A game meant for the occasional gamer, Dead or Alive 4 delivers on the technical side, but lacks in content.
Being a huge DOA and Tomonobu Itagaki fan, this was one of the first 3 games I bought for my Xbox 360, and although you could say that there's to liitle content for the amount of money you have to pay for the game, I disagree. DOA games are meant for the occasional playthrough and are best enjoyed when you're playing with friends or online. But, I must also say that in comparison with DOA Ultimate, there could have been more a little more content. The story is as always there just to keep the characters talking, but you are motivated to finish the single player portion because you then obtaion variousa entertaining and well made CG cutscenes and costumes for your characters. The number of costumes available isn't as big as in DOA Ultimate, but there is more than enough variety, and some are even interesting from a technical view, like Kokoro's kimono.
Speaking of techical, the game's graphics are amazing and everything runs with no hiccups. There are some hair clipping issues, but they don't really bother me, because I like how it looks more realistic now. The character models are as always more anime inspired than realistic, whereas the stages are as realistic as they can get, featuring huge landscapes filled with items and traps you can use to really hurt your enemy. The music is ok and fits well. The fights are now faster and shorter in time than ever before, which I like a lot. They bring excitement to the very end.
DOA4 is a game that is meant to be played for one or two hours occasionally, otherwise you might get bored quickly after you have played through the single player and acquired all the costumes. The online play helps a lot here, it's fast and effective and ensures DOA4 won't end up somewhere in your drawers after you've played a little bit.
To sum up, if you want a game that's great when you're bored and have nothing to do for a shorter amount of time, or you are hosting a party, that is a real graphical showcase with fast paced combat and sexy female characters, then DOA4 is the right game for you. If you accidentally already own DOA Ultimate, you might consider not spending your money on this game, because Ultimate also looks great and delivers about the same thing as DOA4.