Dead or Alive 6 Review: A Decent Fighting Game

In a world of constantly improving and upcoming games, Dead or Alive (DOA) series has maintained the status by providing unique gaming experience in fighting genre. The series was first debuted in 1996 when it started as an arcade. It has made a name for itself with amazing graphics, entertaining gameplay and quirky playstyle. DOA has seen its darkest days but now it is enjoying highest praise from the fans and the critics.

Dead or Alive 5 was released nearly 5 years ago and the developers had to think to something that will sustain the audience’s interest in the series. Now a days, there is no deficiency of decent games. Especially with recent releases of Injustice, Mortal Kombat, Dragonball FighterZ and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It was quite a competition for DOA to stand high.

The latest edition in DOA series is not exactly the same like its predecessors. DOA series used to be built around flashy moves and oversexualized aesthetic and big-breasted. Last time they introduced very young female fighters displaying virtual flash bounces. Although in Dead or Alive 6, Koei Tecmo Games has de-emphasized sexuality in many ways. It was a trademark shown by the DOA series in previous games but now the developers are keen to make it an even platform for boys and girls, mostly free from sexual desires.

We think it a good gesture which has been welcomed by sensible critics. Female characters in the game are not presented as a symbol of sex. With layered clothing, players can now focus on fighting rather than staring the screen with lust. Also, for players who love to visit beaches more often will be happy to know about a variety of outfit customization in the game for every character.

You can unlock more outfits in the game as you play-on through the Quest mode. Also, you can always play 1v1 with your friends like any other fighting game.

There are like 100 short mission in Dead or Alive 6. You get to play with different characters, each having unique abilities at their disposal. Goals are given at the start of each quest, like striking down an opponent with “Land attack or Win the match within 1 minute”. Normally, there are 3 objectives to complete for every quest. As you complete these, more quests will unlock. These goals are marked as starts and if you get all three, a new clothing will be unlocked for your character. But there is a catch to this system. You’ll unlock attires according to missions not according to characters. So, it won’t matter which character you play with, new clothing will unlock in a fixed sequence. Also, you can play quests based on their custom pieces.

Quest mode is not only extremely fun to play but it also a good way to learn about every character’s techniques which you can implement in versus battles. You’ll get training tutorials for each quest displaying the special abilities of the character you ‘re going to play with in that special quest. So, you can pick your favorite fighter easily, inspecting through their abilities. Prioritizing each character via his/her ability can come handy against your 1v1 friends.

There are some other ways to unlock Custome items and that is through playing different single-player modes. The best example is traditional Arcade in which you get to fight against a number of random enemies till you make your way to the boss, who is also a randomly selected character. Then there is classic survival mode. We seriously doubt that there is an even a single gamer alive, who loves fighting game and does not know about survival mode.

In Dead or Alive 6, not only you have to play against an enemy for 1 round but you also get to complete unique challenges each round which makes it so much fun. Ultimately, surviving and dodging enemy attacks is the key to victory in Survival Mode. Best thing about these modes is that you can play them with any character of your choice. If you want some hardcore single-player fun, DOA also offers that.

DOA 6 story mode is kind of complex. It is divided into fragments. You get to fight between cut scenes along with entire matches as separate. You can switch stories anytime once unlocked. Levels can be switched. It is perhaps not very sequential but the fans sure get a kick out of playing the mission of their choice at any time.

Best thing about DOA 6 is its fighting style and the improved mechanism. While other fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighters feature “Block” button, DOA 6 offers “Hold”. Hold is similar to Block is some respects like soaking up damage and all that. Although, if you are attack while in Hold stance, your character performs a counter-attack on the enemy. This separates the DOA combat from other fighting style games. You can also perform combos using the Hold button. There are like four Hold buttons in the latest DOA game but you can also use three.

Even with the special abilities, DOA focuses more on real fighting techniques like combos and juggling. You can stun the opponents using flying kicks or powerful punches delivered at perfect time. For new players, Dead or Alive 6 have added a new feature called Fatal Rush. It will allow you to start a quick combo. This ability can extremely useful for newbies who are matches against series veterans. Even when you’re taking the damage in the game, your Break Gauge fills. Break gauge allows you to deliver high damage to the enemy. There is also another ability called Fatal Reversal which can be used to counter enemy attacks with fatal blows.

There have been many changes in DOA 6 as compared to previous games of the series. One of them is player tag system. In the older editions, players could use multiple characters in a single round. But that gravy train has reached the destination. DOA 6 emphasizes on 1v1 combat. Allowing players to display their combos’ skills in a fair n square match.

The game contains a big roster, containing 24 characters at the start. Developers might add more with the upcoming updates and DLC. Plus, you can unlock three more characters by playing modes only. With so many fighters at your disposal, it is not difficult to pick a character that suits your fighting style.

Graphics are not much improved in this edition but still you get a kick while playing the game. DOA 6 focuses more on combat style than visuals. All in all, this game has revolutionized the series by eliminating the negative factors like raw sexuality and rotating some moves in the game. Game mechanism is more solid than ever and enjoyment factor is at peak. Players can argue that female characters were the “notice” point of DOA series but now you can fill that lust with some real-fighting experience.

What are your thoughts about Dead or Alive 6 and do you think Tecmo’s decision to remove focus from female character was good? Tell us in the comments section below.

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