Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox) > Reviews (13)

-(Game Information)-
Name:Dead Or Alive 3
Publisher:Microsoft Game Studios
Developer:Team Ninja
Genre:3D Fighting
Release Date:Mar 14, 2002
Age Rating:11+ for mature sexual themes and violence
Number Of Players:1-4 players
Online:no
ONLY ON XBOX

-(History)-
Team Ninja is a side-company of Tecmo, whom are the creators of the Dead Or Alive series. There are three things you can say you get with the DOA fighting games:amazing graphics, big boobed women and a great fighting system. Starting in 1996 on the arcades, DOA has pretty much been the underdog of the 3D fighting game genre, as it takes a sidebench for other figting games like Tekken, Soul Caliber and Virtua Fighter. DOA3 was one of the Xbox launch titles alongside games like Halo, Oddworld:Munches Oddysee, a PC-to-Xbox port of Max Payne and more. But did it stand out? Does pretty graphics mean an awesome game? Or will the game feel shallow? Well let's find out.

-(The Controls)-

Control-wise, the game is pretty much spot on. Strikes can be done with the Y (punch) and B (kick) buttons. Guarding can be done with the X button and grabbing can be done with the A button. You can also press these buttons in combinations to perform a variety of combos. Moving can be done with the D-Pad or the Left-Analog stick. You can do a variety of movements, including moving forward/backwards, crouching or free stepping. The controls can be hard to do on the D-Pad, but you'll get used to them.

-(The Gameplay)-
DOA3 plays pretty much like it's predecessors. You'll have access to a kick and punch move as well as a guard move. But you won't just have those two moves. You can perform combos by pressing these buttons in different order, e.g. pressing X three times in a row will give you a triple kick combo. Also, if you press different buttons on the D-Pad you can perform even more moves with each direction. That's a lot of moves! The move system is quite deep, with a lot of attacks, moves and combos.

While the most deep system seems to be within the move system, the countering system is actually much more deep. That seems to be the thing you need to learn the most. One thing that has always remained in the DOA series is it's deep countering system, which is basically when you catch your enemies punches and kicks and perform a move to counter them and damage them. While many fighters have done this before, most of them only let certain characters perform reversals. But DOA3 is different as it lets any fighter counter any move, which is good for newbies and great for rowdy buddies looking for a challenge.

But perhaps the best thing about the game is the interactive environments. If there's a wall behind your enemy, you can smash them into if. If there's a window behind your enemy, you can push them through it. Even if there's a hundred foot drop to another cliff behind them, you can push them off and slam them down to the ground. Any fighting game could have could have interactive environments, but DOA3 executes this better than any other fighter.

The feel of dropping down a hundred feet off a cliff feels incredible, and even smashing an opponent into a wall feels pretty satisfying.

There are a few modes in DOA3. The main mode is the storymode. This is like storymodes in any other 3D fighting game. It's quite similar to the storymode found in Tekken 4. You play through around 7 matches. Most of these matches only have the fighters talking smack to each other at the begining, but there are some in-engine cutscenes which help add some background info on why these fighters are in the tournament. When you finish the storymode, you get a gorgeous looking cutscene which doesn't make a whole lot of sense but are either cool or appealing to the 'perverts' in gaming as there's a couple of naughty scenes. Though there's no full on nudity, as then the game would of been rated much higher than 11+, there's references that are there.

Aside from the main storymode, there's the standard 3D fighting game modes including the time attack mode where you have to play through the main storymode as quick as you can, survival mode where you have to defeat as many enemies as you can before dying and there's the team battle mode feature in Tekken 3 where you can have up to 5 fighters in one team and the first team to defeat all the members wins. There's also a sparring mode. This is like the practise mode found in Tekken 4, only it was executed much better here. You can either just beat the crap out of someone for as long as you want or you can actually learn all moves for a fighter, which is nice to get people use to DOA3. If you haven't played a DOA game before then you'll be best starting here thanks to an excellent sparring mode.

But the real fun comes in the multiplayer, particularly in the tag matches. Tag match was featured in the previous game where there's two people on one team and you can tag members in at each time. You can also perform double team moves like in Tekken Tag where you both attack the enemy, then the person tagged out goes and the other guy fights. Don't get me wrong, i had some fun with just one-on-one fights, but having four of my mates round beating the crap out of each other with a Bruce Lee rip-off, a drunk guy similar to Bo Rai Cho but not nearly as fat and doesn't puke at all, a assassin with a scuba diving suit and a huge biker dude trying to stop her daughter becoming an actor included in the match, those are the good times.

Sadly, the fighting system has one problem, which is that here are some character balancing issues. The smaller characters are harder to counter and fight much faster. But the bigger, slower characters are much harder to use, as they are countered much easier and lack the powerful juggling moves the faster characters have. This isn't quite as bad as it was in Conker:Live and Reloaded, but it can ruin some of the fun in multiplayer. But aside from that, DOA3 has a superb fighting system.

-(The Graphics)-
Graphically, DOA3 looks incredible! While it doesn't look quite as good as The Chronicles Of Riddick:Escape From Butcher Bay, it's an incredible showpiece for the Xbox's power.

The character models in DOA are simple, yet well animated and gorgeous to look at. The faces are really detailed but not too complicated, the character models look excellent but there's not too much and the hair animates really well. The girls giggling parts may be over the top, but at least the animate well. The environments are stunning. They take advantage of the Xbox, as there's no dirty looking textures, no pop-up (unless you're falling off the huge cliff as myst flies by you) and nothing bad to say about them. They're large, destruct excellently and are stunning. There's snowy areas, a martial arts dojo, the streets of Tokyo and much, much more. If there's any groans, it's that the fighters never look damaged. There's no scratches, no rips in the fighters clothes or no blood, even if the fighter has done something that could kill someone, like say fall off a 100 foot cliff. The frame-rate runs at a smooth 60 frames-per-second, which is astonishing considering the amount of detail.

-(The Sound)-
Soundwise, while nowhere near as good as the graphics, is appealing to the ears. If you like Anime then you'll be pleased to hear that the voice acting is all in Japanese with English subtitles. The younger crowd may not like this, but i didn't mind it at all. Hey, I'm used to it as other games like Blinx:The Time Sweeper and Panzer Dragoon Orta have been voiced in other languages. Anyways the music is spot on. The music is this tempo, up-beat music that has a techno vibe. If you look on the back of the box you'll see that Areosmith have done a few songs. Sadly, their music felt completely out of place and really doesn't suit the fighting game genre. DESPOSE OF IT NOW! The effects are great, as you'll hear bone crunching punches, explosions as your enemies hit gas canisters and more.

-(Replay Value)-
You can tell this a launch title, as sadly, DOA3 falls a little short here. The main story mode can be finished in a few hours with all the characters, and there's only two unlockable characters to unlock, though there are a total of 16 characters, with three new to the series who are Brad Wong, a sort of rip-off of Bo Rai Cho; Christy, an asassin with white hear and a huge bust and Hitomi, a Kaarate Master who you woudln't of though to be in that role. These characters are all a nice addition to the series. And the movies are gorgeous to look at and worth unlocking, even if they make no sense. Plus there's a lot of unlockable costumes to unlock as well. There's a few other modes to keep you busy, but if you don't have mates to play on multiplayer with, then this could only last you a week if you play a lot throughout the days. But if you can get your mates around and have four controllers, the tag match alone could last you days. But seeing as DOA:Ultimate has online play and has DOA1+2 then more fun could come from that version. But still, seeing as this is going away cheaply, this has good value.

-(Score)-
Controls=9
Gameplay=9
Graphics=10
Sound=8
Replay Value=7
Overall Score=8.

6

-(Ending Comments)-
DOA 3 is an great achievement. Amazing graphics, a fast fighting engine, great controls, good sound and a size able amount of modes make this recommendable to anyone who loves fighting games, or just wants to see women jumping around. I brought this looking for a great fighting game that could top Tekken, and while it comes a bit short of Tekken, it is a great fighting game that really shows off the power of the Xbox. Seeing as the game is being sold quite cheaply on amazon, as it's being sold used and new from £2.75 and you could find it cheaper in your local shops, the slight lack of modes is easier to forgive. Overall, while not the best game on the Xbox, DOA3 is a game that is excellent for a launch title.

-(If You Like This I'd Suggest)-
Soul Caliber
Tekken
Virtua Fighter
Mortal Kombat
Soul Caliber

-(Where You Can Buy It)-
Amazon:Used and new from £2.75