Gaming Target - Dreamcast: Dead or Alive 2

Written by Thomas Harding on June 22, 2000

Review: A game almost as sexy as me

A few years ago, a game was released by Tecmo called Dead or Alive. It was based on Sega's Model 2 arcade system, and it became an instant hit with many audiences. It had killer game mechanics, awesome moves, and above all, killer chicks with beautiful jiggle breasts. Yeah, guys loved it. Despite the whole boob thing, it was still a great game. And hence because of that (more probably because of the boob possibility via Naomi and Dreamcast hardware) Tecmo decided to make a huge pulsating sequel to kick major fighting game ass. Wait, did I just say pulsating?

The visuals in DOA2 are beautiful. Most of that's the ladies, but the other half is the beautiful backgrounds and graphics. The intricate design of the characters to every last, err, detail. There is also incredible fluent movement of clothing and hair, and seamless transfer from FMV to real-time. Incredible, just damned incredible stuff.

I was a little upset with some of the audio in DOA2. I was looking more forward to what Sega did with Virtua Fighter 2 on Saturn, where depending on region they were from, each character spoke that language, and the voice acting was incredible. Unfortunately, that same effect isn't found here. Every character speaks Japanese, which is translated by subtitles. Sure some of it is done with pretty good voice acting, but I've heard better. I don't really have as big of a bicker with the music as I do with the voices, but it's just okay.

The gameplay in DOA2 is pretty damned good. The control set up differs from it's "rival" Soul Calibur, as you control a generic fighting game control setup with the D-Pad and move around the arena with the analog stick. The rest of the controls are rather simple, X punches, Y kicks, A blocks, and B does holds and throws and such. And for simple controls, there is a hell of a lot of moves you can pull off. But no matter whether or not you're going to pull of a move that's going to be one hell of a bitch for your opponent to get up from, they can counter nearly everything you do ranging from a simple punch, to a move that'll keep you from getting up for a while. That can come in handy when you need to take that piece of crap down.

Dead or Alive 2 features a generic (but fun) Team Battle mode, a Tag Mode, Survival, and a bunch of other generic 3D fighting modes. The Tag Team mode is probably the best aspect of the game, other than the chicks, and the picture you see when you take the CD out of the jewel case. Anyway, my biggest problem with the Tag Team mode and Team Battle mode is that you only get one friggin' nonmulti-tiered arena. And that's really what sucks the most about it. Other than that, it's a good (and innovative) time, especially when you've got some friends playing with you.

OK, let's face it, the replay contained in DOA2 lacks. After you get through all the different paths of the characters, and play the Tag and other modes to hell and back, the only true fun of this game after that is multiplayer, but that is still worth it.