Dead or Alive 4 (Xbox 360) > Reviews > A Revamped Fighter - Dead Or Alive 4

Author's product rating:   

Playability & Enjoyment	Excellent - very playable game
Addictiveness	Compulsive
Graphics	Excellent
Difficulty & Complexity	A difficult game - needs a lot of patience
Value for money	Good value

Advantages:	Shows Off Graphics On The Xbox 360, Perfect Fighter
Disadvantages:	Online Problems On Occasions

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It's back after the great game that was Dead Or Alive Ultimate, the original 2 games that came out in Japan. Dead Or Alive 4 follows the events of the Dead Or Alive 3 tournament, where Ayane had to make a hard decision to battle her father now turned demonic foe, in order to bring peace to the world. But now a new threat has been unleashed into the world. Alpha-152 is the enemy, and she has been granted the DNA from one of the fighters, Kasumi. Through genetic progress Alpha has gained the attributes of the best fighters of the world and is stronger than anything that has been encountered before. It is up to the world fighters to try and put a stop to the ultimate threat, before it is too late.

The game features all the old favourites, plus 4 new characters. There is Kokoro, a Geisha in training who is questioning if it is the lifestyle for her. There is Elliot, an English child who has become apprentice to the kung-fu master GenFu. Then there is La Mariposa, a female wrestler with a Latino edge, and also is the heated rival to Tina with the more traditional style of wrestling. Finally, Team Ninja have combined their powers with Bungie (Makers of the Halo series), to create a new character, SPARTAN-458. She, is just like Master Chief from the halo series and is a very mysterious character, designed to be an additional bonus to all the hardcore fans who play the game fully through.

The game is very similar to Dead Or Alive 3 in the sense it has Story Mode, Survival, Time Attack, Team Battle and Sparring mode, and from a glance, it could look very boring and easy to complete in a day. However, thanks to the new innovation of the 360, the achievement system, you now have tasks that you can pursue to gain gamerpoints and have bragging rights on the game. For example, one of the achievements is to complete story mode with every character. This could take a day or two to complete. Then there is collect every costume. This one is brilliant as you can do time attack mode to get them, and each time you complete it, you get a nice new costume for the character. There are some comedy costumes; some of my favourites being the scuba diving costume that Bayman can wear, as it is just random. I have yet to get all the achievements, which is a good thing, as I am always coming back for more, trying to excel.

Online is a totally different aspect. You need to be good to play online, as the level of opponent is tough. You need to go offline and practice on the sparring mode before you take on these professionals, and brush up on blocking the punches and kicks, then perfecting the entire set of counter moves. Most of all, you must be able to anticipate the moves. The online mode has a ranking system determined by how many points you have. You start off at a C grade, and depending on how good you are, means you'll either get a grade promotion or demotion. For every grade promotion, you'll get an achievement, as will you if you get demoted, which you do not want, so try not to lose too much. It can be really enjoyable to play in a room and get on a good winning streak. I got a winning streak of 22 wins, and I felt like I was almost capable of beating anyone, until complacency kicked in, and now I am fighting to become great at the game again.

This game has 2 main problems for me. The first is offline, where the game can prove to be too hard. It is fine for me, as I love to rise to the challenge, but for the beginner, it could pose a major problem, and for some, may even force a controller to slam in the wall. My advice is to practice. This is a game about perfection where every move should be executed with accuracy and unpredictability so the opponent can't counter your moves. My second problem is the reliability of an online match. Many times have I been a victim of losing because the match has been laggy. This is usually the problem of the person I'm facing, because they have a slow connection, or are lagging it on purpose so they get an easy win. You will have to get used to this, and in order to overcome this it is usually better to make your own room, ensuring it is your fault if the connection is the problem.

Apart from that though, I would rate this game one of the must buys for the Xbox 360 at the moment, as it is the only fighting game out at the moment (Rumble Roses XX doesn't count in my opinion, it's a wrestling game), and it also delivers what many games don't, that is a nice looking, easy to learn, difficult to master style of play. If you have some cash lying around, use it to get this, and if you have an HD-TV, I thoroughly would recommend this to you, as it delivers one of the sharpest games graphics wise, although the graphics are also brilliant on standard televisions.

One note for potential buyers, you must have a TV capable of running PAL-60, otherwise the colours disappear and becomes monotone, like my friend's TV, which wasn't good at all.