Dead or Alive 4

by Tecmo Koei

Product Features

• New characters added to the DOA all-star line-up
• New interactive stages
• New and in-depth story line and cut-scenes
• Through Xbox Live, players can simultaneously compete, form clans and discover the new and interactive DOA4 lobby area -- featuring voice and text chat

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009WPZPE
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: December 30, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,235 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Dead or Alive 4 takes advantage of the superior technology of Xbox 360, to redefine 3D fighter games. Go wild with a new fighting system, larger tournament groups, detailed scoreboards and more. Form clans, or just enter the lobby areas to talk with other DOA fans. Best of all, the fighting system allows even more mastery and strategy of your favorite character -- including the most complex DOA countering system yet!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Atonement, January 4, 2006

By 

E. Kim "A great man should die as a shattered... (South Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dead or Alive 4 (Video Game)

The newest installment in Team Ninja's fighting game series, Dead or Alive 4 has met all it's expectations. Every fighting game series on the market today has their respective strong points, DOA always being the amazing graphic edge, but more than anything on this newest edition, tecmo has slightly revamped the fighing techniques making DOA4 the most balanced game in it's genre.

Single player lacks an easy mode, so for the casual gamer, it might be somewhat of a challenge. But because of this factor, it helps develop the mechanical skills used in the game. Some veterans might find some slight difficulty at first, but should get the hang of things after a few goes. Definately not a "button mash" game. This aspect I gladly invite. I think that usually easy modes lack any challenge, if anything the only positive aspect of the mode is to learn move sets and combos, which can easily be learned in the Sparring mode. With unlockable costumes, characters, and other achievements, the single player mode will likely keep your interest.

The online mode has it's kinks, but for the most part is very good. I really like the lobbies and the avatars to install goals within the online game. Rankings and scores also helps keep a competative nature. Within the mode you can set-up tournaments, private matches, and many other fighting settings. Their has been a few glitches and every once and awhile some lag. The glitches I'm sure will be fixed as they are found and the lag in a lobby has more to do with a bad connection as opposed to bad service.

If you are into fighting games and want a challenge both offline and online, Dead or Alive 4 is a must have if you have a xbox360.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More work, less play., January 3, 2007

By 

My Inner Goth Girl (Ogden, UT USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dead or Alive 4 (Video Game)

In redesigining Dead or Alive for the XBOX 360, Team Ninja seems to have systematically removed any element of fun from the game. By drastically changing the countering system, by increasing the challenge, and by introducing a new boss, somehow they lost that which made the other games enjoyable in the first place.

First, the countering system. Since the inception of the Dead or Alive series on the Playstation One, the countering system set DOA apart from other fighters and became, next to the female characters, the title's major gimmick. In DOA 4 that countering system has been complicated by adding a counter-intuitive command for middle and jumping kicks. Instead of entering back and the free button, one has to go forward instead. Compounding this, the window of opportunity for successfully countering an attack has decreased substantially, making it more difficult to break a combo.

This in itself wouldn't have been so bad if the same treatment had been given the CPU opponenet, but no. They counter more often...as if at will. The opponent also blocks more effectively, severely limiting your offense. But not only has the CPU's defense improved, but offensively the CPU is a rediculous challenge. You will find yourself consistently being pummeled by perfectly executed combos, juggles, bounce combos, chain throws, and counters. Meanwhile, your ability to defend against these attacks is nearly absent. There are gaping holes in your blocking, you can't seem to break a chain throw, and if you do somehow manage a block the hardwired CPU executes a throw instead. Overall this challenge makes the game more frustrating than fun. Yet, as NORMAL level is the lowest difficult setting available (and their definition of normal is other games' hard or hardest), that is your only option. Even sparring mode proves to be a pain as there is equally no easy setting. However, by varying your attacks, you can catch the opponent off guard and manage a few good combos. The problem is, you go from entering known commands to random direction and button combinations. DOA goes from a fairly sophisticated game to a mindless button masher. Combine all this with a controller that cannot seem to register a simple crouch command and makes you jump forward when all you want is to step forward and you have a recipe for a lot of swearing and control throwing. There are some moments when you cannot do anything at all, and you wonder why you're even holding a controller in the first place.

If you do manage to slog through these hyped-up, Wheaties-eating, omniscient opponents you eventually meet with the game's new boss, a poorly coceived Kasumi made out of bluish plasma, Alpha-152. This boss will go down in history as one of the cheapest, most difficult of all bosses. Not only can she string together 10 to 12 hit combos, but she has a counter attack that takes nearly half your life bar, she teleports, and she can seemingly complete a throw from anywhere. Even still, once you figure her out, she is surprisingly easy to beat provided you have the right character (Kasumi seemed to work best for me). If you only had to face her once, it would be no big deal, but you have to face her again and again if you want to unlock more features. Honestly, I don't know why fighting games even need a boss.

Your reward for all this work is, excpt for a few exceptions, a lame movie and or an equally lame new outfit. Apparently all the best outfits have to be purchased online. As I am not an online player, there is very littly reward or satisfaction in this game. What happened to Leifang's leather one piece spy outfit. And though her movie is quite funny, it is not taijiquan. Tai Chi is about maximum result with minumum effort. Spinning around a pole by your hands in order to kick a guy is more in the style of a ninja. And do we really need Tengu? Moreover, you can also unlock a Spartan from Halo. What a Halo character is doing in Dead or Alive is anyone's guess. I suppose as Mario is to Nintendo, Halo is to the XBOX.

Story wise, DOA is also lacking, but fighting games were never known for their depth. There seems to be little reason why any of them, aside from those with connections to DOATEC, would even be fighting in the first place. The new characters Eliot and Kokoro are kind of boring compared to the old cast. What is with Kokoro anyway? An apprentice Geisha studying Chinese kung fu? Besides, she too much resembles Leifang which creates some confusion. La Mariposa is slightly better, but suffers from too elaborate moves. Her acrobatic attacks often take to long to be effective.

What has improved are the environments. The interactive nature of the stages is by far the most enjoyable new aspect of the game. It is satisfying to knock your opponent over a table or log, or smash him into a cart of fruit. Sadly, there is little else of any appeal here. Even the much touted graphics were not as impressive as what I had first heard. The hair looks like ribbons of plastic and, like scarves and jewelry, seems to move of its own accord. Fabric often looks fake escpecially in some of the textures and in the movement of skirts. Otherwise, it is a beautiful game, but still too frustrating to actually be enjoyable. I play video games to aleviate stress, not add more. I think many players would agree.

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Beautiful Fighter Available, January 7, 2006

By 

T. Hooper "thdizzy" (Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dead or Alive 4 (Video Game)

Dead of Alive 4 doesn't disappoint. First of all, the graphics are just mind-blowingly beautiful. You've never seen such a beautifully designed fighter game before. To tell the truth, I bought an X-box 360 because I'm a big fan of the Dead or Alive series. Now that I've played the game, I can say that I'm satisfied.

I give a quick rundown of the changes from the previous version. Multiplayer is as fun as usual, but the story mode will be a little more difficult than in previous versions. The reason for this is that the computer AI is a little stronger than before. If you tend to use just a few moves, the computer will pick up on that and will counter you almost every time. If you learn to vary your moves, then it's not much of a problem. Also, the window for pulling off a counter has been reduced, so it's much more difficult than before to do a counter. Again, with practice and timing, you can improve your skills to make up for this. Also, I felt that the final boss in this game is a little more difficult than previous bosses. By that, I mean much faster and much trickier. I found that by using charges and footsweeps, you can usually beat the boss with only a few tries. Overall, the single player game has become more challenging.

So should you get it? The answer is YES! If you have an X-box 360 and you don't have this, then you need it. That's all I can say. This game has left me speechless.