode is fairly short....but you get individual movies for each character. What's this....a shower scene?? Yah, well, it's DOA3.....and it is smokin'!!

Downright Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: December 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There are two points which make this the top fighting game for me. The first point is the system. The system is simplicity itself. It's easy to learn, but difficult to master the nuances. One of the things that really sets this apart is the great counter system. Other games also offer a counter system, but it's usually reserved for specific characters which tend to be the most difficult characters to master in those games. In DOA3, all of the characters can do counter moves. This makes defense just as important and exciting as offense. In other games, you just sit back and block until it's your turn. Boring! The idea that any punch you throw could be countered adds a lot of excitement to the game.

The other point that makes this game a winner for me is that it's just beautiful. This is one of those games you can set on automatic display and just watch it. The characters are well designed, and the interactive environments just take your breath away.

Overall, this is the best fighter you can buy. I'll be lining up for the next ne when it comes out.

One of the top fighters that still stands tall even now.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When the Xbox launched, it wasn't Oddworld or Halo that showed off what it could do graphically. It was this little beauty here- Dead or Alive 3. Even in this day and age with graphic behemoths like Ninja Gaiden and Panzer Dragoon Orta, DoA3 holds up and still looks gorgeous. But the game isn't all graphics as many people have you to believe. And it isn't just pretty women either, though there are pleanty of those included. DoA3 is a solid fighter. While it may not be as deep as say Virtua Fighter 4, it stands its ground, and anyone can go into it with no knowledge of the fighting engine or previous games and have fun.

I was one of the lucky ones to play DoA2 on the Dreamcast a few years ago, so I knew what to expect with the sequel. If you haven't played a DoA before, it's a simple fighter. No weapons, no fireballs, no flashy 93 hit combos, just old fashioned (though I use that term very loosely) fighting. All the combat is very fast. 5 moves can be done in just one second if you know what you're doing. But don't expect to be overwhelemed by endless strings of attacks when playing the main game. The AI isn't very impressive. I breezed through the Story Mode in about 6 minutes when I first started playing, and only had trouble when playing as characters I didn't care for much or the new ones. The last boss confused me at first since you're fighting him at a weird angle, and the movement is altered. Where right = forward and such. Story, of course, is the main game. Pick a fighter and go through their story, though there isn't a whole lot of plot going on here. It's a lot clearer than DoA2 was, what little plot that one had. At least this time they managed to put in longer scenes before plot sensitive fights (Hayate vs Hayabusa, Ayane vs Kasumi, etc.). Then there's the Survival mode, where you fight opponent after opponent until you're defeated. I have no idea how long this can last, as I usually get taken out after 18 fights. In this mode you can get special items that boost your score, and if you make the top 10 list, you could unlock one of, if not the, strongest fighters from DoA2. Simply enter your name as EIN (all capitals) and he'll be selectable in all modes but Arcade since he's an alternate version of Hayate. Time attack is here too, where you go through Story as fast as you can. It's a nice feature but nothing that special. And of course Versus (with Tag Team!) and Training.

What I liked are the few special bonuses. Whenever you go through Story Mode, the ending for each character you go through as becomes viewable at the main menu. Gee, I wonder why so many people like Christie's ending so much. Going through Time Attack, Survival and getting Silver Xbox items or defeating x number of opponents also gives you a few new costumes for Zack, Ayane, Ein and Kasumi. Unfortunately, you need one of the Xbox demo/Exhibition discs in order to get all the extra costumes for the other characters. You can find these on eBay, but you can also wait until Dead or Alive: Ultimate comes out, which comes with the disc. And pressing the Y button when selecting Kasumi lets you fight as her with her hair down. Personally, I hated her with the ponytail, so this option was nice. It always made her head look smaller.

I don't even need to get into the graphics here. You've seen footage in the commercials and pictures in magazines and on sites. Almost every picture you see is of actual game footage. The only things that look better than it are the ending FMV scenes. Animations are fluid, and the abnormal bouncing breasts from the first two games are gone. They still bounce, just not all over the place when the characters aren't active (ie- standing like in DoA). Mouth movements match when the characters speak, another great little detail they touched up on. And backgrounds are as beautiful as ever. And how cool is it when the camera follows your opponent when you knock them out a window from a tall building, following them get electrocuted on a sign on the way to the ground, then watching them thud on the pavement below? There isn't a lot to say about the graphics, as they're perfect. And untouched for the first year of the Xbox. Flawless.

The soundtrack for 3 isn't anywhere near as cool as 2's. It's missing a lot of the more techno tracks that helped make 2 so memorable. But it has its gems here and there. And then there's Aerosmith. They play the opening theme and 2 other tracks. I've never liked Aerosmith. They've overrated and need to stop coming back with albums, expecting people to worship them for coming back for the first time in...2 years. I skip the opening movie as fast as I can whenever I start up DoA3 as to not hear that horrid Aerosmith song. It doesn't fit in the game. Luckily, all the voices are the same as they were in the previous installment, and fit the characters perfectly. The girls don't have the usual annoying high pitched voices that you hear in ungodly numbers of anime and other Japanese games, and all the men sound strong. Plus they all have great delivery and don't get over dramatic on lines. Sadly, the subtitles are off as usual. "Ni-san!" somehow translates to "Hayate!" and other lines are mistranslated as well. This won't bug you if you don't know the language, but it's noticable and lazy.

I still play DoA3 from time to time as it's a great fighting game. I'll even say that this is the second game that helped out the Xbox when it launched 3 years ago. For a modern fighting game, it isn't too violent, with no blood during gameplay. Just a few painful sounds here and there (Tina and Bass' wrestling moves. Ouch). Suggestive themes, well that's kind of a given when you see some of the outfits in here. But what surprises me is that this got a Teen rating, yet DoA Volleyball got an M. They have the same exact content aside from the fact that Volleyball has the girls in swimsuits. DoA3 right here has slitght nudity in one of the ending FMVs, and so does Volleyball...but they get different ratings. Stupid. But if you're looking for a good fighting game to add to your library, or have been wanting to get back in the genre, DoA3's a great start and you could do a lot worse (like Tao Feng. Ugh).

Beautiful game, but better suited for certain guys

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: November 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The DOA series is notorious for 2 things... extremely gorgeous graphics in its backgrounds and its buxom fighting women. The fighting is smooth with some spectacular moves, but the gameplay mechanics remains to be a button-mashing game exactly as previous DOA incarnations. It carries the same flaws in its fighting engine that DOA2 had. The most notable of these flaws is the reversal system being implemented. While the reversal command is simple to do, there is no escape when an attack is countered and the resulting damage is still too much. However, as mentioned earlier, the gameplay often will degenerate into erratic button-mashing due to the game's fighting formula, meaning that even very practiced DOA players will fall more than periodically to a beginner who is just frantically hitting buttons.

The creator of this series, Itakagi, has traditionally focused less on gameplay though. DOA's strengths will lie in its incredible fighting stages and extremely well modeled characters.

DOA3 does take a step up in the graphics department compared to DOA2, but the innovation stops there. A few additional new characters, with unfortunately the same fighting engine.

So whether to buy this game really comes down to one thing...

Gamers who enjoy beautiful CGI girls, this is for you. If Itakagi were to take away this element from this fighting game, popularity would definately drop drastically. He knows what guys like though, given that Japan is famous for drawing seductive animated females.

Yet, if you're a serious gamer who wants a fighting game with depth in its gameplay... it would be much better to pass this up.

Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best)

Presentation ****
- Good loading times, cool attitude
Gameplay **
- Unimpressive fighting engine, haphazardly press buttons and still look like a good player
Graphics *****
- Excellent framerate, massive and beautiful environments, fluid character animation
Sound ****
- Very good soundtrack, cool voices, background noises are well implemented
Lasting Appeal **
- Multiple characters to play with, lack of solid gameplay will soon bore the more serious fighting gamers

(final rating at the top is not an average)

I'm definitely getting this one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: October 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Played this game at my college buddy's house this past weekend -- he's a program manager with Microsoft and had just got an XBox (man it's quite big!). This game is awesome!!! The graphics and gameplay are lightyears ahead of the Street Fighter series (the last kung-fu games I played). The fighting motion is smooth, the female characters makes you drool, and the gameplay is near perfect. The scenic design is truly breath-taking. Now I'm definitely going to get an Xbox with this game. See the premiere issue of the Xbox Magazine for more cool screenshots.

Some Like It Hot

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If your into the fighting genre, then this is definately your game. I was a fan of DOA back when it was first out on a console on the playstation into the Dreamcast then PS2, and now finally on the XBOX. So I might be a little bias, but I really feel that it has the best fighting engine, with the counters and realism. Given alot of the better fighting games are exclusive with a system, with the PS2 having tekken and Virtual Fighter, but DOA3 still matches much better then either one. Sure it might have it's certain "appeal" but if you really give the game a serious chance you'll find that it can be alot of fun. Single player, like most fighting games is satisfactory, but the multiplayer is set up really well, with tag matches and great environments. The graphics are without a doubt better then anything out there. Team Ninja is really a remarkable developer, and has my support in everything they do. Even Soul Caliber 2 doesn't come close to matching the beauty of DOA, which came out a good year or two after DOA. Until tecmo publishes another sequel, I doubt there will be a better 3-D fighting game out there.

Definitely the best fighting game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: November 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First off, fighting (kung-fu) games are not for everyone. The gameplay can get repetitive quickly, because basically all you do is punch the buttons in order to hit the other guy. Games like DOA 3 have characters with different fighting styles, but if you are not into fist fights, you'd better stay away and save the money for something else.

That said, DOA 3 is more alive on arrival than dead. In fact I think it's the best fighting game ever made. No, I don't get bought out by great graphics only, but one has to admit the graphics is simply breath-taking, and more so than any previous games on any previous consoles (plus GameCube). The background adds so much enjoyment to the overall gaming experience, and the smooth gameplay showcases the prowess of the Xbox system.

What I truly like is how much fun I have with the fightings. There are many characters to choose from and each one has his/her fascinating style. While I don't think you can learn kung fu this way, you are free to experiment with various styles. And it's even better when playing with friends.

In short, if you enjoy fighting games, this is *the* one to have.

The Ultimate Fighter Game For Your XBox

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like a kid in a candy store, I just can't have enough of DOA3. The game looks so sweet it makes my eyes ache. DOA3 has established itself as a formidable contender in the fighting game genre, along side with other great titles like Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Street Fighter. This installment on the XBox IS the best looking fighter game currently available.

Graphics 10
Tecmo's Team Ninja has really showed off XBox graphics power with DOA3. I don't want to be repetitive, just let me say every graphical aspects of this game, i.e. character models, background, lighting, shadows, different effects, etc., are Perfect. Everything runs smoothly and beautifully. One thing worth mentioning is that XBox has great built-in anti-alias function. Most of other XBox games "look" and "feel" dull and blend because anti-alias blurs out sharp edges, so the 3D models don't "stand out" as much. Miraculously, Team Ninja utilizes this anti-alias technology discretely and make the proper things look "stands out" and others properly blended into the backgroud.

Sound 7.5
Music and Sound Effects are well done. I cannnot say I am impressed with the soundtrack, or that any of the sound effects are special. The game sounds good... I don't believe Team Ninja put too much emphasis on the sound department.

Gameplay 8.5
Button mashing? Skills? I do not think it is relevent. Like many other games, you can invest a fraction of you life and perfect those 200 chained combos and whatnot, or you can just button mash! The game does provide those 2 options. Which ever way you choose to play your game, most importantly is that it's fun!

Value 9
Not as many features to be unlocked like other installments, but it still has extra goodies to keep you interested in discovering the whole game. The Tag Team mode can be a whole new game by itself because the tag attacks are fun and very well done. The recent release of Add-Ons Discs for North America consumers adds even more costumes (quality costumes, not chessy ones) to the game. When you want some quick fighting action, you can always come back to DOA3... or when you are extremely lonely, you can always come back for Tina.

Overall 9
I really like this game. It is FUN, and BEAUTIFUL. It is definitely worth purchasing if you own an XBox. I don't usually recommend purchasing a game; however, this game is SO SWEET to look at that you should just buy and play the game on "Watch Mode" to show off to yourself and your neighbors =). With what they have accomplished so far with DOA3, I can't wait for the next Team Ninja title on XBox.

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