DOA2: Hardcore

"The sequel to the fighter where the focus is on the ladies"

Storyline (6/10)
Well the storyline is really mediocre and the idea of a fighter having amnesia has really been overdone. As for the storyline of the various characters they aren't really interesting and their endings are also mediocre too. Actually I feel that while the character models are well designed they should have put more thought in their storylines. In all the story just doesn't seem to be interesting at all compared to the Tekken series.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects-9/10
Well you really have to give them credit for their voice overs. I simply love the I can not lose phrase. Although some people told me they can't stand the voice overs.. Anyway you can hear both their voices in cool Japanese or in cool English. Either way they are quite good for the ears.As for music well its okay and not bad . Sometimes its a song and sometimes its a nice tune.

Graphics-10/10
Lets be honest how many people play this game because they love the fighters and love 3D fighters ? Even I admit that I bought it for the ladies but also partly because I wanted to use Ein. The ladies really looked very well designed although some are a bit unrealistic. But at least they reduce the bounce factor which I thought was too unrealistic in dead or Alive I. The stages are also quite well designed in my opinion. Its better than Tekken Tag and more colourful.The female characters looked better than the ones in Tekken tag but do note that in Tekken 4 and Soul Calibur II Namco's female characters looked much better and with vast improvements.

Gameplay-6/10
The main reason you buy this game is because you wanted to look at the ladies right ? Well basically most people I know who are perverted would play the game's mindles modes to unlock the costumes for their favourite girl. Some of the smarter ones would use a game shark or action replay to unlock the costumes. Also lets face it you wouldn't be playing this game's arcade mode just because you find it fun to play.

Strengths
1) There are many costumes for the ones who just want to see those girls wear those revealing outfits. Thus these players would keep playing the game to unlock those costumes.

2) There is a tag mode which gives it some replay value.
There is also a mode where people can record battles between their favourite babes and watch for something to happen and keep watching a good replay again and again.

3) There are actually tons of moves and the game actually has a decent move list which could make this game very interesting if not for one major problem. The problem of reversals which I will elaborate later.

Flaws

1) If you want to see the costumes just get an action replay and you will realised how stupid you were to play this game for the costumes.

2) The AI love to walk around in circles which causes the camera to spin very quickly. The end result is that some of my friends and I my self have personally felt very giddy after just half an hour of playing this game.

3) Surprisingly there is no exhibition mode or any mode where you can zoom in and look at the character models. Which is weird since this game's main focus is the ladies.
Such a mode is in Soul Calibur II.Although I admit this might not be a good comparison since Calibur II came out in 2003. But hey I heard that Soul Calibur had it.

4) The over use of reversals means that you only need to learn how to reverse and the game is yours. The reversals also do massive damage. Now how is that for strategy. We have enemies who love to walk in circles making you giddy and enemies who love to reverse that there seems no point for you to attack. In fact sometimes you win because you got a lucky reversal by luck. Sometimes you lose because the enemy just got a reversal on you. Yeah if you are a reversal expert the game is too easy. Also if you have yet to master the reversal winning and losing is more on luck.
Also every character has a reversal so the gameplay is that shallow.The same reverse your way to victory can be used for all characters. Sure they try to make things different by giving people different commands for reversing. But its still nearly the same.

5)There are very few characters for this game. Also while the female cast isn't too bad players like me don't really have much characters to choose from.

6)There are no other modes besides the battle recorder that is unique. Tekken Tag and Tekken 3 had more modes than this game. Now if the arcade mode is good I wouldn't care about other modes but since its kinda lame it would have help this game's replay value. Also trying to get players to play the game for the costume is a very lame idea since people can just get around it with the action replay device.

7)Until you learn the art of reversing you would realised that the character power balance is really terrible. Kasumi is really overpowered. Also some of the characters are really hard to use against Kasumi.

Conclusion-This game is all about the beautiful girls. They are well designed and feature some of the most beautiful girls among the 3D fighters. The gameplay is really badly designed. The gameplay is bad the replay value so terrible that you are advised to use and action replay if you really want to see the girls in their revealing outfits. Or if you are smart just find the pictures from the internet and you can save yourself the money and buy yourself another better 3D fighter. I would recommend you the Tekken series if you really want a 3D fighter that is fun to play.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/03, Updated 06/12/03