Dead or Alive 5 proves it's a fighter

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The season of huge releases has begun with Borderlands 2 release last weekend, Dead or Alive 5 this week, and next week’s release schedule including Resident Evil 6.It is only going to get busier and that is why I love what I do, this time around MashButtons brings you it’s review of Dead or Alive 5, Team Ninja’s latest in their popular fighting franchise. In Dead or Alive 5, we once again join those bouncing characters that we love so much when they kick high and the multiple martial arts techniques they are equipped with, but this time we get more. This time we get select fighters from the Virtua Fighter game, new interactive levels to use to your advantage and online battle modes.

Dead or Alive has been around since the first PlayStation and was developed by the same people that brought us Ninja Gaiden. This team, Team Ninja, did it once again in releasing a beautiful looking brawler that plays very fast and fluid. The levels also look just as good as the fighters and it is still ever so satisfying to use the environment to level the playing field in the middle of a round. Though looks are a lot of what makes a good game better, so gameplay is where the series has always shined. No matter what the combo or how much is going on in the level, it does not slow down, moves are quick, and if you aren’t prepared, thinking ahead, then you can lose in the blink of and eye.

Though not without faults, DOA 5 has a couple shortcomings. The first issue being the story and the other consists of the load times.  Though you can skip the story if you lose interest and want to brawl, you still have loading times that are long, even when the game is installed to the hard drive. This doesn’t break the game, in arcade and other modes, you don’t have the long cutscenes, but since I wanted to play through the story before online play, I gave the story a shot and is was better than the loading screens, just too many in between fights.

Oh Dead or Alive, you are a special beast I hold so near and dear. I played you since my teenage years and you seem to get better with age. It is great to pick up and throw a few rounds down on line or play the numerous online modes to hone your main character’s skills and unlock costumes.  It is just as great and easy to lose yourself to Dead of Alive 5 for hours at a time. DOA 5 has been my favorite fighting game so far for 2012 and will likely be my go to fighter until Injustice is released.