Well done current gen fighting game

User Rating: 8.5 | Dead or Alive 4 (Platinum Hits) X360
I've followed the DoA games since its brief time on the Sega Genesis and its short cameo on the Ps1 and its last gen entries on the Xbox.It's been hard for fighting games the past 5-7 years going from 2D to 3D which DoA has been 3D since the SG days and Its grown up alot since then and DoA does try compete with the big brands like Street Fighter and Tekken which can be hard to compete with and can be intimidating at times.

DoA 4 is the first official "next gen" fighting game and I couldnt be happier to see a fighting game take a big step like DoA 4 has.

First off DoA 4 gives a decent SP/story mode which is interesting (not the best nor the worst) and the SP stages are so colorful and full of life like animals,cars,leaves,water and some destructible environments.Along with the SP mode theres a survival mode which you can play as one character or tag partner which can be pretty fun and challenging,then theres a Time mode which can also be played as one player or a tag partner which playing through all these game modes are fun,challenging and can unlock a few unlockables which is rewarding.

The graphics in DoA 4 are pretty nice from the characters to the fighting areas which each zone/stage has its own theme.Character graphics are well done with decent cloth rippling (like pants blowing in the wind) which is decent but pretty good for a fighting game in general and the game has been out for a little over a year.As said before the stages have beautiful effects like cherry blossoms falling,wind blowing,cars that can hit your character if they are in the street and even animals that can run away if your fighting to close to them or they can effect dmg to your character if you get in their way.

Gameplay can be weird at first and takes a few minutes or maybe even an hour to get use to,since you got the standard attack buttons Y and B,then you have your block and counter button which is X then lastly you have the grab button which is A.The Ai in DoA is pretty tough at times,in fact it can get to tough to the point you can get very angry at the game and its in all 3 modes not just one,so dont think one mode is easy while the others can be a challenge,btw a warning which Im pretty sure any DoA 4 owner/gamer will tell any new DoA purchaser is prepare for a tough encounter (s) in DoA 4.