DOA2: Hardcore

"Harder and faster than the original, but is it better?"

‘Dead or Alive’ was a somewhat underrated fighting game that slipped under the radar of most fighting fanatics, ignored by the bigger names such as ‘Tekken’ and ‘Virtua Fighter.’ This was a shame as it was a great game, and offered quite a few new features to an otherwise stale genre. So what can the sequel offer that the original didn’t? Does it improve upon the first game, or will it slip into anonymity just like the original before it?

Dead or Alive is actually the name of a fighting competition within the game, where a few select people from around the world gather to beat the crap out of each other. The last person left standing after a series of brutal fights is deemed the winner. There’s also an assassination thrown into the mix for good measure, and you can be sure that each character has a hidden agenda or a score to settle from the original. Four new characters have been included, Ein, Leon, Helena and Tenchu.
Being a fighting game, the plot is rather lame, and the ‘cloning’ sections of the story are almost laughable. Just don’t try to take this one to seriously…
Story: 2

‘Dead or Alive 2’ first appeared in the arcades, was ported to the Dreamcast, and then finally the PS2. The transition from Dreamcast to PS2 has seen very little graphical changes or improvements, although the game was spectacular in the first place so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The fighting is fast and fluid, and each character moves with an almost freaky realism, even though most of the moves are fairly over-the-top.
The fighting arenas are all 3D and best of all, interactive! Some of the arenas actually allow you to cause damage to an opponent either by kicking them into or through a wall. The first level, a church tower, is a great example of this. Kick your opponent into one of the giant, circular, stained glass windows and it will shatter, sending them down a two storey drop. Your character then jumps down as well (suffering no damage) and the fight continues. All without a single hiccup along the way.
Many of the arenas are structured like this, which adds a bit more strategy to each match other than just mindless button mashing.
There are quite a few characters on offer, and each one looks absolutely amazing. The detail is rather incredible, right down to the way that the characters clothes/hair sways in the wind. There are some issues with clipping, such as a nasty instance of Tina’s hair going through the collar of her shirt, but this is to be expected. The animation as mentioned earlier, is fluid and realistic, and there are few, if any instances of jolted animation.
It must be said though, that the last boss, ‘Tenchu’ is perhaps one of the most laughable characters in any fighting game to date. How can a giant fat man with wings and a foot long nose instil fear in anyone? Ok, well maybe it can, but not in the way that Tecmo (the developers) had obviously intended. Not to mention the fact that the last fight is an utter joke, blurring your screen to a point where the characters are just giant blobs of colour.
Graphics: 8

At last, a fighting game that offers us English speakers instead of trashy Japanese voice overs! Finally, the taunts actually make sense (well, sort of anyways…) and you can understand what is meant to be going on around you!
It’s not all a bed of roses though, as one word can be used to describe the voice actors: Cheesy. You think ‘Resident Evil’ had corny voice actors? Wait till you hear the ‘Dead or Alive 2’ crew ham it up… I dare you not to laugh out loud at the lameness, I know I sure couldn’t! ‘Surely it’s not all bad’ I hear you all say. Well, it is, and then some. I suppose it could be worse, and at least this time around it’s all English, although the positivity of this can be argued. Whereas before I wondered what the characters had to say, now I wish they’d just shut their mouths and slap each other around at last! Half the time the taunts don’t even fit either. For example, a fight between Helena and Kasumi goes as follows;
Helena; ‘This will be a good fight!’
Kasumi; ‘Why?’
The things that some of the characters say are ridiculous too. My friend and I were playing against each other on the Dragon Hills, a multi-tiered arena. After kicking his ass then throwing him off a five-storey building to his death, my character then says; ‘I’m sorry, are you ok?’
The sound effects aren’t much better than the voice acting. A tiny slap across the face of one character results in a massive ‘BOOM’ sound effect that seems entirely unnecessary and out of place. In fact, almost every hit results in a completely unrealistic thumping noise.
The music is bearable, although hardly memorable. It’s mostly Japanese techno and soft metal, which is alright if you’re into that sort of thing.
Sound: 6

The fighting system is truly where ‘Dead or Alive 2’ shines.
The ‘Danger Zones’ of the original have been taken out, and replaced with multi-tiered, interactive environments. You can now throw your opponents off cliffs, over the edge of buildings and through windows in order to damage them. This results in a much more strategic fighting game then most, but this is not the games only strong point.
The reversal system makes a welcome and improved comeback, allowing you to reverse any opponents move and use it against them. Say you are fighting your typical button masher who just keeps doing the one super powerful move over and over again. If you can time it right, you can stop them mid blow, and launch a powerful offensive of your own.
This system works well, and is an absolute treat to use. Two player matches is truly the strong point of the game, as if you can get an evenly matched friend to verse you, there can be some very tense fights. Speaking of which, the sheer number of modes available is freaky, with everything from single player matches, to team battles and even tag teams. There are a total of ten modes, although some of these are fairly similar to others.
The tag team mode is an interesting one, you start by choosing two characters and go through a series of matches against another two opponents. During these fights you can tag in the other character at almost anytime with no slowdown on the gameplay what-so-ever. To spice things up a bit, this mode can also be played in co-operative mode with a friend, or competitively against each other. With the use of a multi-tap a total of four people can participate in competitive tag-team style matches.
Another cool mode is ‘Survival’ where you fight an endless number of opponents till you are knocked out. Each downed opponent rewards you with a health power-up, but as the game goes on, the harder the opponents become.
The original game had an impressive number of unlockable extras, and the sequel does not stray in this regard. While there is less to unlock this time around, there is still a huge number of extra costumes to unlock for each character (although less than in the original), two additional characters, and a huge CG gallery full of pics of all of the girls from the game.
Game Play: 9
Life Span: 7

Pros
+ Fast and frantic action
+ Plenty of modes
+ Silky smooth graphics
+ Reversals!
+ Great two player mode
+ Plenty to unlock

Cons
- Less to unlock than the original
- Awful voice acting
- Music

All this adds up to a refreshing, varied and above all entertaining fighting game, superior to many of the more ‘generic’ fighting games on the market today. If you are yet to experience a ‘Dead or Alive’ game, then this is the ideal place to start, and if you were a fan of the original, you will not be disappointed with this excellent follow-up. Highly recommended.
Overall: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/03, Updated 07/09/03