Halo Meets Dead Or Alive for Combat
No, it's not Master Chief and it's not that other lass either. Intrigued? First screens inside!
When Tecmo revealed that it would be including a cast member from Microsoft's jaw-droppingly popular Halo series in its Xbox 360 fighting game Dead or Alive 4, people immediately assumed it would be either the Master Chief himself (however unlikely that would be) or his holographic female sidekick Cortana. Turns out they were far off the mark.
Instead of going with the obvious, Halo developer Bungie and Tecmo have tipped Spartan-458, a female Spartan android, similar in style to Master Chief, for fisticuff action.
Tecmo boss Tomonobu Itagaki, a huge admirer of Bungie's work, has promised to remain faithful to the Halo franchise.
"Our first priority was, above all else, is to remain truthful to Bungie's original design and background material. Then, ideally we were able to add a bit of Team Ninja's distinctive flavour on top," he said.
"Think about it for a second: do you honestly believe there is anything out there that can't be accomplished with the technologies of Bungie and Team Ninja put together?"
Apart from the faux femme fatale, Bungie and Tecmo have also collaborated on a special Halo-themed stage that you'll be able to unlock.
Dead or Alive 4 should be released around the same time as the Xbox 360, which arrives in Europe on 2 December.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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