EDITOR’S
CHOICEDead Or Alive 6
CAN TEAM NINJA’S BEAUTIFUL BRUISER K.O. THE COMPETITION? CHRIS BURKE
PUBLISHER KOEI TECMO / DEVELOPER TEAM NINJA / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £54.99 / $59.99this in an attempt to get the franchise
taken more seriously – and it should
be, because Dead Or Alive 6 is a very
good fighting game indeed.Alive and unleashed
Visually, Dead Or Alive 6 is right up
there with the best looking games
on Xbox One. The fighters, female and
male are truly beautiful, the sweat,
dirt, skin, eyes, hair and glistening
chests (oh behave, we were talking
about the men) and costumes are
all sumptuously detailed, particularly
outstanding in 4K on Xbox One X. But
behind all this eye-candy is a superior
fighter, that packs all the punch of the
series to date.
If you’re new to the series, you
won’t find any of the gravity-defying
fantasy kung-fu or magical moves of
other fighting games. Dead Or Alive’s
moves are based on real fighting
techniques; each character has a
unique move set based on various
martial arts. There are pro wrestlers,
MMA fighters, and practitioners of
various forms of ninjutsu, taekwondo,The Dead Or Alive
franchise has always
felt like one of ‘ours’,
since the third in the
series was an Xbox
launch exclusive in- Some slightly dubious spin-offs
involving the series’ females playing
volleyball in bikinis aside, DOA has
continued to impress, with DOA5:
Last Round representing the pinnacle
on Xbox One. So as far as we were
concerned, Team Ninja didn’t have to
do much to nail it for DOA6 – except
maybe focus more on the fighting
itself than making ever-more revealing
costumes for its female fighters.
Let’s first address that most
controversial and divisive aspect of
the games, then - the boob physics.
Team Ninja had claimed that the
sexualisation of its female fighters
would be toned down for DOA6, with
those revealing costumes made more
practical for fighting. And they are, to
a point. The jiggle is still there, but can
be turned off in settings, as can the
level of dirt, sweat and violence. All of
karate, lucha libre, karate... new fighter
Diego has his own street style, while
‘drunken master’ Brad Wong returns
to flop on you like a pissed-up auntie
at a family party. Each of the main
buttons are mapped to punch, kick,
throw and block, combining each with
stick-direction as appropriate will land
some accurate hits, block or hold your
opponents, while some of the combos
that can be achieved make for some
fluid and expert play.
Yes, you can button-mash your
way through fights – this is still an
arcade fighter, despite potential
for more complex combos. You can
also get caught on the wrong end
of a relentless chain of seemingly
unblockable moves. This ‘Critical
Stun’ can be extended, time-wise, by
following up with another Stun move,
so time it right and you can chain
together some devastating blows that
will be near (though definitely not)
impossible to block.
Fill up your Break Gauge bar and you
can unleash either a Fatal Rush by
spamming RB until you cause a Fatalshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
Beautiful, latest entry
in the esteemed
fighting series that
first came to Xbox at
launch, with DOA3.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
DOA5: Last Round. But
not. But it is. Yet
different.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Visual aesthetes, and
fans of fighting
games that want
more depth to their
brawling.068 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE