Hands-OnDead or Alive 3

Tecmo and Microsoft came by today with an early build of Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox. The game was first announced at the spring TGS, Tokyo Game Show and development has been moving at a healthy clip. Tecmo is currently prepping the game for a November release for the Xbox launch, which might give some people a good reason to pick up the system.

Featuring just a taste of what the final game is set to offer, the build we saw contained three playable characters and three stages. While Kasumi, Lei Fang, and Ayane were all decked out in their outfits from DOA2, their individual poly counts were bumped up significantly and offered better detail. Character models are now made up of roughly 20,000 polygons each. The characters' hair was much more mobile and realistic during the fights than in previous installments of the game. Clothing moved well but didn't offer a significant improvement, as many features have yet to be implemented into the final game. The bulk of the character animation was from DOA2; however, some of the new counters showed off new bits of animation, which were highlighted by the game's dynamic camera. The in-game camera was extremely fluid: It pulled back to let us see the fighting area when we were away from our opponent and came in close during counters and throws.

DOA3's camera work helped showcase the three selectable levels to good effect. While the high-poly character models looked very good, the improvements, at the moment, are subtle. On the other hand, the fighting arenas in the game were head and shoulders above those found in DOA2. A beach, a castle, and a forest were available for combat, and each offered a stunning display of Team Ninja's design skill and the Xbox's graphical muscle. The beach arena staged combat in front of a deserted resort with a pier off to the left side of the area and an empty beach off to the right. Seagulls sailed above the water, framed by a setting sun that gave everything a warm orange glow and caused characters to cast shadows on the sand. Waves came up on shore, and you could actually take the fight into the water. Fighters disturbed sand but didn't leave trails, although trails are expected to be a graphical feature in the game. We saw only a portion of the castle arena--the sections that will be revealed when you knock opponents through screens were locked. The small area featured a reflective wood floor and candles lining the walls. On each side of the screened area, grille-covered windows looked out into the night. Finally, the forest area offered an expansive setting that featured multilevel ground that extended down to a running creek and leaves, which kicked up as opponents were knocked into the various trees in the level. A long trail could be seen on the ground, we were able to fight along it in both directions for quite a ways. The texture work on the ground and trees was well done, and the leaves were a nice touch.

The gameplay was faithful to that in DOA2, but the addition of multilevel ground added a new dynamic to the battle in the forest. The action was fast and kept to a solid 60 frames per second, regardless of the camera movement or onscreen moves. Outside of what was seen in the demo, Tecmo intends to implement a host of subtle effects to give the characters a more realistic look. Lighting effects, muscle movement, sand trails and particle effects, and improved clothing movement are all on tap for the final version of the game. The final arenas will offer environments comparable to what was seen in the demo and will offer a few surprises for you when you knock your opponents into new areas. Fans of the DOA series can also look forward to the promise of new costumes for the various fighters, which should keep to the spirit of the costumes found in previous games. Look for more on DOA3 as it becomes available.