DOA Ultimate is a remake of Dead Or Alive 2 and 1. You'll get one disc
for each game in the same package. DOA 1 (being the Saturn game it is)
is a look back at the primitive yet slightly enjoyable game that
started it all. Not a bad game at all, but the casual gamer probably
won't be playing this game too much. DOA 2 however, is extremely
polished and has tremendous graphics. My biggest complaint is the lack
of moves. Many of my favourites moves and combo throws from DOA 3 is
absent in DOA 2, but the reason is of course that they weren't on the
original DOA 2... This robs the game of gameplay and was very unwanted
with me.
The arenas are pretty cool, with many more stairs and stuff, but there's just too few of them.
DOA 2 features a large amount of costumes, where some characters (like
Kasumi) can have 20 costumes. Of course the later costumes are from the
Xtreme Beach Volleyball game and will bring joy to many breast-lovers
out there... The costumes are 137 in total and there's only 2 per
character who doesn't need to be unlocked! These are unlocked by
completing Story mode with the character you need costumes for. Or if
you have unlocked the unlockable characters (you need a DOA 3 save file
to unlock the last one) you can collect all items in Survival mode to
completely unlock all costumes and extras. These extras include G4TV's
look behind the Dead Or Alive series, GC gallery (collection of sexy
pics from DOA XBV) and a booster which you can use to get the costumes
for your DOA 3 file! The latter is the extra I cared most about... But
once you've gotten all the 66 items in Survival (which takes
surprisingly short time) there isn't much to do! If you're like me and
have played through DOA 3's Story mode uncountable times and remember
almost every move sequence from the characters, gameplay falls to zero
in DOA Ultimate. Here's where Live play comes in, though. It's a good
Live function, but the lack of moves makes it a lesser experience than
it could have been if there was Live on DOA 3...
The sound in the game is what you'll expect: lame music, but cool sound effects and shouts.
The Story mode in DOA Ultimate is very disappointing. It explains
nearly nothing and has a total of maybe 5 minutes with video per
character that's not even CG! And the final boss is a cliché in looks
and a downer in the moves department. And there's only 7 stages.
Brad Wong, Christie and Hayate are missing in DOA Ultimate, only Tengu
(the boss) is new in the game. And if you don't have a DOA 3 save file
either, Hitomi isn't playable.
All in all, this is a DOA game and therefore a great fighting game, but
since it's a remake of DOA 2 and 1, people who are looking for a game
that have more to offer compared to DOA 3 while be disappointed. Live
and more costumes are of course great, but they're just the few things
that keeps this from being a game no DOA 3 player should buy.
DOA 3 was much better, even without Live and many costumes. Luckily,
unlocking the Booster in DOA Ultimate makes the experience on DOA 3
much better!
I hope DOA 4 won't disappoint that much, but it's practically certain that it won't.
