Dead or Alive 5 PS3 Review

Real world Jiggle physics are back, and they never miss a bounce

        Dead or Alive 5 may have not had the best of luck, Itagaki has departed some time ago and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released just a few weeks back with its wealth of options and customization people may think that DOA 5 is bare bones in comparison. While in some sense this may be the case, DOA 5 is a very fast, fun, and enjoyable game that is easier to get into but just as hard to master. For starters DOA looks  great, from the stages to the character models everything has some essence of life in its polygons. While the absence of custom character outfits may be a drag for some the seven outfits for each character (Virtua fighters only get two) look fairly good and fit well with the personality of each character. Though you can tell that we are getting to the end of this gaming cycle as some of the textures look dated, but the only time you'll see these is if you look closely during replay mode its not that bad in my opinion.

  

     Along with the standard modes (arcade, vs, survival, etc) there is a Story mode which while being incredibly cheesy is still good for a laugh and introduces the two new characters Mila and Rig. While expanding on the already long story of the fugitive ninja big booby girl Kasumi and her not friends Ryu Hyabusa, Hayate (her Onii chan), and her equally big breasted purple hair half sister Ayane (who seems to have a incestuous want for her half blood brother Hayate). Anyway the most of the cast is here (except for Leon which makes me mad) and they pretty much play the same. Though the team has added a super move of sorts wherein if your characters health bar is flashing red they can use a chargeable move and execute a cinematic finish. These are generally accompanied with destructible environments that create some truly mind boggling scenarios. Most of what you love about the fighting system is intact, though the reverse system now has a few second limitation on when you are allowed to reverse a move its not a big deal but for advanced players this could be little more then a nuisance. Online mode for me has been iffy, sometimes I can get a match in a few seconds and other times it takes close to 20 minutes to find one. Not to mention some times when there is lag it is so painful that the characters will barely move on the screen. Though I think that has more to do with the throw down bug on the PS3 which if it was tested properly would have been found, but again it isn't enough to take anything away from a solid title.

    Dead or Alive 5 is still a fun fighting game, and while it is missing a few things that has stared to become staples for 3D fighters it is still a highly accessible fighter to get into, for fans it is a solid entry into the franchise and hopefully they can fix and add some more things to the sequel.

Dead or Alive 5: 7.5/10

+Fast paced/Fun

+Boobies.....Visuals look good

-Missing Characters

-Balance seems off