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Dead or Alive 3 Review |
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Dead or Alive 3
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The Dead Or Alive franchise has long been known for its spectacular character models and it's equally amazing interactive environments. Dead Or Alive 3 pushes the envelope and up's the notch on everything that the original DOA games had and adds even more.
When DOA3 was first announced by Tecmo, many gamers assumed that the screenshots released for the game were doctored or even rendered with Photoshop software because of how stunning they looked. But then again, iIt was just that, - an assumption. The game really does look like that, and it includes all of the bouncing we all came to love in the PlayStation 2 rendition of the game.
Dead Or Alive 3 runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, though it has a little aliasing. Tecmo implemented some of the best looking textures so far seen on any console fighter, and all that Xbox RAM and hard drive cache has definitely not gone to waste. The environments are detail-rich, and expansive and feature more little visual bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at. Dead or Alive 3 is absolutely among the cleanest & shimmer free games I have laid eyes on.
One of the things about DOA3 that caught me by surprise other than how great it looked was how fast the loading times were between each match. It's almost instant and requires no waiting.
The game features some of your typical themed fighting stages, or rather, environments. But only this time, they are more fully realized then ever before. The beach stage for example - you have a realistic looking shoreline complete with smoothly lapping waves, cabanas, breakable fences and structures, seagulls flying overhead, and palm trees which drop coconuts when you smash your opponent into them.
Best of all, you can literally fight anywhere you wish. The amount of interactivity in each stage is incredible, and one of the reasons the game is just so damn fun to play. Some are multi-tiered like those in Dead or Alive 2. Knocking your opponent through a window, into a neon sign and onto the street only to have them get up and continue the fight, never gets old. Many of these stages have multiple secret areas to find, and it is always exciting to crash through to somewhere new. I can go on forever picking out small details, but I'm sure you have already heard it before.
There are a great amount of modes to play around with, and there should be plenty to keep gamers interested for a while. Story Mode, Survival, 4 player Tag-Team, VS, Practice, Time Attack, it's all there. The Story Mode is improved, the plot makes a bit more sense occasionally, and there are some high quality FMV ending sequences for each and every character. Even though many won't care, the storyline attempts to be dramatic and unveil interesting secrets and twists in regards to relationships between characters, and the effort is appreciated.
Tecmo has also released a DOA Booster Pack which essentially updates DOA3 and adds two new levels and characters to the game. You could get your hands on the booster pack be purchasing Issue #5 of the 'Official Xbox Magazine'.
There are honestly not many reasons to not to pick up Dead or Alive 3 with your Xbox. For those who couldn't stand any of the original DOA's and maybe found the game play too shallow or the characters too realistic, then the same concerns would probably apply here. The visuals and attention to detail alone are worth the price of admission in my opinion.
For it's amazing graphics, addictive game play, and overall fun factor, Dead Or Alive 3 is a must buy for any hardcore fighting game fan.
Review By: Travis Brown
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