Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

From the reused animations and gameplay mechanics, to the god-awful gameplay changes, and finally to the worthless new mini-games, DOAX2 is a steaming pile of Team Ninja excrement. [JPN Import]

Even fans of the DOA might want to think twice about picking up a copy of Xtreme 2. Although the eye candy may send your eyes into a diabetic shock, that’s about all there is here.

In my opinion Itagaki needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with some new concepts for this hybrid dating sports game. Some more depth is certainly needed as the inclusion of water sports doesn’t accomplish this.

With such a desirable concept, it's a shame the game hasn't been fleshed out to any great extent. Hopefully future instalments (if any) can provide higher levels of interaction and playability.

May your future romantic disappointments be less expensive. [Jan. 2007, p.96]

Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 is what happens when you tinker too much with a perfect formula -- and not in the name of improvement. This is the Dead or Alive that, quite frankly, critics of Team Ninja have been hoping for -- a soulless, poorly executed title slathered in truly shameless fan service that not even those who would use it for dirty deeds could force themselves to sit through. It's as ridiculous as the individual breast physics that it entails.

Team Ninja has headed in exactly the wrong direction: more throwaway minigames, the same frustrating friends system, less focus on the volleyball. Instead, it winds up seeming just as superficial as the bosoms of its stars.

This game is a damn, dirty tease. No one will buy it for the volleyball and the jetskis. No one will buy it because they want a good casino game or a dating sim. This game’s target audience is people that want wank material. And in that respect, it doesn’t even qualify as softcore porn.

A surprising failure. There’s some longevity (for the really patient) in trying to get every accessory and every costume, and even winning over the other girls has its challenges. But the core games just aren’t very good, and there’s no discernable improvement over its Xbox predecessor.

It's the kind of game you should pick up in the bargain bin a few months down the track and even then just for a laugh rather than a serious game experience.

Non-games are definitely the 'in' thing at the moment, but Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 has gone so far into obscure territory that very few people will find much to enjoy, and that includes the bounciness.

Very pretty to look at and a lot of attention has been paid to female anatomy, but it has no substance whatsoever. [Issue 15, p.82]

The most frustrating thing about Xtreme 2 is thinking about all the time super-developer Team Ninja wasted making it. Every day it pissed away creating this nonsense is an extra day we have to wait for it to release its next proper game like "Ninja Gaiden 2." For that, we curse DoA Xtreme 2 to HELL.

There’s just no valid excuse for buying Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 when you could just as easily pop down to a sex shop and buy an R18 DVD, go online and scour the adult sites or just spend your money on a proper videogame.

When it comes down to it, value is the key element that ultimately ruins this game. What do you get for your $59.99? You get to look at polygonal girls in bikinis. That's pretty much it.

Poorly executed at almost every turn. The gameplay doesn’t enhance the visuals like it should, rather it significantly detracts from them. The gameplay is the desert you have to walk through to get to the oasis of the boobs.

The activities are largely pointless, gratuitous exercises in showing off the girls in their bikinis, and any attempt to give the game some sort of justifiable kleptomaniacal purpose is beyond insulting - even to serial wankers.

The controls and gameplay just plain suck, the girls are freakish, and the music made us wish we had an ear infection. This game is demeaning to women, who are treated as nothing more than toys here, and underestimates gamers in general.