Dead Or Alive 6 (PS4)

The story is all over i think, but this is a fighting game and it does that part really well.It`s a fast paced fighter, graphics is nice. If you want something a little different from Tekken this is a good choice

Almost all the good stuff has remained, apart from tag battle :(They haven't gone mad with the jiggle "physics", so you can take this game seriously if you are new to the franchise.There is also a button bash option for new/casual players to stand a fighting (forgive the pun) chance at online battles.You'll probably still lose more than you win against seasoned DOA players, but at least you'll feel like you gave it a good shot.Why 4* and not 5?Well, tag team battle was a personal favourite, and the costumes are pretty limited unless you want to spend extra money on each one, or take out a second mortgage for the ridiculous season pass.

Okay, so the whole costume ordeal in this game is horrific, the idea of unlocking your favorite costumes by random chance is not something that they should've agreed on in the office the day they discussed what to do with this latest entry, this is just a lazy excuse to force people into playing the game more, want to unlock a costume for say... Kasumi? well tough luck, you can't just play as a character and unlock the costume for THAT particular character anymore, you can play as any random character and then unlock what the game calls "costume pattern parts" and you might not even have enough for one costume, so you'll have to keep fighting untill you unlock enough parts, which can take hours if not DAYS of hard work, granted this will probably make you appreciate each costume more, but this just smells of absolute laziness and it makes me really disappointed.UPDATE!: Koei Tecmo appears to have patched the game and you now only unlock costume parts for the particular character you're playing as, this is a step in the right direction, however this system shouldn't have been implemented in the first place.So over to the good, the gameplay itself, meaning the fighting, it is actually really good, if you liked Dead or Alive 5 for it's gameplay alone, then it's safe to say you'll love this one as well, and if you're the kind of person to actually spend a significant amount of time with games like these, then hey, maybe you don't mind the way you unlock costumes in this one, but personally for people like myself who just plays these games casually for fun just to unlock a costume now and then, or indulge in the jiggle physics for a laugh, then this type of system just kills it at least for me, but whatever, moving on.The maps are also really great, that is the ones that are actually new, because unfortunately the costume bit isn't the only place of laziness, instead of ALL brand new maps, they've just shoved some maps from the 5th game in with a new coat of paint, really (they've also done this for a lot of the costumes.) but if you're into destructible environments in fighting games, then these will suffice for the time being.CONCLUSION:So okay, the fighting is great, and the maps you fight in are fun, and have different layers to them like previous games, however the horrendous amount of grinding necessary just to unlock some of your favorite costumes makes this a troubled release, and i didn't even touch upon the unbelieveably priced Season Pass which just blew my mind, for the price of that season pass you can actually buy like two really great games, or even two handfuls of indie games, what were they thinking?I would recommend this ONLY if you don't care about the costumes, as there is still plenty of content to be had in this game, but at this rate you're better off sticking to Dead or Alive 5: Last Round and just buying the extra DLC characters they released for that game, as 6 is simply not up to par with Last Round.But hey, it's your money, and this is just my opinion.3/5 - Great game in theory - but bad game design in places ruins the experience, unfortunately.A little side-note: I doubt anyone from Koei Tecmo are reading this, but PLEASE make the pre-order costumes available for purchase - or for free if you're actually going to be generous for once, later on, as seeing these digital-only pre-order bonuses in the costume pop-up menu just to never get to select them drives me crazy.UPDATE 2: Looks like Koei Tecmo listened and the pre-order costumes are now available for purchase, although whether or not they are all included i haven't checked yet, as paying a large sum of money for cosmetics is only something i do every so often, i'll be updating this review again once i've sacrificed my wallet for the sake of my core values.Edit for UPDATE 2: So unfortunately as i thought, two costumes are still locked even after purchasing the deluxe costume set, this includes the "early purchase bonus" and "digital deluxe bonus" Kasumi costumes, why these weren't included in the deluxe set, i have no clue, i can only hope these costumes also will become available for purchase at some point.I will also mention that i have bought the season pass since the intial review, i did so reluctantly but.. anything for my core values, and there's another problem there i have to mention, the two characters you get this month (in June) also include costumes from the previous released season pass content, well, with the EXCEPTION of Mai Shiranui's extra costumes, you're somehow expected to buy the same costumes TWICE that you get free with Kula Diamond, excuse me, but WHAT?! this season pass already costs a fortune and all your dignity, and you're still going to charge for previously released content? i guess greed really has no bounds.UPDATE 2.5: it appears that Koei Tecmo yet again has listened as the extra costumes for Mai Shiranui are now free for season pass 1 owners, whether this was an oversight on KT's part or if they actually intended to charge you twice - i don't know, all i know is this, i sure wont be buying season pass 2, as DOA 6 much like 5 and all of it's versions intend only to be a massive clothing store for your waifus, the conclusion is this - KT much like a gold digger just wants your money untill it's sucked you dry, and i intend to support you no further with your bad habits, you need professional therapy KT so please go sit next to EA, Activision, Blizzard, and Ubisoft and wait in line for your therapy session.UPDATE 3: I've now lowered the score of my review to a fitting 1 star (it was previously 3), "Why did you lower it?" you may innocently ask, well my dear friend unless you haven't heard... you now have to PAY to change a characters hair colour! WHAT THE F.. thats right, it costs money to change the hair colour, but oh no, not only that - they charge you to change it BACK to a previous colour! Koei Tecmo what's wrong with you?! most companies let you do that for free! Jesus Christ what a way to ruin a perfectly fun franchise, first over-priced DLC and now this. Dead or Alive?.. at this point i think more DEAD than ALIVE..UPDATE 3.1: They have now updated the game and you now own the hair colours when you buy a hair style, however for me this changes nothing, 1. you only own the hair colours for each particular hair styles and there are still plenty to buy and 2. Take into consideration that you have to do this with EVERY CHARACTER.Let me once again remind you that most video games on the market do not pull these greedy strategies, they allow you to unlock costumes either by doing some task, or by solving a puzzle, finding them in the wild, or by purchasing them with some in-game currency, and hair colours are usually something that's all unlocked right from the start for FREE, because video games are supposed to be fun, to take you out of the world for a moment of tranquility - not throw you into crippling debt.

I owned DOA5 and although I haven't played it for a while, this seems like more of the same. I enjoy the silliness of it, but the combat itself does not feel that satisfying, and the stages are not particularly inspired. I seem to remember the older ones having more verticality and levels which you could drop down to. The menu design is pretty bare-bones, but simple enough to navigate.A few odd design choices: A large part of the game is collecting coins and credits which you use to unlock costumes, hairstyles, sunglasses etc. However, there is no option to rotate the characters. So for example you want to see how hairstyle looks from the side (the view you will always see it from during gameplay): you can't do it. Characters are viewed head-on only in the menu. Very very odd, as most other games with customisable characters will let you rotate them. As far as I can tell there is no option to play or preview music tracks before buying them. You just have to use your coins and then listen after. The loading screens are just a black screen with a little icon in the bottom corner, although loading is not too long. Some of the explanations for moves are unclear, and icons displayed in the moves list and not visible under the controls settings. (an arrow which bends 90 degrees for example). Tag battle is missing. Not sure why. Haven't tried the online modes yet. Graphics are fine but not really much different than the last one.So overall, it's a good bit of fun, but not really very well-designed overall. Basic things which games have included for decades (preview BGM, rotate characters, something to look at during the loading screens), are just not included. The game could be more compelling and enjoyable with these and other features added.