An intense way to usher in the next generation of gaming! DOA4 is sure to get those palms sweat'n and your heart race'n.
I want to get one thing out of the way though, if you already own DOA3 or Ultimate then you might want to pass this one up because not a lot has changed. The DOA series has always taken an evolutionary approach to progressing the series but rest assured this is the best iteration yet.
The last DOA game I played was for PS2 so for me this new DOA4 on Xbox 360 is a significant jump for me. I'm really pleased with the depth they've added to the gameplay. Every character has between 80-140 moves so there is a ton of variety in how you can attack. A lot of the combos look totally insane and very painful when you dish out the hurt. This kind of fighter is still easy to pick up and play for newer players but it isn't hard to learn some advanced tactics and really get into the meat of the game. DOA4 will reward you for putting in the effort to learn all the in's and outs of the fighters.
The countering system DOA is famous for plays a lesser role this time because there is a very tiny window of opportunity to pull off counters. They definitely do happen but much less than in the previous games which is a good thing because it allows for more freedom doing awesome combos. You will still get countered a lot if you repeat the same simple combos over again so it pays to learn the harder ones.
There is also more moves to perform while your opponent has fallen down which is nice because in previous games there were only a few moves to perform in this state.
Unfortunately the game doesn't have an "easy" mode. I guess Team Ninja wants everyone to just "learn2play" rather than be hand holded through the game. They still should have included the option but it's ok because the game definitely encourages you to improve your game and that is actually the key to really unlocking the inner part of the game. The more challenge you have the harder you will need to practice and you will find yourself getting into some intense battles where a split second decision at one sliver of health could either give you the win or make you cry like a school girl.
Although this is a challenging game, it comes with superb sparring mode that will show you how to perform all the moves from all of the characters. You may also easily program the AI opponent to perform a certain action so you can practice specific areas such as countering, blocking, throws and holds.
The worst part of the game I can think of is the end-game boss Alpha 152. Team Ninja, shame on you for making a boss so incredibly cheap! Yes this thing can teleport at will, unleash virtually unblockable 10+ hit combos and other moves that can cut your health in half in one second. Suffice to say the only way to beat her is random luck. Sometimes it will take a few tries or maybe 20. I think the best strategy to beat her is to just be cheap as well and spam running hits like a flying kick.
DOA4 is one of the most spectacular games to look at on 360 especially on an HDTV. I've played it on both types of TV's and an HDTV looks much better but the game still looks awesome on a standard so don't worry. The character models are even more detailed than before, with muscular definition, flowing clothes and hair. Animations are also more smooth and life-like. The punches and kicks really look like they connect and there is little to no clipping that I could detect. I would say this is one of the most beautiful examples of artwork in motion as you watch two foes perform the dance of death. The moves just look mind blowing. The fighting environments perhaps look even more stunning than the characters. They are chalk full of little details and of course many destroyable areas. I would even go so far as to say some backgrounds look near photo-realistic. The only bad thing I have to say about the visuals is that for a next gen game I still expected characters to have more detail and some effects are lacking such as hardly any splash when fighting in the water.
The sound hasn't changed much from other games but overall it sounds even better mostly due to the Xbox 360's high fidelity 5.1 surround sound support. All the hard hitting sound effects you would expect are here plus system voices for all the characters and some pretty kick-butt music tunes as well....and some Aerosmith if that's your thing.
If this game was not online I would have to say the lasting value would be a little on the short side. It won't take long to beat the game with all characters on normal difficulty. There are many achievements to unlock for completing milestones but that doesn't appeal to me that much. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of completing story mode is to see all of the ending movies. These are the best, most action packed and intense pre-rendered movies I have seen in a game since Final Fantasy X. That is saying a lot and you will be totally blown away when you see some of them.
Playing on Xbox Live against real people with the headset and all is where the real lasting value comes from. I think I will be playing on Live for many months to come. It is very quick and easy to get into an online match and there are several different types. The most common one being winner stays. You can also watch matches while your not fighting so you always have something to do. So far I'm dissapointed with the connection quality because sometimes there is a lot of lag while other times its lag free but then all it takes is one person to join the game and suddenly it's lag city. Of course you know lag and fighting games don't mix at all so if there is even the slightest lag you pretty much just have to quit the game since it will only cause frustration. This is something happening in other games too so I think it has more to do with Microsoft's service than being the developers fault.
I would highly recommend this game to any fighting fan that doesn't already own DOA Ultimate or anyone with a casual interest in fighters. The last fighter I owned was Tekken for PS2 but it didn't take me long at all to become reasonably skilled in this game and the better you become the more fun you will get out of it. There is more strategy to the matches in this game than before so it's not just a button mashing contest and it's better for it. I really love how the course of a fight flows. The game really connects you with the controller and the moves which gives you an intense experience that will immerse you into the game. This is a great way to kick off the Xbox 360 launch and DOA4 is probably one of the top 3 best games for the system. Check it out.