VideoGame Fanservice aside, it is a good fighter
Note: This review is for Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate/Last Round for the PS3.
The first thing that come to mind about the Dead or Alive series is fanservice and jiggle physics. While that is still true to an extent (especially considering Ultimate and Last Round adds more fanservice to appease the fans), there is more to this game.
Learning how to play the game is easy. The tutorials for each character is straight forward and teaches most of their moves and basic combos. However, like most fighting games, some characters have complex inputs – such as Ryu Hayabusa's Izuna Drop – that most people will not bother with.
Furthermore, while the game is easy to learn, and players will likely breeze through the lower difficulty levels, a player new to the game trying to take on legend difficulty out the box immediately will result in a curb stomp battle.
Graphics wise, the characters look great and more realistic than previous games, where they had a more anime-esque look and feel in previous entries. (Some may see this as a negative though, as some preferred the anime style.) The costumes are amazingly detailed. The characters sweat and get dirty, which I am sure adds to the fanservice factor. The stages are fun to play and are interactive.
Replay value is like any other fighting game – it mostly depends on player versus player, and there is both online and local multiplayer for that. The storyline will provide some entertainment and challenge – even if you believe the story is ridiculous. (And some of you will.)
If you bought the original Dead or Alive 5, the main reason to upgrade to Ultimate is the new characters, as the costumes are so-so, usually edits of previously released costumes (albeit well detailed).
Overall, I give the game an 8/10. It is fun to play, and a good introduction to fighting games.
VideoGame The Most Modest Costumes Yet
You hear Dead or Alive you think hot girls in skimpy clothes and exaggerated Jiggle Physics that beat people up, right? Well while that certainly is something you'd think of in the series, the fifth installment still keeps up the good fighting game that it is. And quite frankly, that was the most modest assortment of costumes the girls got that I have seen ever in the game series.
Though when I played Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate (Last Round), I noticed there was again more emphasis on having sexy clothes for the girls. Fortunately, though, the men get just as sexy outfits now, too, so if you felt it was too unfairly balanced, there's eyecandy on both sides now.
But giving the girls some clothes to cover themselves isn't the only thing about this game. It actually made a pretty big jump in terms of graphic quality and included new, slightly altered facial for majority of the characters. And while at first I wasn't too happy when I saw how Hayate now looked since They Changed It, Now It Sucks, I did get used to it after a bit and realized how awesome the new graphics made them look.
The graphics go less into anime-esque bright colors and more into darker, grittier real life colors. The men now have some nice muscles without looking too fake and the girls now have very nice "meaty" curves to their bodies so they don't look like thin models with huge boobs attached to them. I think the one where this is the easiest to notice is Helena.
The fighting system hasn't changed a whole lot, unfortunately, it still consists of its usual fighting along with the counters that are actually more based on luck than actual skill. The difficulty isn't too high, either, compared to Dead or Alive 4. A good game if people want to enter the series but don't want to get too frustrated at the battle AI. Though they might be extremely confused when playing the Story, lacking the background of things.
Sadly, the Arcade, Survival and Time Attack modes in single and tag team are now separated by ranks from Rookie to Legendary and have to be unlocked one at a time, starting from Rookie and making your way further down the list for higher difficulty. A small annoyance if one already has decent skill in this game and yet needs to fight the "baby levels" of the AI to get to the good fights. Still enjoyable.