Dead or Alive Ultimate

We conclude our huge coverage of this Team Ninja masterpiece with our final verdict, and a fresh helping of 60fps direct feed media. New Itagaki interview to follow!

	Version Xbox	Developer Team Ninja	Publisher Tecmo	Genre Fighting

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Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate

The first disc. aptly titled, Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate, contains the original Dead or Alive game which looks a lot closer to the slightly blockier Saturn version, as opposed to the powerhouse Model 2 original, but still a lot sharper than the relatively dull PS1 conversion. Unfortunately, this does mean that the gorgeous 3D backgrounds, overhead bridges and so on, are not present in this version, just as some of Saturn VF2's 3D awesomeness was also scrapped from the arcade original.

DOA1 Ultimate provides a look back at the series' beginning

So DOA1 does look a little antiquated on the Xbox, but regardless, it plays just as well as it did before - and the highlight is the added Online mode. Players can create online profiles for themselves and take the fight online, competing against a wide variety of faceless opponents from around the world. The online mode of DOA 1 Ultimate plays rather well most of the times, dispelling some of the claims that fighting games would be completely unplayable online at this juncture.

Of course the online component isn't flawless, there are occasional hiccups but certainly not to the extent of rendering the two games unplayable. Alongside the online mode, DOA 1 Ultimate also features standard Arcade, Kumite, Training, Time Attack, and Survival modes, providing players with some solid single player action as well as 2 player VS. action, in which you and a friend to go at it full bore from the same box.

While Dead or Alive's gameplay has oftentimes been compared to that of Virtua Fighter 2, with its solid variety of offensive, defensive, and counter-attack moves, if truth be told, DOA lacks the depth and complexity of VF2 but makes up for it with a fighting engine that's more accessible to casual gamers, allowing them to quickly pick-up, learn, and dare I say, even 'button mash' their way to victory.

Unfortunately it's a port of the Saturn version, rather than the superior, fully Model 2 original with 3D backgrounds. Why? See our new, upcoming Itagaki interview.

The battlegrounds of Dead or Alive are also a sharp contrast to the familiar fighting rings of VF2 and Soul Calibur, where ring out wins and losses are quite prevalent. With Dead or Alive, players have more to worry about other than getting knocked out of the ring. Each combat ring consists of two parts, safe zones - which are the center most parts of the ring where the battles begin - and then danger zones, which are the surrounding rims of the ring. More than just pretty lights on the ground, the danger zones pack quite a wallop when knocked into them, propelling the fighters into the air with explosive blasts that inflict even more damage, adding an extra element to combat strategy.

Graphically DOA 1 Ultimate isn't going to impress since the graphics were left untouched unfortunately and everything looks quite dated, audio-wise the game fairs slightly better but not by much really, the soundtrack is passable at times but nowhere near as supercharged or energetic as its successor. What Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate does provide gamers with however is a taste of history and a chance to see how the fighting series began.

Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate

While exploding rings and over-exaggerated breast motions are some of the identifying marks of the original Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2 on the other hand takes the idea of hazardous fighting conditions to another level. The second disc titled, Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate gives players a pretty sweet taste of the blockbuster sequel that first made the rounds in arcades via Sega's NAOMI board, and later followed with impact on Dreamcast and PS2.

Aside from the incredible visual overhaul Dead or Alive 2 received over its predecessor, the game also featured a number of gameplay refinements that helped it stand strong against the competition. For starters, the game's pretty easy to pick-up and play. On top of that the controls are nice and responsive making all 14 fighters in this edition - including the 3 unlockable ones -- a joy to control.

The game's fighting engine lends itself to being easily accessible to even casual gamers, allowing players to pull off all sorts of flashy moves without a hitch, and without the need of complex button combinations. While such a thing may be scoffed at by a number of 'elite' hardcore fighting game fans, one has to remember that even Sega's venerable Virtua Fighter series had to eventually 'ease up' a little on the fragile 'casualites' in order to break through their defenses and become more accepted on Western shores - VF4 is a testament of that.

But even so, it must be said that Dead or Alive 2's AI still remains a bit of a joke, and is incredibly tolerant of button mashers. In testing out this belief I was able to run through the entire game on various difficulty settings and with a number of different characters by just button mashing away at the same attack button all throughout, without the AI making me pay for it - that's definitely not something you could get away with in the post-Championship Edition Street Fighter II games, as well as the Virtua Fighter series where the AI tends to quickly pick up on redundant fighting patterns, and react accordingly.

Despite the giant 'Welcome Mat' DOA 2 puts out for button mashers, it's still a pretty fun fighting game nonetheless, and each fighter is equipped with a variety of devastating offensive and defensive fighting moves, and counter maneuvers that can be executed with ease. Of course, it goes without saying that my personal favorites happen to be the counters and grabbing moves that each fighter can perform, but then again what can I say? I've always been a sucker for throws and reversals and Dead or Alive 2 has 'em in spades, and whether attacks come in high or low, each fighter is well equipped to counter them in some fashion, and how they do it is usually a thing of beauty.

While Dead or Alive 2 is a moderately deep fighter with fast-paced fighting action, the one thing that always helped separate it from other fighting games are the highly interactive, multi-tiered environments that you can do battle in throughout the game. The fighters of DOA 2 can literally knock each other through the massive, destructible sections of the environments, making for some painful looking drops from several stories high up. However, what makes the death defying drops even cooler isn't just the sight of another fighter taking a nose dive from the top of a cliff, but also the fact that the fights don't just end immediately after such near fatal falls.

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