Though DOA2 is an okay trying - the lame fighting system and confusing controls makes it way too random and frustrating.
Dead or Alive 2 is an extremly fast paced arcade fighting from Tecmo's Team Ninja crew.The concept is a simple controlled,quick and spectacular game boosted with attractive female characters...and some men oh,yeah - just for substance.
While it's rivals pays attention on the stylish and detailed hand to hand combat,DOA's simple 2-button-attack method is for the easy-to-perform and speedy gameplay only.It's almost the same concept like in Sega's Virtua Fighter series,however...Dead or Alive's battle system's efficiency is very far from VF's arcade-artwork-controls.
The main problem is the wrong approach of that simplicity.One buttor for punch,one for kick and another one,called "free" which is for guarding and activate the "free mode",the guarding stance while we can perform quick forward/backward moves,counterattacks and sidesteps.Where's the problem with that you ask?Don't forget!It's an extremly fast paced game!And since it's so fast like this,the explained control method is nearly useless.
Unless you've born with superhuman reflexes and finger muscles,you'll not be able to use this kind of fighting way all properly.You simply have no TIME to perform a side step (remember - the free button then the direction arrow together) to avoid those lightspeeder series of kicks a puch combos.Simply no TIME to step back or duck.Oh yeah,you can use the analog stick as well,but in this game,you should be very quick and ACCURATE and it's impossible to keep the pace while being that precise with the analog sticks.
DOA2 lets you to perform various counter moves against low,middle and high attacks - more easier like in the rival fighting games.Sounds good,but this simplicity here is bad again!It's too easy to behave passive and grab your enemy every time he/she attacks and it also leaves too much room for the AI opponents to cheat.To make it even worse,these counter moves causing the highest damage - I think I shouldn't explain how frustrating could be grabbed and grabbed again while you want to FIGHT!
It's way too easy to lose as a pro and win as an amateur with this unbalanced and random way of combat.This all makes the game totally senseless - since no matter how much you practice,you could be beaten even by a newcomer player who uses a random button-bashing "strategy".Also,I can't leave the stupid camera system without some unwanted words:DOA2's funny "cameraman" likes to suddenly switch sides in the MOST WORST moments!!!
So to conclude,DOA2's control/battle system is more than sloppy and it sadly kills the whole project.Period.:(
But hey,to talk about something positive,graphically,DOA2 is really an above-the-average game.The arenas and backgrounds are pretty,spectacular and large enough for real A to B multi-floor rumbles.We have a big selection of these stages as well and all of them has it's own atmosphere.The visual engine presents great lens flare and other eye catching light effects,autentic water splash,snow falls and explosions - yep,DOA's trademark "danger areas" are here again!
The characters are well detailed and their fightin' moves looks awesome and hyper-fast - however,the bodies of the female fighters in DOA2 seems too plastic,like toy dolls.They just aren't really human-like.Of course their appearance is really charming (especially their "off-the-anime" faces),but they all look like fragile popstars or photomodels instead of tough fighters and there's a false thing with all of them which makes the DOA tournament nice to watch,but somewhat airy and less serious as it should be - it's just a secondary aspect in a hardcore-arcade game though.Another bail is that the selectable fighters lineup is quite little in DOA2 and there's only a few unique,really likeable characters in the roster.
The audio is a fine work as both sound effects and musical background are in it's places.All I can mention as setback is the voices of some of the characters.For example,the lip sync actress of Ayane spell her words without any emphasis or tone-play and Kasumi's voice makes her talk like an innocent little child - while she is supposed to sounds like a fearless female ninja!
About the game modes,we can find all the beat 'em up cliches - with some differences as the rival's.
Story mode sounds exciting but it only means usual one round battles and some REALLY short and silly cutscenes as intermissions between the bouts.If we make it through all the stages,another REALLY short and meaningless scene appears as the ending of the story...and...and that's all.
Oh yeah,by the way - DOA2 uses the game's 3D rendered graphics for these cutscenes so there isn't any CG videos (not even an intro or something) - I haven't find one at least.(maybe it's because the strict deadlines of Tecmo so they were able to hit the stores before the rivals.)
Naturally,we can try ourselves in Time Attack,Survival and Tag battles - and these game modes are somewhat different from the ordinary formula.For example,survival isn't just a simple VS to VS till KO!In DOA2,we find our fighter in a huge arena surrounded with walls.As we beat an opponent,the next one immediately jumps into the battle -without a loading screen- which makes DOA2's survival mode more dynamic than other game's.Also,we can (or should I say we could...) pick up various items during the battles as power ups and for our collection list to fill.Another great idea is that the survival game isn't for the win number but the highest score!The counter starts to count from the very beginning of the game and keep ticking until we can stand on our legs.We can also boost our score with pickin up items,performing good attacks and such.This method is one of the few really nice,original -and WORKING!- ideas of DOA2.
But on the whole,Dead or alive 2 is nothing more but a wasted chance to getting a place in the best H2H fighting games hall of fame.The concept is okay,there's some nice ideas in the game,but the core of the system is badly in the rough.
Next time,try less breast implants and more TECHNICAL FIGHT,Tecmo!
DEAD OR ALIVE 2. - Playstation 2. (PAL Version)