Spring TGS 2001Dead or Alive 3 impressions

TOKYO - Outside of Sega's commitment to the console, the primary revelation regarding the Xbox at the Tokyo Game Show was the announcement of Dead or Alive 3 from Tecmo. The company showed a lengthy rolling demo, which according to the producer of Team Ninja was running entirely in real-time. The quality of the visuals was so impressive that at times, to the untrained eye, particular sequences could easily be mistaken for pre-rendered CG scenes. The demo starts with a panoramic shot of a waterfall, followed by a picture of a rotating clock that moves closer to the camera and shatters upon impact. The video then switches to a fight between Hayabusa and Bass. The rolling demo then goes through several characters and their specific environments. It shows Ayane in a lush, green field with birds flying overhead and flowers protruding through the thick grass, and Hayabusa performing kata on a city street surrounded by large buildings and assorted signage.

Following this, two new characters are introduced. The first character shown is a young fighter wearing bright orange and yellow clothing. He is shown carrying a crimson gourd and using the drunken-boxing style. In one of the sequences, he walks out onto a new level based inside an icy cave. As he steps walks over the ice his reflection is seen on the ice and his shadow distorts realistically with the contours of the highly uneven surface. The second new character shown is a silver haired female wearing a silver spandex jumpsuit. She is shown performing kata in a black and white marble courtyard under the full moon. The third character is never shown in action, his two brief appearances in the clip is interspersed in between the action sequences for the other characters. This new character is shown engulfed in flames and is wearing a samurai mask and armor made of highly reflective steel or metal.

Probably the most impressive aspect of the Dead or Alive 3 video shown is that virtually every object in the massive 3D worlds seemed to have been rendered in real-time. For example, in a beach level, everything, including the crashing waves, flying seagulls, and even a distant rock formation is all highly detailed and rendered in real-time. Naturally, this gives the developers the freedom to expand on the open-environment feel of DOA2, by introducing even more environmental elements and locations into the fights themselves.

Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox featured massive and intricately detailed environments. Some of the character renders weren't quite as impressive as the environments themselves, but the animation was fluid and looked considerably more realistic than the second game. Dead or Alive 3 is exclusive to the Xbox for an unspecified period following its release and is currently planned for release at launch.