Dead Or Alive: Ultimate
You remember fun, right? Having a laugh when playing games? Well, you?ve come to the right place. Let me introduce you to Leon?
Punching people in the face is a long established genre, especially when you talk about one on one fighting. From Yie Ar Kung Fu all the way up to Virtua Fighter 4, many a night has been spent waggling joysticks to pull off that messy super combo finish.
That is a problem. When developers design new titles, they design them for those joystick wagglers. These experienced, skilful wagglers who know all the best moves to pull off at the best times. Normal people haven?t a clue what to do. There are rarely good training modes in these types of games, so the only way to learn is to get beaten. Hard and constantly.
Welcome to the skill-deficient fighting game that any slack jawed faggot can enjoy. Button bashing seems to work, and there doesn?t seem an awful lot of depth to the fighting. Well done, you just punched someone down the Great Wall of China. Look, boobies!
Just because a game is easy to pick up doesn?t mean it doesn?t have depth. Comparisons to Street Fighter et al are inevitable, but moot. DOA does not try to be a technical fighting game; it tries to be a fun fighting game. It excels at being fun.
This is a remake. No, don?t go running for the hills. It?s actually one and a bit remakes. The package includes both the original DOA (exactly how it used to look), and DOA 2 in funky Xbox-o-vision. In layman?s terms DOA is pretty much the same, DOA 2 has been hit in the face with the funky stick and dressed by Jonathan Ross.
Aside from the usual generic face beating combos, the hook of the DOA series is the counter system. Time a direction and button press right (for high attacks, low attacks, mid punches and mid kicks) and you turn the opponents move against them, resulting in tons of damage and a great big smile of satisfaction all over your face. Even a newcomer can do well against a decent player because of the massive damage these counters do. This makes the game either fun and open, or random and rubbish depending on how much Virtua Fighter you have played in your lifetime.
Inevitably I have to talk about the graphics. They do look fantastic and seeing the game in motion puts across the kinetic force that has been the DOA series trademark. Those blows hit, and they hurt.
The environments are slickly designed and look great, until you manage to smash that lovely looking concrete slab with someone?s skull. Yes folks, no pointless backgrounds here. Using the environment to your advantage is a useful tactic, and punching someone off a 25 foot drop into a taxi retains the same joy no matter how many times you pull it off.
There are some flaws with the fighting itself. If you end up trapped into a corner, rather than lying flat you end up sitting prone. When you get up, the opponent is often able to time an attack so you cannot do anything about it. Rolling away is a possibility, but this leaves you open to a low throw. Some characters are overpowered, as Jann Lee, Ein, Hayabusa and Ayane tend to beat whoever faces them (discounting the insane option of unlocking the boss, Tengu). Yes, this can be levelled at other fighters, but when 5 out of 12 possible fighters are top tier, you can expect to hear a lot of ?WA-TA? if ever you go online.
Aside from the lick of paint to DOA 2, the biggest argument for splashing out in this is the new online play. That and the pervy unlockable costumes in DOA 2. Mention here has to go to some of the skimpiest costumes this side of DOA: XB. Helena dressed like a genie, Kasumi and Ayane as schoolgirls and Lei-fang in a panda t-shirt all do it for me. Don?t worry ladies, this game has some special stuff for the men as well. We get Zack and Ein in capes, and Bayman in a scuba suit. Well, back to those schoolgirl outfits?
The online play includes something a lot of people would like to see in future fighting game. The ability to spectate. You join a game, and enter a eoom of like minded peeps. Generally, you start at the bottom, and wait your turn to play. While you wait, you get to watch the others beat each other round the chops. It is always good for a laugh watching others get smashed into the asphalt, especially when you can laugh. DOA is the type of game that doesn?t require a fancy arcade stick (that normally does not have a slot for the Xbox communicator). So you get to insult the keep away idiots, and praise the insane countering beasts. All while zooming in on particularly noteworthy areas of interest. Like the chest area.
A wide variety of modes are available, from winner stops on to a team battle mode. Here, everyone splits into teams. Two people face off, and when one dies the next teammate steps into the battle. All those arguments about whether a team of Leon players can really beat Jann Lie, Ein and Ayane can now be settled. You can even have 4 C ranks facing off against one SS rank. Just expect to wipe the C ranks up with a broom afterwards.
Mention has to go to the ranking system, if only for being much better than the ?broken? one in Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection. Everyone starts off as a C. You get points for beating people. The higher their rank, the greater the amount points you can win. Get beat by a F rank, and watch your points disappear. This means you never get confused over who are the good players, and who aren?t so good but have played a lot of matches.
If you did not like DOA 1 or 2, there isn?t a lot here to recommend. It is almost the same game but with added Live functions. Almost all the effort has gone into DOA 2, the original seems very much like an added extra. Yet if you can?t cope with the demanded nature and steep learning curves of other fighters, or suffer from fat fingers like myself, why not try this?
As for the dirty tone of this article? Maybe I just have a filthy mind. I mean come on, have you seen those costumes? BOOBIES!
You remember fun, right? Having a laugh when playing games? Well, you?ve come to the right place. Let me introduce you to Leon?
Punching people in the face is a long established genre, especially when you talk about one on one fighting. From Yie Ar Kung Fu all the way up to Virtua Fighter 4, many a night has been spent waggling joysticks to pull off that messy super combo finish.
That is a problem. When developers design new titles, they design them for those joystick wagglers. These experienced, skilful wagglers who know all the best moves to pull off at the best times. Normal people haven?t a clue what to do. There are rarely good training modes in these types of games, so the only way to learn is to get beaten. Hard and constantly.
Welcome to the skill-deficient fighting game that any slack jawed faggot can enjoy. Button bashing seems to work, and there doesn?t seem an awful lot of depth to the fighting. Well done, you just punched someone down the Great Wall of China. Look, boobies!
Just because a game is easy to pick up doesn?t mean it doesn?t have depth. Comparisons to Street Fighter et al are inevitable, but moot. DOA does not try to be a technical fighting game; it tries to be a fun fighting game. It excels at being fun.
This is a remake. No, don?t go running for the hills. It?s actually one and a bit remakes. The package includes both the original DOA (exactly how it used to look), and DOA 2 in funky Xbox-o-vision. In layman?s terms DOA is pretty much the same, DOA 2 has been hit in the face with the funky stick and dressed by Jonathan Ross.
Aside from the usual generic face beating combos, the hook of the DOA series is the counter system. Time a direction and button press right (for high attacks, low attacks, mid punches and mid kicks) and you turn the opponents move against them, resulting in tons of damage and a great big smile of satisfaction all over your face. Even a newcomer can do well against a decent player because of the massive damage these counters do. This makes the game either fun and open, or random and rubbish depending on how much Virtua Fighter you have played in your lifetime.
Inevitably I have to talk about the graphics. They do look fantastic and seeing the game in motion puts across the kinetic force that has been the DOA series trademark. Those blows hit, and they hurt.
The environments are slickly designed and look great, until you manage to smash that lovely looking concrete slab with someone?s skull. Yes folks, no pointless backgrounds here. Using the environment to your advantage is a useful tactic, and punching someone off a 25 foot drop into a taxi retains the same joy no matter how many times you pull it off.
There are some flaws with the fighting itself. If you end up trapped into a corner, rather than lying flat you end up sitting prone. When you get up, the opponent is often able to time an attack so you cannot do anything about it. Rolling away is a possibility, but this leaves you open to a low throw. Some characters are overpowered, as Jann Lee, Ein, Hayabusa and Ayane tend to beat whoever faces them (discounting the insane option of unlocking the boss, Tengu). Yes, this can be levelled at other fighters, but when 5 out of 12 possible fighters are top tier, you can expect to hear a lot of ?WA-TA? if ever you go online.
Aside from the lick of paint to DOA 2, the biggest argument for splashing out in this is the new online play. That and the pervy unlockable costumes in DOA 2. Mention here has to go to some of the skimpiest costumes this side of DOA: XB. Helena dressed like a genie, Kasumi and Ayane as schoolgirls and Lei-fang in a panda t-shirt all do it for me. Don?t worry ladies, this game has some special stuff for the men as well. We get Zack and Ein in capes, and Bayman in a scuba suit. Well, back to those schoolgirl outfits?
The online play includes something a lot of people would like to see in future fighting game. The ability to spectate. You join a game, and enter a eoom of like minded peeps. Generally, you start at the bottom, and wait your turn to play. While you wait, you get to watch the others beat each other round the chops. It is always good for a laugh watching others get smashed into the asphalt, especially when you can laugh. DOA is the type of game that doesn?t require a fancy arcade stick (that normally does not have a slot for the Xbox communicator). So you get to insult the keep away idiots, and praise the insane countering beasts. All while zooming in on particularly noteworthy areas of interest. Like the chest area.
A wide variety of modes are available, from winner stops on to a team battle mode. Here, everyone splits into teams. Two people face off, and when one dies the next teammate steps into the battle. All those arguments about whether a team of Leon players can really beat Jann Lie, Ein and Ayane can now be settled. You can even have 4 C ranks facing off against one SS rank. Just expect to wipe the C ranks up with a broom afterwards.
Mention has to go to the ranking system, if only for being much better than the ?broken? one in Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection. Everyone starts off as a C. You get points for beating people. The higher their rank, the greater the amount points you can win. Get beat by a F rank, and watch your points disappear. This means you never get confused over who are the good players, and who aren?t so good but have played a lot of matches.
If you did not like DOA 1 or 2, there isn?t a lot here to recommend. It is almost the same game but with added Live functions. Almost all the effort has gone into DOA 2, the original seems very much like an added extra. Yet if you can?t cope with the demanded nature and steep learning curves of other fighters, or suffer from fat fingers like myself, why not try this?
As for the dirty tone of this article? Maybe I just have a filthy mind. I mean come on, have you seen those costumes? BOOBIES!
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