The lovely ladies of Dead or Alive are back, and this time, they’re portable.  In recent years the Dead or Alive series has become more well known for moe fanservice resort dress-up simulators and mini-games  (DoA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball and its sequel) than hardcore fighting, so it is certainly refreshing to see the series finally return to proper fisticuffs.

Game: Dead or Alive Dimensions
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Genre: Fighting
Price: $39.99
Verdict: Ninjas and fanservice collide in this fighter with a casual slant.
Cons: Reduced framerate when in 3D mode, tag battles are awful

Acquired via Purchase

Dead or Alive Dimensions is a one-on-one fighting game with a heavy emphasis on counters and reversals.  The controls, like most entries in the series, are simple – a button for punch, another for kick, a third for block, and a fourth for throw/reversal.  Combat is fast-paced and many of the arenas are interactive, meaning that a player can smash an opponent over obstacles and through walls – taking the fight to different areas inside the game’s massive environments.  It should be noted that this is the first Dead or Alive title developed without the guiding hand of Team Ninja ex-sensei, Tomonobu Itagaki.  I had my doubts about what his departure would do for the future of this long-running series, but as far as Dead or Alive games go, Dimensions looks the part, feels the part, and doesn’t miss a beat.  Those that have played the other entries in the series will know exactly what they’re getting into here – both in graphics and gameplay – and that is definitely a good thing.

Where does Dimensions fall within the barely comprehensive DoA universe from a storyline perspective?  Well, that’s a difficult question to answer.  The game is more or less a retelling of every game in the franchise, with all the characters and many backgrounds from the series’ entire timeline included for good measure.  Unlike the recent reboot of Mortal Kombat, which contains a similar storytelling angle, no time-travel shenanigans are included that mess up the way that events play out in the game’s story mode (here called “Chronicle”).  Each chapter in the game’s story mode concludes the way a Dead or Alive fan would remember, based on the ending of the corresponding title in the series.  There are chapters based on DoA1, 2, 3, and 4, along with a brief epilogue “teaser” that shows glimpses of where the series might be headed.  The Chronicle mode forces the user into playing particular characters (like in Mortal Kombat), and each chapter contains several fights broken up by voiced cut scenes.  As stated above, a chapter corresponds to a particular game in the Dead or Alive saga, and much of the game’s impressive roster is unlocked by playing through each one.  Unfortunately, even with all the voiced cut scenes, the story still doesn’t make a lick of sense.   A lot of the new cut scenes are still frames made to showcase the 3D mode of the system, but look sloppy in 2D.  One major offender of a tacked-on cut scene occurs in just about every chapter, when Helena (or another character) is giving an introduction to the next Dead or Alive tournament.  During this cut scene, the view shifts to a group of well-dressed partygoers in 3-4 still camera shots.  This cutscene was present at least three times in Chronicle mode, which is three times too many as far as I’m concerned.   This is a minor complaint, however, because the actual fighting – the most important part of any fighting game – feels solid and familiar.

Besides the Chronicle mode, there are several other ways to play Dead or Alive Dimensions.  There are arcade courses of varying difficulty levels, online play, an unusual 3D Camera mode where you can take pictures of the characters, and a “tag” mode.  Note the quotation marks around the word “tag” – as this is NOT the full-featured tag mode from previous entries in the Dead or Alive series.  Instead, even though the player selects both characters for a tag-team match, the player is only allowed to control one teammate. The other teammate is taken over by the incompetent AI.  On the harder missions, the CPU partner is little more than fist fodder to take a beating while your primary character regains vitality while waiting in the wings.  This completely changes the balance of tag mode, and I am at a loss as to why Team Ninja made this decision.  As far as more interesting bonus features, a “figure” collection mode and free costume downloads via SpotPass are available.  The free costume downloads in particular keep me coming back to the game on a daily basis, as Team Ninja is currently distributing one new costume every 24 hours.

Graphically, the game looks great.  The arenas are huge, and the level of detail on the character models is impressive.  The overall graphical fidelity certainly takes a hit when compared against Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360, but the visuals are approximately on par with, or slightly better than, Dead or Alive 3 on the original Xbox.  The camera is a bit zoomed out when compared with other entries in the series (presumably to enhance the potency of the 3D mode), but the lighting effects and background/character detail are very impressive overall.  Putting the game into 3D does cause the framerate to dive to 30 fps (similar to Super Street Fighter 4 3D edition), so I prefer to play without 3D, but the game is certainly playable either way.  It’s a matter of preference – visuals versus fluidity, and for me, fluidity wins every time.

As far as controls are concerned, Dead or Alive is one of the few fighting franchises that actually controls well on a portable without needing to resort to cheesy “shortcuts.”  BlazBlue and Street Fighter 4 both have complex control mechanisms that make certain combos very difficult to perform accurately on a handheld control scheme.  Dead or Alive has complex inputs as well, but they aren’t integral to enjoying the game.  The four-button layout and ease of performing simple combos make the game a pleasure to play on the small screen.  For enthusiasts, there are certainly complex combos available to learn (as well as a Super Street Fighter IV-esque  touchscreen method of performing them instantly).

Dead or Alive Dimensions is a worthwhile entry in the long-running fighting series.  The simple controls translate fairly well to a handheld, and the incredible amount of characters, backgrounds, and extra modes will keep players coming back for some time.  Right now, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Dimensions is the strongest fighting game on the 3DS, mainly due to the casual slant in its controls.  There’s a lot of content in the game.  For fans of the series, or fighting games in general, Dead or Alive Dimensions is a knockout…busty ninja pun not intended.

GrE Grade: B

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