Remember the original Dead or Alive? Ah, the memories ... Thoughts of beautifully rendered, high-polygon figures with grace and power dance in my head. I vividly remember Leon dislocating arms with visceral force, Gen Fu avoiding attacks and countering in a surrealistically simple manner, and Christie striking with such uncanny speed that it seems to defy physics. The latest rendition of DOA has arrived, and what wonders of gaming goodness await the fans of this take-no-prisoners series? Sun, sand, bikinis, and babes (not necessarily in that order). The ladies of DOA are taking to the beach in search of someXtreme Beach Volleyball action. Let's take a look at what Team Ninja over at TECMO has put together.
First off, unlike the previous DOA games, which were rated T (for Teen), DOAX has been tagged with an ESRB rating of M (for Mature). Recalling how incredibly violent the previous games were, you might wonder how a volleyball game ended up with an M rating. The answer is simple, it earned it. The females are quite … feminine, and the graphics can be quite, for lack of a better word, graphic. I'm certain you can guess where I'm heading with this.
The second thing I noticed about DOAX was the control setup. Hey, this is a game and not just a roving display of scantily clad ladies, right? Movement is pretty straightforward, with either the directional pad or the left thumbstick controlling your player. The right thumbstick is used to control the position of your teammate, affecting their playing style. Stick them up at the net, and they'll be looking to do some serious, in-your-face shot blocking on your opponents. Pretty easy so far, right? Now for the interesting part: You have a choice of button layouts. There are really only two uses for the buttons—attacking and receiving—but here's the twist: you can attack hard or soft, as well as receive hard or soft. The choice of layout comes from either having a button assigned to each action, using the four basic buttons, or using only two buttons and the Xbox controller's pressure-sensitive controls. It may not be earth shattering, but I thought it was a cool touch that makes the whole game very intuitive.
That pretty much covers it, right? Nope, TECMO has added more goodies for our gaming enjoyment. This is beach volleyball, played with partners, remember? So, since you get to pick your character, where does the partner come from? When you go to play a match on the beach, you'll have a chance to choose your partner. The interesting part is that they can say no. I can't imagine why Helena wouldn't want to team up with Christy; it's not like she was trying to assassinate her or anything last time around. Oh wait, yes she was. This is where the whole gift system comes into play. During your shopping trips around the island, you can purchase all kinds of little things, and either wear them yourself, or give them as peace offerings to some other beach-going lady. If she likes it, she may think better of you and keep it; if not, she'll toss it in the trash. There are also a host of mini-games thrown in to keep you occupied between matches, including the hopping game, blackjack, and roulette, to name a few. So, if you can't find anyone willing to partner with you on the beach, don't sweat it. Go shopping for gifts, hit the pool, or check out one of the unoccupied beaches.
For those of you that might be a little bummed out that the latestDOA release is about as far from the previous genre as possible, take heart. There's still plenty of fun to be had here—not to mention the fact that volleyball can be a rather violent sport at times. I fell out of my chair laughing when poor Leifang got nailed in the face by a spiked ball. Remember, this isXtreme volleyball, so you never know what might happen.
