Developer: Team Ninja      
Publisher: TECMO   
Age Rating: 16+
Players: 1-4 (2-16 online)
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up

Dead or Alive 4 missed the initial launch line-up for the 360, which no doubt contributed to the poor hardware figures of the system in . But thankfully Team Ninjas’ title is here now and will hopefully tide you over until March, when the barren release list of games suddenly becomes ridiculous busy.

PAL WARNING: DOA4 will only play in PAL60 mode and you therefore require a TV that supports PAL60. Most modern TV’s do support PAL60, but it is worth checking before you fork out for the game.

To set your Xbox 360 to PAL60 mode: On the dashboard go to the system blade, then select ‘Console Settings’ – ‘Display’ – ‘Pal Settings’ and choose ‘PAL60’.

This issue is really disappointing considering DOA4 got delayed so it could be perfected…

Gameplay

Head off to ‘Sparring Mode’ and learn a few combos and how to counter, because you’re going to need it to survive. Veterans should brush up their skills to; as a lot of the combos have changed, so you’ll be thinking your opponent has finished attacking when there will be an extra kick heading your way. Plus there are some fancy new moves to learn, each character now has a power up style move, complete with impressive visuals.

There are 16 playable characters to begin with and six to unlock. Brad Wong and Christie make a welcome return to the series and there are also four new fighters. Eliot is supposedly British, Kokoro is a training geisha, La Mariposa is a masked female wrestler and finally there is Nicole a female Spartan from Bungies HALO. With a wide range of fighting styles, DOA4’s cast features someone for everyone.

The AI is really tough and smart, maybe too smart. Sometimes it feels like they are cheating, reacting to your move before you pull it off. You have to really mix things up and watch your adversary’s movements closely; they will be continually coming at you so you don’t have much time to think.

You’ll fight your way through 7 stages of story mode before you reach Alpha-152, who is a clone of Kasumi. Now I’ll try and say this calmly Alpha-152 is the cheapest, crappiest, lamest, most rubbish, hateful, loathsome, dirty downright cheat I've ever come across in a fighting game and really does try my patience. You pull off a great move and she doesn't bother blocking, she teleports! Alpha will then go onto do a move that takes off half your health, or a combo that ends your pitiful existence… it’s infuriating! It feels total based on luck and not skill, to whether you beat her or not.

The AI is definitely a challenge, but it makes the game feel less enjoyable and more like a chore to play. Even when you learn all the moves and how to counter effectively, you can still be beaten senseless, the games not so much skill reliant, more luck.

The online mode in the game is generally great, get a good connection and the action moves along at a nice pace with little lag. There are however times when the lag gets horrendously bad, and really hampers the online play experience (If you have a good lists of friends though, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem). The online mode offers a lot of new features; crazy lobbies and funny avatars, feels a little tacked on though, but I guess it adds some humour to the game.

Zack has a specialty shop where you can purchase new things and accessories (even costumes for the game’s characters, if you can’t be bothered to unlock them); you purchase items using money you get from winning fights.

Overall the online play is good fun and fighting a real person is a welcome brake from the unyielding AI, sometimes you can wait awhile for a fight and lag issues do happen.

Controls

A controller is never going to be as good as an arcade stick when it comes to ‘beat ‘em ups’ (and in this genre of games, control is the most important aspect), but Team Ninja have done an outstanding job with the control layout. When I started playing I kept going for the white button… (I lost a few fights because of that), but after about 20 minutes I had adapted to the new and improved control layout. Control is a lot more fluid then it was on the original controller s, you no longer have to take your fingers off the face buttons, thanks to the positioning of the bumpers.

The face buttons give you the basic controls, Y is Punch, B is kick, X blocks and A is to grapple. The bumpers and triggers then offer a combination of the face buttons, to make pulling off combo’s easier. Using the left analogue stick to control your character seems fine at first, but you’ll soon realise that the D-pad allows you to be more precise when trying to do a complex combo.

Graphics

Some gamers are raving about the graphics, others are unimpressed, and my opinion is somewhere between the two… On a standard TV you will struggle to see the difference between DOA4 and DOA3/U on the Xbox, there is a lot more detail though on closer inspection. Outfits are lavished in wonderful effects, especially those with fur, and there is a lot more happening in and around the arenas. Lighting and reflections have been improved, be it marginally compared with previous titles in the series.

The character models themselves don’t seem any more detailed than DOAU, but their animation is as fluid and flawless as ever.

However playing DOA4 on a HDTV and your in for a visual treat, everything is pin sharp and just allows you to see a hell of a lot more detail. It still doesn’t look next-gen though when compared with DOA3/U, don’t get me wrong I think the game looks great and the visuals suit the purpose and feel of the game very well, but I just expected a bigger step up from the previous Xbox titles.

The CGI clips you get for completing a characters story are funny and very pleasing on the eyes (in more ways than one – you’ll catch my drift when you see Leifangs’). The cut scenes using the in games engine are quirky and allow you to take in the arenas before the fight kicks off.

Sound

Aerosmith are once again providing the theme tune… other than that there is not much to talk about with regards to the audio. All the other soundtracks are very suitable, but easily forgotten and as always there is the option of custom tunes.

Sound effects are satisfyingly good, with each bone crunching hit making the required noise, adding depth to the power of the attacks. Knocking opponents around the arenas and it to different interactive scenery generates pleasing thuds and the relevant background noise makes the fighting locations seem real.

Longevity

The main content of the game is found in ‘Story Mode’, you’ll play through with every character just to see their CGI ending and to also unlock more characters. You’ve then got ‘Time Attack Mode’, ‘Survival Mode’ and ‘Sparring’ to try your hand at and these modes will keep you coming back for more.

There are also plenty of un-lockables for you to try and obtain, which should keep you busy for quite awhile. Every Character has several costumes (albeit ones from older games in the series and some with subtle colour changes), which are either unlocked via beating ‘Story Mode’ multiple times or ‘Time Attack Mode’. Then there are the system voices for each character, a couple of arenas and a some easter eggs to discover as well.

After all of that there is the online play and accessories to buy from Zack’s shop for your lobby avatar. If that wasn’t enough there are also the achievements to… erm achieve, one being achieved for playing DOA4 for 100hours, which I think you’ll rack up in no time and probably play for many more hours than that.

Overall

To the series veteran DOA4 is no doubt an improvement, but it’s all starting to feel like you’ve done it a thousand times before. Newbies will initial be frustrated with the steep learning curve, but if they can stick with DOA4 they’ll find a fighting series with real depth and one that’s a rewarding experience to play.

I’m disappointed with how little the series has evolved, but what it’s doing it’s doing solidly.

If you play a lot of 2 player bouts with your mate on the sofa DOA4 is a joy, single player by yourself is good fun (after the initial frustration) and Live is a bit hit and miss (got a good list of friends who want to play and it should make the experience more enjoyable).

DOA4 is definitely not a ‘must own’ title, it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but your not missing much if you have played any of the others in the series. It will do to fill the time until some more games are released in March and you could buy a lot worse.