Dead or Alive has risen to be one of the most popular fighting games, overcoming giants like Viruta Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur and others. The Dead or Alive series is over-the-top in almost every way, from outlandish bone-crushing moves, creative multi-tiered arenas, vivid scenery and costumes, and gorgeous women with exaggerated “breast physics”. The DOA babes are probably one of the reasons the series has reached such popularity.
The newest incarnation of Dead or Alive lives solely on the Xbox 360, whose powerful hardware provide some of the best visuals on the console to date. Team Ninja has packed more features and goodies into this release to keep gamers satisfied:
- Advanced countering system bring the fastest fighting action ever made for a home console
- Experience the DOA online world: from clans, play simultaneously in large groups, play in tournaments and chill out in the interactive DOA4 lobbies
- New characters include Kokora, La Mariposa and Eliot, plus the return of DOA3 favorites, Christie and Brad Wong
- Master level game design and unbelievable realistic graphics from the legendary development group, Team Ninja
- All new DOA environments interact with your deadly moves
- New revealing secrets from the dramatic and competitive world of DOA
Xbox Live system requirements: Paid subscription required for online multiplayer, co-op and some downloads. Some Xbox Live services require additional hardware (headset and camera) and fees.
The heart of every match is a contest between 2 fighters trying to knock each other out with various kicks, punches and combinations. Experienced players can block, counter, and even reverse an enemy’s attacks. The button-mashers are easily found and punished, as an easy counter system is implemented, although it takes timing to know when to execute them. There are nearly two-dozen different fighters available (some are hidden at first) and share similar basic moves.
The arenas stand out as much as the over-the-top characters. Interactive multi-level environments in DOA2, and kept building on this concept. Kick your opponents through windows, down stairs, and even holes in bridges. Also launch them over railings or into traffic, and arena animals like cheetas and dinosaurs.
There are many different options when choosing to experience Dead or Alive 4, all which are accessed from the main menu. Cycle through the mode you want and select it. Some choices have so many options that they require a sub-menu, like DOA Online.
Story Mode: Follow your chosen character and aim to complete their story. Your character must battle in a tournament against the computer and beat all the enemies to clear the game and reach the ending story.
Story mode is the best way to get acquainted with your fighters. Pick a fighter and climb your way through computer-controlled opponents to unlock cutscenes and an amusing final “movie”, which reveals some of the back-story of the character. Once these end movies are unlocked you can view them at any time from the main menu. The computer opponents are easy to beat in Story Mode, even for a button-masher, although the final battle is usually a bit tougher. One of the easy ways to unlock a bunch of costumes for your characters to impress your friends in multiplayer. At least you’ll LOOK like you’re an experienced player.
Time Attack Mode: Battle against the computer to clear the game with the best time. A single match consists of eight fights and a tag match five fights. A results screen is displayed when the game is cleared.
Versus Mode: You choose your opponent and the stage in this mode. You can fight against other players or the computer.
Survival Mode: Fight against computer opponents until your health runs out. After each round, your health recovers by a set amount. You receive points depending on your clear time and number of items obtained. Aim for the highest score before the game is over. Once you lose a battle the game is over.
Team Battle Mode: Form a tag team of up to seven characters and fight against other teams. You can fight against other players or the computer.
Set the computer up to react in different ways to your attacks:
- Com 1st action – sets the action the computer will perform, and will repeat that action until you tell it to do something else
- Com 2nd action – what the computer should do immediately after you attack, useful for sparring or holding.
- Counter – Every blow you land will result in a counter. You can learn how to react to these counters.
- Exercise – run thru the gamut of their moves, and prompts you how to complete them.
- Command List – popup list of all combos and moves your character has.
- Log Display – what buttons you’re pressing in real time.
- Reset Position – Reset back to original positions.
Watch Mode: Watch a computer vs. computer battle. The computer opponents continue to fight it out until you exit the mode.
User Mode: View detailed data on your performance such as win ration and number of battles won.
Battle Viewer: Playback saved replays.
Rankings: View rankings from Time Attack mode and Survival mode
As in all the previous DOA games, all of the characters speak fluent Japanese, including the American wrestlers. Everyone speaks fluent Japanese apparently, except for Master Chief, who doesn’t need subtitles. I really would have like to see some Engrish, such as “A Winner is You!”.
Alpha-152: isn’t a playable character, but is the final boss in nearly every story mode. Need to learn to counter often, and she only has a few combos.
Ayane: Devastating speed and clever fake-out animations. Strikes a lot and tries to confuse enemies. She can’t teleport like other ninjas, but makes up for it with added speed.
Bass: One huge mofo and is the father of Tina. He is an old-school wrestler and his size and strength really put the “smack-down” (pun intended) on opponents.
Bayman: An assassin and master of hand-to-hand fighting. He is brutal but has mid-level speed and has deadly combinations.
Christie: One of the fastest characters in the game. She has lots of rapid combos and can string small attacks together for ten-hit combos. Easy button-masher.
Brad Wong: The bane of my existence. He is the Drunken Master, and his attacks are very hard to predict. He moves in a way that may look non-threatening until you’re lying on the floor.
Ein: Same person as Hayate. Lost memory in DOA2.
Eliot: Another quick character. Combos can deal a good amoung of damage.
Gen Fu: Gen Fu is Eliot’s master, has similar skillsets.
Hayate: Adequate power, good speed and devious tricks. One of the hardest to learn He is quick, like other ninja characters and incorporates flips.
Helena: Difficult to unlock, requiring you to beat story mode with all 16 of the original characters. Quick striker, standard punch is followed by an arm flourish
Hitomi: Quick strike karate blows. Very fast and not very damaging.
Jann Lee: One of the best characters to play for the beginner. His attacks are fast, he deals a lot of damage, and his combos are easy to access. The button-mashers’ best friend.
Kasumi: She doesn’t rely on brute strength but has a wide away of quick strikes and teleportation moves to catch your enemy off guard.
Kokoro: A new addition to DOA. Her style is hesitation, throw the enemy off-balance. She is rather difficult to control and her basic moves won’t win any competitions by themselves.
La Mariposa: Translated into “The Butterfly”… does she sting like a bee? She is a luchadora that wears a mask like all the other Mexican Wrestlers. She uses more strikes than traditional wrestling moves. She has powerful legs and can use the environment to her advantage (if she is against a wall she can use some special moves to use the wall). She has some special moves that can only be used in the roped arena. Despite being American and a Mexican Wrestler she speaks fluent Japanese, too!
Leifang: More technical style of play. Not very powerful, but is able to throw opponents off balance by intercepting and shoving opponents.
Leon: Bruising punches and combo throws. Very straightforward with little finesse.
Spartan 458 (Nicole/Master-Chief): Not as versatile as the other characters, as most of her attacks are straightforward punches. She is basically Halos’ Master-Chief with a woman’s voice. Unlocking this character also unlocks her own arena to fight in (with plenty of vehicles to knock opponents into).
Tengu: once the end boss of Dead or Alive, but not so cool in DOA4. Unlocked I fyou beat the game in every character in Time Attack mode.
Tina: She is a wrestler, and it shows. Her moves include everything you’ve seen on WWF and likes to throw things. Many of her moves include high and medium puches, which are easily countered by an intermediate player.
Ryu Hayabusa: Super Ninja. Some of his moves are more difficult but not that complicated to pull off an impressive-looking move. Many players like him, so everyone is probably familiar with his moves.
Zack: He is a DJ / explorer / climber and is an unusual part of the DOA mix. He has mid-powerful combos and is more powerful with his legs. He is a little slower getting his attacks going.
Not like these guys need an excuse to get up and fight each other, here is a storyline that’s supposed to make sense of it all. It basically sets the stage for why the final boss is a glowing-translucent babe. Cutscenes from the Story Mode reveal little snippets from this tale, so knowing this helps make sense of it all. The plot is weak, much like the previous DOA stories, but who needs an excuse to fight?
Soon after the death of its founder, Fame Douglas, the ultranational organization DOATEC descended into a state of corrupt decay. However, it has now received a beautiful successor to its leadership: Helena, the child that Fame Douglas left behind. After losing both her father and her beloved mother to the darkness of consiprace, Helena has chosen to place herself in the middle of the maelstrom in order to put an end to the chain of tragedy once and for all.
Meanwhile, the man who holds the true power of DOATEC, Prof. Victor Donovan, has once again locked himself in the Bio Lab Core deep within the dan, dark bowels of the gigantic Tritower as he continues to covet his dream of creating the perfect human weapon. Its code name is Alpha-152 , and it is the result of the ultimate evolution of hyper-cloning technology, birthed from a DNA sample of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Kasumi.
On the other side of the world, the Mugen Tenshin Clan has gathered, a family of Ninjas that have suffered innumerable pain at the hads of DOATEC. The young leader of the clan, Hayate, his heart burning with the desire for revenge, has brough together the most powerful group on Ninjas known to man and given them one simple order:
“DOATEC must be destroyed!”
Now, as the 4th Dead or Alive Martial Arts tournament is in progress, the first feal rumblings of movement from Alpha-152 can be felt coursing through the magnificence of the Tritower complex. It is at this moment that these two great opposing powers, intertwined by fate, are destined to collide in a cataclysmic inferno of fire and smoke. This is the final battle, the one that will settle everything…
…at least until DOA5…
The graphics are absolutely amazing and is easily the best-looking Xbox 360 title right now. It’s hard to believe everything is rendered in real time, as it can sometimes be mistaken for a pre-rendered CG-animated movie on the level of Final Fantasy and the Animatrix.
The characters are easily recognizable from previous games, but have much better detail. Once you get past the novelty of the graphics and look at the gameplay, you’ll notice the game has changed for the better. The overly simplistic counter system has been replaced, and the characters are now harder to control and master. Instant recovery is not possible, and there are interactions with the environment. The button-mashers are now easily seperated from those with genuine ‘disciprine’.
The scenery actually takes part in strategy, and is not just something to look at. Knock people over tables, carts, cars, walls, etc. The atmospheric effects such as light blooming, water reflections, blurring…etc all make everything look photorealistic. Only the velvety-perfect characters and over-the-top moves provide clues that these are not images from reality.
Character graphics look good and are very detailed. The women have silky hair and clothing that react to their body movements. The character’s skin looks a little plasticy, but much better than the previous DOA games. The character models are very realistic, with excellent (although exaggerated) musculature. You can see more expression in the character’s faces. The motion-captured animation is smooth and realistic. There is alot of contact between the characters and clipping is hardly ever seen.
Background environments are terrific and realistic There are lots of scenery features and objects you can use against your enemy. There are lots of cars, tree trunks, and stairs to throw your opponent down. There are many breakaway sections that reveal another tier of the environment, like throwing your enemy through a window to a lower level. There are also creatures in some of the levels that may attack you if you get too close, like dinosaurs and cheetas in the background. Everything about the sceneries are photorealistic, water reflects everything realistically and moves fluidly. Light blooms accentuate humid or smoky environment. There are too many subtle scenery features to list them all, but they all add up to one georgeous and lifelike battleground.
Breast Physics
DOA is popular for its ladies of mammoth mammories, and Team Ninja has put alot of effort into simulating breast physics for our gravity-challenged friends. The action is so fast that you may not see it all the time, but it’s there. When a character runs, her chest flings side to side violently, but slightly jiggle when the character walks or jumps. Again, the movements are exaggerated, but it’s the attention to detail of every aspect of the game that makes it great.
There are lots of goals to reach, 45 archivements in all, spread across all modes of the game. Unlock one by beating Story Mode, one for playing the game for five hours, another for 10 hours, another for beating timed mode by certain time, etc. Others are unlocked by playing online, like playing 50 matches unbeaten, or surviving 100 matches unbeaten online. You can also earn an achievement of losing 5 times in a row!
| Character | Points |
| Unlock Leon: | 10 points. |
| Unlock Gen Fu: | 10 points. |
| Unlock Ein: | 10 points. |
| Unlock Helena: | 20 points. |
| Unlock Spartan-458: | 20 points. |
| Unlock Tengu: | 20 points. |
| Get an Online Bronze Star: | Obtained by beating a player with a win streak of 10-14 games. 10 points. |
| Get an Online Silver Star: | Obtained by beating a player with a win streak between 15-19 games. 20 points. |
| Get an Online Gold Star: | Obtained by beating a player with a win streak of 20 or more. 30 points. |
| Five Online Losses In A Row : | Zero Points |
| Ten Online Losses In A Row: | Zero Points |
| 20 Online Losses In A Row: | Zero Points |
| Get an Online Grade of D: | Zero Points |
| Get an Online Grade of E: | Zero Points |
| Get an Online Grade of F: | Zero Points |
| character | unlock method |
| Leon | Complete Story Mode with Zack. |
| Ein | Complete Story Mode with Hitomi. |
| Gen Fu | Complete Story Mode with Eliot. |
| Helena | Complete Story Mode with all characters (not including the characters that can’t be selected in Story Mode, obviously.) |
| Spartan-458 (“Nicole”) | Complete Story Mode with Helena |
| Tengu | Complete Time Attack mode with all characters, including all of the above unlockable characters. You can set the number of rounds per match to one and still unlock Tengu, although you won’t get any costumes for playing Time Attack in this manner. |
Costumes
New costumes can be unlocked for each of your characters by repeatedly beating either Story Mode or Time Attack with that character. You can play through Story Mode on any difficulty to earn new costumes, but if you play through Time Attack, you have to play on the default settings. Of course, some characters (Ein, Gen Fu, Leon, Tengu, and Nicole) can’t be played in Story Mode, so you’ll have to play through in Time Attack mode. You can buy these costumes in Zack’s shop if you prefer.
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Hairstyles
Some characters even have different haristyles, which you can select when choosing your figter. When selecting a character and costume, press different buttons (A, X, Y, or Start) which may bring up other options. For example, La Mariposa has a maskless costome if you press Y while selecting her outfit).
System Voices
Each character has their own system voice, which you can use to replace the default system voice in matches from the options menu. To unlock the additional system voices, you need to use them in sparring mode and complete all of their Exercise modes, which will take you through their entire movelist.
Hidden Stages
There are three hidden stages in DOA4.
| Stage | Unlocking Method |
| Biolab Core | Complete Story Mode once with any character. |
| Nassau Station | Unlock Spartan-458 |
| Tatami | Unlock all characters, unlock all system voices. (The Tatami is always available for sparring, even at the beginning of the game.) |
The game has added many more features that any fighting-game addict will love. The graphics take full advantage of the Xbox 360’s horsepower, the sound is brutal and bone-crushing, and the gameplay rewards those with skill.
If you like fighting games, then you’ll have nothing but love for DOA4. It has terrific action addictive online play, so many unlockables that you may not get them all. This is the game all future fighting games will be compared to, period. One of the best fighting games delivers its best installment.
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Download the DOA4 Gameplay video
- 100MB Windows Media (widescreen)
- Opening DOA4 intro video
- Xbox Live online play
- Watch mode and Replay saved battles
- A look at DOA’s breast physics