Techtite Game Reviews ---

It is more detrimental to Team Ninja than gamers, that Dead or Alive 4 was not released as a "launch title." It has no major advancements to its story mode, a frustrating AI for its single player modes, a merely acceptable multiplayer mode, and aside from a special "Halo character," it has too few worthwhile secrets to unlock, to keep gamers playing. Yet had it been released during 360's launch, it would've been seen as "untouchable" because to insult a launch title would damage sales of a new system...or so some gamers think. Whatever. All I know is, 360 fans are too busy playing at least half a dozen better 360 games to not confess the truth: DOA 4 is disappointing. Sorry, kids. It just is.

Mind you; "disappointing" does not mean "thumbs down." It's not that it's a bad game; it's just less than it should've been, especially after months of hype. It's an acceptable fighting game that is, in the end, the first fighting game for the 360, and that is all. Think of it like a grade school essay that might get a "B" from some teachers, but from us it would get a "C+" along with the note, "I know you can do better."

Let's begin with "story mode." Granted; few people play a fighting game for a story. Yet stories do tend to develop game characters as more than mere play pieces on a child's board game. It is more fun to play as, say, Gen Fu in DOA 3, when you learn that he is fighting so his granddaughter's life can be saved. That's a fight worth winning to me. Compare this to Hitomi in DOA 4, who to look at her "story," beat up no less than eight characters just so she could go home and make a salad. I kid you not. Imagine fighting endlessly for survival of your chosen character, only to be "rewarded" by watching her make a salad. What's worse; this turns out to actually be one of the most exciting story modes of the game. Sorry, but I must give thumbs-down to this game's story mode.

Perhaps Story mode would've at least been fun to play --or any single player mode, for that matter-- if Team Ninja didn't use the Ninja Gaiden school of difficulty. I don't mind difficult games, but at least leave the AI respectable, and please, do not cheat! The final "boss" in nearly all single-player bouts is a total cheater-cheater-faker, who will use a super power move at the eleventh hour and win a fight even if you're at 75% health and she is at a mere 5% health. That's frustratingly unfair.

Mind you, people play fighting games with friends. So, yes, it deserves saying that as a 2+ player game, DOA 4 succeeds...if just by default. There really is no big requirements to a fighting game aside from special moves, good animation, and if possible, cool places to fight. The latter is what pulls DOA 4 into thumbs up territory because of the realism of the environments. A fight on the city streets leads to the added difficulty of avoiding oncoming traffic! A fight in a sort of "Jurassic Park Beach" leads to the occasional raptor darting from the bushes, and it even causes damage if it hits you. A fight in a vegetable mart leads to carts jostled and vegetables and fruit flying all around you. Cool.

Yes, there's also that "Halo" character to unlock. But let me tell you a few things here. For one, this "Spartan" is female, so she is not the lead character from Halo. The thought is akin to someone telling you a James Bond character will be in the next Splinter Cell, only to find out it's Miss Moneypenny. Furthermore, "Spartan" has no story, which is pretty unforgivable when the story would involve...Halo! Yet fans of Halo owe it to themselves to play Timed Mode as a separate character, with "Spartan" unlocked. When seen as an opponent, Spartan makes this totally cool entrance, aboard a Halo-like hangar bay, complete with Halo theme music in the background. One small problem: in order to unlock Spartan, you must complete all story modes. So get ready for lots of salad before you can play as Halo's Spartan. Lots and lots of salad!

Not that Spartan is the only new character, although she's obviously the most interesting. There is "La Mariposa," however, with her mask hiding her identity, and yes; when unmasked in story mode, it is rather amusing, even if not a "story"...exactly. Aside from Spartan, she's my favorite new character. As for Kokoro, she's well animated, sure, and yet her fighting moves are practically worthless. Most characters have triple kicks and quadruple punches that can send an opponent flying across the room, with just a simple 3-button combo. By comparison, all but Kokoro's most complex moves are simple kicks or punches that could leave gamers thinking of her like DOA's new punching bag. Avid gamers may see limited moves as an added challenge. I saw it as annoying.

The only new male character is Elliot, who to be frank, is now my least favorite DOA character. I don't know what's harder; trying to feel "tough" when beating up a little blond boy, or trying to act tough when playing as a little blond boy. His story mode shows you why this kid belongs in DOA at all, though overall, they could've made him more appealing.

True; this was always meant as a multiplayer game, not a single player game. So I guess I can forgive the fact that single-player modes are so banal. But there really isn't much to review in multiplayer, which I guess is a review by itself. How much more fun would multiplayer be, if you could unlock fun stuff in single-player, then try it out online with friends? Aside from Spartan, there really isn't anything to reward you for continued play. This goes double, if not triple, with new costumes, where many unlocked "new" costumes...aren't. Many so-called "new" costumes are the exact same outfit with new sleeves. Yes, you read that right. One costume has gray sleeves, while the "new" outfit has white sleeves. Imagine playing story mode again, only to discover your reward is a new pair of sleeves. I don't know how pointless a story mode can be. No, actually, I can. Anyone for salad...?

I guess the overall reason for my "C+"-grade reaction to this game is the lack of inspiration. Mortal Kombat Deception went to the outer limits to invent new ways to fight, and a whole (literally) "graveyard" of extras to unlock. Soul Calibur 3 let you design your own characters(!), to such an extent that you can make a new fighter that resembles a character from a completely different game! Dead of Alive 4 is DOA 3 with better graphics, a steeper difficulty curve...and salad. Lots of salad.

Yes, I know this is all contrary to what you might have read online, at many a web game "magazine." Yet those sites rely on, shall we say, greasing the gears that feed them, so yeah, suddenly, Dead or Alive 4 is the "game of the month" at best or "four out of five stars" at worst. In defense of such spin control; it's hardly a bad game. Yet get ready to hear a whole lot of backpedaling from major game sites when praising the next big fighting game for not making this-or-that mistake that Dead or Alive 4 made. Gee; if it had so many flaws, why was it "game of the month," then? Good question. I can provide no such answers, because I can only speak the truth as I see it. That said: Dead or Alive 4 is pretty good overall, but it's also a disappointment. Sorry, fanboys, it just is.

	Final Rating : Small Crater. An acceptable fighter game whose most major flaw is that it isn't as "flawless" as early hype boasted it to be.
For more on this site's ratings system, click here.

All text, Title graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite, copyright 1999-2006; all rights reserved. Pictures of product(s) are used only for the purpose of review (and to make shopping for product easier); they by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite and the distributors of that product. For further "legalese" & disclaimers, click here...

Techtite's X-Box 360 Reviews!

Dead or Alive 4

A Techtite Review