Dead or Alive

Developer: Tecmo

Publisher: Tecmo

Genre: Fighting

Players: 1-2

Difficulty: Adj.

Rating: T

Memory Card: 1 Block

Analog Compatible: No

Dual-Shock Compatible: Yes

Dead or Alive is a 3D fighter in the vein of Virtua Fighter. DoA is a fighting game of such fine quality that it may even give the monster fighting game that is Tekken 3 a run for it's money.

 

The fighting bouts take place in a square arena surrounded by an area called the danger zone. Instead of ring-outs, when you knock your opponent into the danger zone they are blown into the air by an explosion, causing extra damage. Three buttons are used, one for punch, one for kick, and one for hold. The lack of a block button is a bit out of the ordinary for this type of game, but it is much easier to just press back to block, making it easier to concentrate on your offense. The hold button is used to reverse attacks from your opponent, leaving them open for a counter attack. Some of the reversals cause damage as well. Each character has a wide array of special moves, holds, and throws at you disposal, and they are quite easy to pull off.

 

The graphics are some of the best seen in a PlayStation fighting game. The characters and backgrounds are colorful and bright. The characters are smooth and move realistically. The explosions when you land in the danger zone or when you hit your opponent look great, especially against a dark background. Each character has many different costumes which can be earned by beating the game with each character. The guys have five costumes apiece, and the girls have 14, and they range from a french maid to a bunny suit.

 

The music is decent, nothing really special, but it gets the job done. The sound effects are standard fighting fare. The smacks and thuds sound alright, but they lack the viciousness to match the moves. Some characters yell things like "waaa!" when they let loose a special move, which adds to the somewhat bland sound effects.

 

Good control is crutial in a fighting game, the controls need to be responsive so you can easily pull off combos. Luckily, DoA has good control. The special moves are simple two-button presses for the most part, making it easy for rookie fighters to compete. DoA also supports the Dual-Shock controller, unfortunately I didn't have mine yet when I rented DoA, but I would imagine it works well.

 

Dead or Alive is a great fighting game for the rookie fighter who just isn't ready for such a huge fighting game as Tekken 3, but the great gameplay will attract veteran fighters as well. Dead or Alive is a fantastic fighting game and every fighting game fan should have it in his or her own game collection.

 

You'll definetly find yourself playing through the game over and over again with each character to get all of their costumes, besides, fighting games have lots of replay value anyway.

 

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