Hidden Gems #10 Dead Or Alive Series
Fighting games were always addicting, especially when you really wanted to take your anger out on somebody fighting games are here to stay. Besides Mortal Kombat that I played to death. Dead or Alive I guess you could say was somewhat of a guilty pleasure games (that's if you played those volleyball games). Okay how about we go by each game and see, yes even those volleyball games.Dead or Alive: Not many people recall the first game. Lets just say it reminds you a bit of Tekken, and also a bit of Virtua Fighter combined with staring at something unusual in a fighting game. While it might look different from what you remember (probably because it had three different versions). Stars off with a cool opening with not a lot to expect going into the game. The original consists of 8 playable characters with some that need to back unlocked. The first game doesn't really give much background of the character other than there origins shown in the select screen. The story is basically you fighting everyone in your way, and you have successfully beat every one now your facing the main antagonist in the game Raidou. Once you have defeated him the credits and there's no special ending which is pretty disappointing. the gameplay is good, the graphics depending on what you play on the PS1 and Saturn look very dated, arcade looks fairly okay. Overall it was a good game for the time, although almost every game after this was severely improved over this one. 6/10
Dead or Alive 2: Which came out on Dreamcast, arcade, & PS2 (which had titled hardcore next to it). Now to be fair this is the one most people know about. Epic opening followed by cool select music, and also 4 new characters added in the mix. A clone of Kasumi whose first appearance would end up reappearing in the later dead or alive games. Helena who is a semi-antagonist in this game, Leon is a lot like Bayman only different is he is of Italian descent, and the main villain being Tengu who has wings, and looks quite weird. Like last time ascend the ladder of fighters, and fight wing dude. What difference is there from 1 and this? They interaction with a certain rival at the beginning of the fight. So with Kasumi the major character you see interacting with the clone, Hayabusa, Ayane etc. I have to say one thing though, during the Kasumi story Ein, (would end up being Hayate in Dead or Alive 3) remembers who he once was. In Dimensions it better explains what actually happens between each of those better told. gameplay is very good, graphics still look good, made vast improvement over its predecessor in almost every single way possible. 8/10
Dead or Alive 3: This game was a lunch title for the original xbox. I will say that this is my favorite one of the bunch, not for the fact the opening had Aerosmith's Nine Lives. The games replayability and graphics still hold up very well since 2001. For xbox standards this was one of there best launch titles next to Halo: Combat Evolved, & Fuzion Frenzy. you have got a few new characters in this game. One of them being the cold assassin Christie, Brad Wong a master of drunken fighting style, & Hitomi a German karateka who strangely enough is good friends with Hayate in this game. the gameplay is retained as always, you have a survival mode which is you trying to best the high score until you have fallen after infinite amount of rounds mashing buttons for your life until you pretty much give up. You also have a tag battle mode which is a new thing in this game, and also you can choose from 1v1, to 5v5 battle where everything brakes loose. The main game, they have reduced the interaction to a minimal 2 of similar enemies or allies they face against. As you have beaten that part we get to the boss who looks like a dead corpse with dark powers with a double colored sword of what looks like Darth Maul would had. Omega to me is the hardest of all the bosses. Some say Alpha, but my experiences with him on Hard ehh... indeed. I mean unless your playing easy than you have no idea, even on normal he can be ridiculously hard. its really a matter how lucky you get if you can knock him down enough without touching floor of the demonic depiction of hell surrounding you with fire is the way I always saw the final part of this level that is not unlocked for some reason. After you have beaten that you get all different kind of alternate ending with every character you beat. This game is just so great and somewhat underrated in the series. 9/10
Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball: This is for most people a guilty pleasure game, that consists of mostly the female characters in that series were all there except Zack who owned the island. Yet we got 1 new character out of this game and that is Lisa who would appear in the later games of dead or alive. The game was like a simulation of what people do on there days off basically. gameplay is of the title says volleyball, gamble with others, purchase gifts, and get swimsuits. No seriously that is all there is too it. Other than doing this over and over. The game ends as the island is destroyed, but everyone gets out alive. There are sequels, but I did not care enough to do those others ones so I'm just looking at this one, and think that I am not missing much other. 5/10
Dead or Alive 4: I have mixed feeling towards this game, its alright, It gives me weird vibes to this day. Yes this too was a xbox exclusive only this time on the 360 oh yeah I know. The roster is much deeper than before 22 total fighters, 3 newcomers, and some odd picks in there as well. Kokoro, ''a geisha in training'', Eliot a pupil to Gen Fu, La Mariposa, a lucha libre who under the mask revealed in her ending is Lisa. Tengu reappears in the series, but not as powerful as he once was, and of course what makes this game memorable including mast chief in the game, but wait his refereed to in the game as SPARTAN-458, which made me scratch my head at that. Why would I want to hear master chief have a feminine voice. This time the fights are reduced to two or maybe three fighters and your story ends like that with a short cinematic ending of that character. Yet the story is focused around the ninja's and Helena mostly. While I am somewhat disappointed in this game, its still good enough for to realize I can get passed it with what it had offer and that's have online for the first time with this game. 7/10
Dead or Alive Dimensions: This is Team Ninja's first attempt at a handheld release. This was actually the big reason I bought the 3DS was this game actually more than anything. I gotta say I like what they did with the story, its more in depth, and gives you better updatedness of past games up until this point. You watch, and also fight your way to 4 different dimensions of the past games and complete them. The game itself controlled greatly efficient for a handheld fighting game. This game is mostly cutscene city all the way through so expect a long and unique story that you are totally familiar with just expanded a little more than what the games all left out from bits. Fun and enjoyable game. 8.5/10
Dead or Alive 5: The latest game that is no longer exclusive anymore. Yes that is right 5 can be played on both consoles 360 and the PS3 well the updated games would later be on the new gen consoles, but still. You have only two new characters, Mila who is a MMA champion, and Rig who is a semi boss, and the son of donovan. The story again is mostly revolved around the mugen tenshin ninja's this time asked for help by Helena. As you go through each character and even Kasumi chapters (mostly). Kasumi wants to beat her clone once and fall and successfully does it right. In the end she decides to leave the fellow ninja's as she walks slowly to the copter as the credits roll. 8/10
Final Thoughts: While the updated 5 editions on PS4 and XB1 may have alternate endings, if your really considering going further with the series. This was pretty good set of games I have played and had good memory of that I think is still underrated. I mean the sad thing about is not many people look at it as a top 5 of fighting games when I doubt I think is it absolutely up there with the likes of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, & Tekken & many others.