Dead or Alive 4

Written by Ryan Genno  on July 05, 2005

First Impressions: Now those hot girls will look better then ever!

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When Japanese developer Team Ninja took their insanely popular Dead or Alive series onto the then new Xbox in 2001, they took a fairly big risk. Although the Xbox was technically more powerful then the rival PlayStation 2, the PS2 was already a huge hit and they also didn't know if this other system would take off or not. Fortunately the jump to the Xbox paid off and Dead or Alive 3 continued this 3D fighting series hot streak by selling over a million copies. It looks like history is about to repeat itself because when Microsoft announced their new console (the Xbox 360 of course) they also showed off a beautiful demo of the new Dead or Alive 4.

If you are new to the series DOA is a one-on-one fighting game well known for its excellent graphics, well designed character models (including several hot women of course), and the action was always intense and over the top. One big difference between this game and its prequels is the backgrounds are even more amazing. You can fight from a wrestling ring with electric ropes, to a huge peaceful looking Japanese forest. One stage even takes place in busy intersection with speeding cars passing by. In the demo it already shows how the fighters use the surroundings to their advantage.

What would a new fighting game be without some new fighters as well? We already know there are three fighters added to the game, and we even know two of the names. Kokoro is a lightning quick young girl dressed in some very fancy garments. She was already seen fighting a returning Kasumi, but it isn't known if the two actually have a rivalry or not. Elliot is blond-haired guy who is a skilled Kung Fu expert. He was seen practicing a kata with a sword at a temple filled with tons of roaming monkeys. The demo also showed a sequence of a mysterious female УLucha LubreФ wrestler who performed some cool looking high flying moves, all while in a very revealing white costume. Could there be more new characters coming? We'll just have to wait and see.

Although I'm excited about the news of DOA4, I'm also sick and tired of all the one-on-one fighting games at this point. This was the reason I was so hard on Dead or Alive Ultimate in my review. Sure, the game looked and played fine, but because it was just a remake of two older DOA titles I quickly lost interest. Despite my jaded nature, I'm still confident the big sequel here can do what the remake couldn't: redefine the fighting game as we know it.