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As many of you may have noticed, the Playstation market hasn't exactly been flooded with top-notch 3d fighters as of late. Up until now, Namco has virtually monopolized the genre with arcade perfect ports of Tekken, Tekken 2 and Soul Blade. Then out of nowhere comes Tecmo with their slick looking, smooth playing masterpiece entitled Dead or Alive. In the arcade, DoA was passed off as a simple Virtua Fighter 2 clone. But after the excellent Saturn version was released, the game finally gained the respect it rightfully deserved. As if that wasn't enough, Tecmo then spends even more time adding new features and updating the graphics to bring us a near flawless 3d fighter for the Playstation.
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Check out the great graphics...
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So how are the graphics you ask? I have to say they are among the best I have seen in a 3d fighter on a console system. The only game even in the same league is Square's Japan-only fighter, Tobal2. Each character is entirely light sourced, seamless, and animated extremely well. Anyone who has had the pleasure of trying the Saturn version will know what I mean about the animation. Just watching the motion-captured characters stand in place and animate will undoubtedly bring tears to your eyes (well maybe that's a bit too dramatic). All kidding aside, it is very realistic. Of course the overly animated, and somewhat controversial 'bounciness' of the females have indeed made it into the PSX version completely intact. Amusingly enough, the women's chests are about the only things that don't animate realistically. I somehow doubt that the motion capture process produced those results.
The fighting arenas are nicely light sourced and feature detailed floors and backdrops. The backgrounds are entirely different than the arcade or Saturn versions though. In order to keep the framerate at 60fps, Tecmo
decided to go with Tekken-style wallpaper and a flat floor in place of the original polygon ring. The rings however, are not never ending. The perimeter of each of the arenas are still surrounded by the danger zone, which just like in the originals, can send an opponent airborne if they are knocked down onto it.
Even though I do prefer the raised polygon rings found in the Saturn version, I understand why they were eliminated.
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And the cool characters...
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The music isn't radically different than what you would hear in any other 3d fighter out there, but I found it all enjoyable. Just like the Saturn version, the character voices are loud, clear and surprisingly well spoken.
The play control is more or less based on the Virtua Fighter series. The only real exception being the different blocking scheme. The guard button has been replaced with a counter/grab button, and you need to hold back to block. The counter button is great for reversing any, and I mean ANY attack an opponent can throw at you. Even certain throws can be reversed if you can time it right. These reversals can be used to setup some spectacular, and very powerful multi-part attacks and throws. There is one minor problem with every character having the ability to reverse an attack at the press of a button. Good players can find themselves reversing each others reversals until one finally makes a fatal mistake. This back and forth struggle can become irritating at times, but you eventually find a way to avoid it.
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And the new pro-wrestler, Bass.
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This review is based on the near final, but reviewable US version of Dead or Alive (thanks Linda!). I can't provide more information than this right now, but there may be one additional feature added to this version once it is complete... Ok, enough said.
In my opinion, Dead or Alive is the undisputed king of 3D Playstation fighters on the market today. Namco and Sega should watch their backs.
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-- Jim Cordeira
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