DOA2: Hardcore

"Good fun for your money"

Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, aka DoA2:H, is more of a revamped version of the Dreamcast title with an extremely similar name.

Story Mode is pretty similar to many fighting games. Fight enough fights then beat the 'big bad guy' to win the championship/title/belt/world domination/etc. Vs. mode is pretty basic as well. Team Battle is basic, choose a group of people and keep fighting until the last person on the team drops. Survival Mode has you KO as many as you can before you're KO'd. All of these are very basic and can be found in many games.

The Tag Team fighting is a real shining jewel for the game. It's not so much ''I hit him, your turn!'' but more like ''I'll hold him, you beat the <insert body part here> out of him'' or WWF style double teaming. Also, some tag team combos are unique to certain teams. One such team is Kasumi and Hayabusa. Both being Ninjas, they have a special tag team attack. By playing through Story Mode, you can actually pick out some of the special team combinations.

Here are some reasons you should buy it:
Very fluid fighting moves
Very attractive babes (not like that's important)
Fighting style used by the characters very similar to the martial arts they're named after, at least the ones I know of
Hidden costumes and options a plenty
Very attractive babes (deja vu?)
UPS system allow you to save you victories and defeats separate from your rivals

Reasons not to buy it? I can only think of one, and that's if you have the Dreamcast version. The PS2 is the same with a few extras, such as the new costumes and arenas. If you're a DoA fan, though, you may want to get both anyway.

Graphics : 9
Sound : 9
Control : 7 - easy to learn, but using it properly is rather difficult
Fun : 8
Replayability : 10 - you have to in order to get everything unlocked
Runthru : 5 - you can't really get a feel for the game by just blasting through it on Easy Mode
Walkthru : 7 - There's quite a bit to explore that practice and experimenting can uncover
Crawlthru : 9 - All the hidden costumes are very cute ^^ Also, tag team fighting has a lot of flamboyance if you can practice the moves and get them down.

Overall : 8 - This game is quite a lot of fun and a definite if you love fighting games. Between this game and Tekken Tag Tournament, you (and you friends) will never really be bored. All we have to do know is wait for DoA3! (And you know they will.)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/00, Updated 11/29/00