Dead or Alive: Dimensions is the fifth game in the fighting game series known as, Dead or Alive or DOA for short. Dead or Alive: Dimensions is the first DOA game to grace a Nintendo platform, is it a great game, or simply trash? Find out after the break!
Note: I’ve never played a Dead or Alive game, so don’t expect me to get into the technical side of this fighter, instead, I’ll talk about the game as a newbie to the series. But the review is quite deep, 895 words deep.
Dead or Alive: Dimensions is a beautiful game, in fact, it’s the best looking 3DS game out on the market, and easily stands up to some the PSP’s best looking games. It looks awesome in 3D, and it really does feature some neat pop-out 3D effects, unlike Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition.
Dimensions features quite a lot of modes, from the simple Arcade mode, to the Throwdown mode. In Dimensions, you can also download DLC via the 3DS’s own SpotPass service. This increases the re-playability even more. You can download character costumes and Throwdown challenges. There is so much content to unlock on Dead or Alive: Dimensions, which adds to the re-playability.
Dead or Alive: Dimensions runs in a 30FPS, and 60FPS in 2D mode. While, 3D mode is only 30FPS, I can’t say that it mattered much to me. But as expected, in 2D mode Dimensions is a much more fluid game, but it doesn’t make a huge difference; I still play on 3D.
Dimensions features simple controls (it uses just two attack buttons, one for blocking moves and one for throwing your opponents) and while it may seem a perfect game for button mashers, the deep counter system makes it so you won’t be finding yourself getting “owned” by button mashers. I found it Dimensions a great game to pick up to play because of the simplistic controls. And I feel with some time, I’ll be able to master the deep control system and become a pro! Something which I can’t even dream of doing on Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition.
Dimensions features a variety of environments to do battle in. You are also able to knock your opponents off by using combos, which will cause them to fall and loose a lot of health. If you want to win a match in Dead or Alive: Dimensions, then you must learn how to pull off combos and also learn how to time your blocks accurately, which I find pretty fun, and makes me feel like a ninja!
Dimensions also features a story, but unlike most fighting games, Dimensions’ story mode isn’t just crammed in and probably the worst part of the game. Instead, it’s an ambitious mode titled, Chronicle which allows you learn the back stories of several DOA fighters.
Chronicle also features awesome tutorials which really do help you learn the basics of DOA. Chronicle mode is split up into 5 chapters, it didn’t take me a lot of time to complete the Chronicle mode, but it’s a great way to learn the basics of this fighter.
The basic story of the Dead or Alive series is that a bunch of fighters partake in a fighting tournament titled Dead or Alive. While it does have a slightly deeper aspect to it, don’t expect the story to be fantastic. But we have to remember that fighting games aren’t known to have engaging and deep story lines.
It’s filled with cutscenes, which do look cool in 3D, but they aren’t really anything special as sometimes the characters’ mouths do not move when they’re talking, which is a weird decision made by the developers.
Like in Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, the bottom screen is used as a shortcut allowing you to pull off complicate combos more easily, making it easier for new gamers like me. But I rarely ever use the bottom screen, it’s largely due to me wanted to do combos myself, and also it’s hard to press the combos, because each section for a combo is pretty small, meaning that it’s pretty hard to press while having a heated battle.
Dimensions also features online play, but I feel that it is a bit limited (no tag-team mode), but it does its job. You can also take photographs from any angle (OMG, THINK OF TEH BOOBZ) of the DOA characters in Showcase mode. There are over 1,000 figures to collect.
Dimensions also supports StreetPass. The StreetPass implementation will allow you to exchange character parameters and play patterns with each other, so basically you’ll exchange information on your fighting style, then the CPU opponents will employ the fighting style that you’ve just received via StreetPass.
I find that the music in this game can sometimes get stuck in your head, but largely it’s forgettable.
Overall, I find Dead or Alive: Dimensions to be a great package, and has set a standard for Nintendo 3DS fighting games. With more fighting games on the way for the Nintendo 3DS, Dead or Alive: Dimensions is a prime example on how a Nintendo 3DS fighting game should be done. While it does have its shortcomings, Dead or Alive: Dimensions is a great game overall.
Loved:
- Beautifully presented; best looking 3DS game out now.
- A wide variety of modes to choose from
- Easy for gamers new to the series to get into
- So much re-playability
Hated:
- Bare-boned online
- Bottom screen is hard to use
