by Wyatt "JOEDOG" Elliott
I have to admit I do enjoy a good beating every now and again. yes, sometimes I'm on the the receiving end of it. Yeah it hurts sometimes, but that's when I call it a night and lay down the controller. I've been a fan of the fighting game ever since the original Street Fighter II. I loved to beat up player number two, I didn't care who or what it was. After a while you start to want more. Which lead me to Mortal Kombat. Finally a game which not only allowed you to beat the soul out of the other player but you could finish him off too. Than the 3D fighter was unveiled. I kind of passed over Virtua Fighter. it just didn't grab me. In fact neither did the original Tekken. What I want from a fighting game is something new. I want to experience the same excitement I felt when I played SFII, MKII, or Tekken 2. That's what is missing from most fighting games today. originality and good characters. Dead Or Alive is a fan favorite too. It comes closest to a Tekken style of fighter. Or so it wants to be. No original story here so I'll just bypass any boring explanation. Graphics are sharp and feature some mighty fine textures. The backgrounds lack any kind of detail or originality. In fact I'd say there flat. The characters are well...lets put it this way. Very "Bouncy" to say the least. In fact I don't think I've seen this much bouncing since Tigger bounced his way through Winnie the Pooh. DOA features a strong female cast. Not to say that there are no male fighters, but the exaggerated features on these feme fatales is the games key selling point I'm sure. We all may want more realism in our games but these woman are bouncing past their knees! Its just so stupid, yet strangely hypnotic. Some characters have many secret outfits one can earn. Some more interesting than others. Including a bunny outfit, bikinis, school girl, maid, and something which I've nicked named "Rubber Man". DOA's control is probably its best feature I would say. Its fast fluent and makes it really enjoyable. I can't stand a fighter without decent controls. If you can't control a fighter right you can't fight at all. Its like trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back. The control is everything, and a lot of fighting games out there have yet to learn that. I won't mention any names or anything.(Bio-Freaks)Cause I'm writing not about that game now. Both music and sound effects are average at best. Offering mediocre music and lackluster sounds when fist meets face. DOA is definitely a visual game. They obviously had a certain visual experience in mind, and got one. The animation has a certain colorful almost cartoony look about it. Not quite the real experience Tekken provides.
PUBLISHER: TECMO
GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND & MUSIC: 6
CONTROL: 8 ORIGINALITY: 7
FUN & REPLAY: 8 SECRETS: 10
OVERALL: 7
(thanks to ign for the screen shots)
