Video Game Review: Dead or Alive 4

Although the Xbox 360 launch had a stellar collection of games — from "Call of Duty 2" to "Project Gotham Racing 3" — one genre was sorely missing. Yes, if you were looking to pit impossibly voluptuous women against impossibly muscular men in a martial arts battle to the death, you were left out in the cold. Thankfully, developer Team Ninja has released "Dead or Alive 4" to fill that gaping void.

For those familiar with previous iterations of the series, not too much has changed here except that the game is now powered by the 360, allowing for stunning visual scenery and more fluid character animation.

It seems the development team spent most of its time on the backgrounds, which look like photographs, rather than the characters themselves, which look grounded in the last-generation. However, those characters move lightening fast, and the frame rate never suffers at any point, allowing the action to flow continuously.

Besides being beautiful, those backgrounds also play an integral role in the game. In the marketplace venue, for instance, you can punch and kick your opponent down stairs or into a fruit stand. Other locations have electrified fences or floors and one level has wild animals that might maul you if you get too close.
For novice fighting-game players, the story mode is a good place to start the game. In its default settings, it's quite easy to conquer by the time-tested tradition of pounding as many buttons as possible. On higher difficulty settings, especially if you choose to take the game online and play against expert players, learning the individual character moves is a must. Thankfully, if you pause the game, you can peruse the full list of moves for the character you're using.

Make no mistake, on anything above regular difficulty you'll need to be a master of these martial arts maneuvers. A strong case could be made that the game "cheats" at certain points when playing the computer. If you happen to get caught in a computer-controlled combo, the fight may be over before it ever starts. Once sucked into said combo, there is no way to get out — you just have to sit and watch helplessly as your character get pummeled, generally losing the majority of the health bar in the process.
This is nothing new to fighting game enthusiasts, but for those just looking for some button-mashing action, it may prove controller-throwing aggravating.

Outside of the story and online modes, "Dead or Alive 4" has a few other options to keep gamers playing. You can hone your skills in the Sparring, Time Attack and Survival Modes and a host of unlockables, including additional characters (one of which is from the revered "Halo" universe) and costumes.
For those of you who have been pining away for a fighter to play on your Xbox 360, you'll want to play this game like it's your job. If you get frustrated learning moves and getting the crap kicked out of you, it's probably not necessary to apply.

Grade: B