Dead or Alive 5

It's just a little too similar to previous iterations that it's hard to recommend fans rush out to buy it.

A fighting game for those who aren't into fighting games, offering plenty of shallow thrills and gorgeous visuals but little beyond that if you want to go deeper. [Issue#90, p.88]

This is no revolution for the series, in whatever direction. And with me that's alright, this time at least - and mostly because I largely ignored part 4. It does signify the current struggle of the genre, though. All is well and good, but also a bit boring. Still, I did have quite a bit of fun with DOA 5, especially offline.

There's nothing really wrong with DOA5 and it's certainly an improvement over its predecessors, but I was expecting more from the first Dead or Alive game to come out in nearly seven years.

If you're looking for a refinement and re-balancing of Dead or Alive 4, then Dead or Alive 5 will suit your needs just fine. It's also the most welcoming to newcomers, so if you've been curious to try DOA, this is the time to get in. If you're a hardcore DOA fan though, keep your expectations in check and don't hope for too much.

It'd take the most hardcore of fighting fans to put together an argument that this wasn't a decent fighter at its core and they'd struggle even harder to claim that it wasn't at least entertaining. On a base level, though, it's business as usual. It's a beat-'em-up loaded with increasingly damp and dirty scantily clad ladies whose breasts defy physics and one that has an Achievement for watching every questionably shot, moist, groaning defeat pose.

Whether you'll want to buy Dead or Alive 5 on day one depends on a number of things. If you're looking for a wealth of new and inventive content in addition to some truly ground-breaking mechanics, then this really isn't the next big thing. But if you have any love for the genre and want to lose yourself in a highly methodical 3D fighting game that tests your adaptive reasoning at about three or four potentially game-changing decisions per second - well, then Dead or Alive 5 is very easy to like.

There's very little new in Dead or Alive 5. It's built on tried, true and perhaps tepid fighting game foundations, but given the depth it's difficult to fault it for that. Fighting game players in search of something completely new might be better off holding out for Persona 4 Arena. But if it's just a solid, technical fighter you're after, Dead or Alive fits the bill.

Almost seven years passed since Dead or Alive 4 – a long time in which beat'em ups progressed quite a bit. This progressed seems to have passed by Team Ninja. A little more action, a little less counter attack. The unique fighting system still is tremendously motivating and delivers. But that aside this T & A show doesn't have much too offer.

Considering it's been almost seven years since the last game Dead Or Alive 5 has shamefully few new ideas, and makes you wonder whether the series didn't belong in the big league after all.

Dead or Alive 5 can be a decent fighter when you're settling into a good match, but the overall package just doesn't deliver what a sequel should. New characters Mila and Rig are fun to control, and some cameos from Virtua Fighter are a nice bonus, but this series simply hasn't progressed in the same way that its peers in the genre have. This may have sufficed as a sequel in 2007, but Dead or Alive is getting lapped by its competitors in 2012.