Dead or Alive 4

Dead or Alive 4
North American cover art featuring (from top left to bottom right) La Mariposa, Hayabusa, Eliot, Kokoro, Kasumi, Bass, Zack, Jann Lee, Ayane, Tina, Helena, and Christie
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo
Director(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki Katsunori Ehara Hiroaki Matsui
Producer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki Satoshi Kanematsu Max Naka
Designer(s)	Yoshifuru Okamoto Motohiro Shiga Yohei Shimbori
Artist(s)	Yasuo Egawa Yasushi Nakakura Hideki Niimi
Series	Dead or Alive
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release	NA/JP: December 29, 2005 EU: January 27, 2006 AU: March 13, 2006
Genre(s)	Fighting game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Dead or Alive 4 (Japanese: デッドオアアライブ4, Hepburn: Deddo Oa Araibu Fō, abbreviated as DOA4) is a fighting game in the Dead or Alive series, developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox 360 in 2005.

The story of the game focuses on the continuing war between the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan and DOATEC, and Helena Douglas taking over the mantle of DOATEC as its new president, determined to fight against the corruption in the giant organization. The game's story mode introduces the player to new characters and opponents via combat which can then be played in the game's other modes.

DOA4 was generally well received, with an average score of 85/100 on Metacritic. By late 2006, the game sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

Gameplay[]

Dead or Alive 4 has a number of updates in reference to previous titles. New to DOA4 is the introduction of the "Bounce Combo" system. After knocking an opponent to the ground with a strike attack, players can execute a bounce combo to perform further attacks on the opponent when they are on the floor and bounce. Low attacks and some mid attacks can now be performed on opponents while they are down.

Certain stages now have moving obstacles that will cause damage to fighters if they are hit by them, and using a counter hold at the right timing can help players avoid being hit by them.

Certain stages now also have obstacles in which fighters can be knocked over them, and when the opponent is on the other side of an obstacle, players can jump over them and they can also perform flying attacks.

Characters' move lists have been vastly updated and four new characters have been added to the fighting roster, with returns from a couple of past characters as well. The counter system has been tightened, making the window for counters shorter and more difficult to execute, and the amount of damage that counters inflict has been changed. However, like Dead or Alive 3, the game features a relatively low number of costumes and several characters now had to be unlocked by the player including Helena.

Dead or Alive 4 features 22 playable characters, and multi-tiered and interactive fighting arenas. There are six modes in the game:

• Story Mode, which offers the player to play with the character and learn their backstory;
• Time Attack, where the player must defeat a set amount of opponents in the shortest possible time in one-on-one or two-on-two battles;
• Survival Mode, where the player must defeat as many opponents as possible in one-on-one or two-on-two battles;
• Team Battle, featuring teams of characters fighting each other, with a total of eight characters on each side;
• Versus, a free play mode of standard one-on-one or two-on-two battles;
• DOA Online, available via the Xbox Live and similar to the Versus mode, where players could interact in a similar fashion to an arcade setting fighting opponents at win/loss intervals.

Characters[]

Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden fighting against Halo's SPARTAN-458 in the Nassau Station stage during the game's Time Attack Mode.

Returning characters in the game are Ayane, Bass Armstrong, Bayman, Brad Wong, Christie, Hayate, Hitomi, Jann Lee, Kasumi, Leifang, Ryu Hayabusa, Tina Armstrong, and Zack.

DOA4 features three new playable characters: Kokoro, a young geisha in training; Eliot, a 16-year-old boy from England and protégé to Gen Fu; and La Mariposa, a female Lucha Libre wrestler. In addition, DOA4 features a playable unlockable character from the Halo series, a female Spartan supersoldier going by the name "Spartan-458" (with a Halo-themed stage Nassau Station in the game);^[1] it would later be revealed that her real name would be "Nicole".^[2]

New[]

• Alpha-152 (unplayable), the final stage of DOATEC's human weapon series Project Alpha, created from Kasumi's DNA by the evil scientist, Victor Donovan.
• Eliot, a British xing yi quan practitioner and the only apprentice of the legendary "Immovable Fist", Gen Fu. Having doubts about himself and questioning why Gen Fu chose him as his successor, Eliot enters the tournament to find out if he has the right to carry on Gen Fu's legacy.
• Kokoro, a young Japanese girl currently training to become a geisha. Though she enjoys her lessons, Kokoro's heart and soul truly belong to her bajiquan, and despite the worries of her mother Miyako, she enters to the tournament to test herself.
• La Mariposa, a luchadora who hides her past and true identity underneath her flamboyant costume. La Maripsoa rose like a comet to the peak of stardom only a short while after her debut, and has never lost a match.

Returning[]

Unlockable[]

• Ein
• Gen Fu
• Helena Douglas
• Leon
• Spartan-458 (guest character)
• Tengu

Helena Douglas is unlockable in all modes. Gen Fu, Leon, Ein, Spartan-458 and Tengu are unlockable characters that cannot be used in the story mode. Alpha-152 is an unplayable boss character that cannot be used in any mode.

Plot[]

Dead or Alive 4 focuses on the story of Helena Douglas taking over the mantle of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee as its second chairman, determined to fight against the corruption in the organization. After losing both her father and her beloved mother to the darkness of conspiracy, Helena chose to place herself in the middle of the maelstrom in order to put an end to the chain of tragedy once and for all.

The man who holds the true power at DOATEC, Victor Donovan, locked himself in the Bio Lab Core again to continue coveting his dream of creating the perfect human weapon. His new project, code named "Alpha-152", is the result of the ultimate evolution of hyper-cloning technology, birthed from a DNA sample of Kasumi.

The main storyline continues with the war between the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan and DOATEC. After Ayane successfully defeats DOATEC's last creation, Omega, Hayate returned to the Mugen Tenshin clan, taking over the leadership. Now leader, his heart burns with the desire of revenge as he goes on a quest to put an end to DOATEC for the innumerable pain the Ninjas have suffered from the organization. During the fourth tournament, Hayate brought together the most powerful group of Ninjas known to man. He is accompanied by Ayane, Ryu Hayabusa, and other members of the Mugen Tenshin Clan; Kasumi, though reluctant, is dragged into the events herself as she follows her brother.

The ninjas attack DOATEC's primary headquarters, the gigantic Tri-tower buildings. Other competitors such as Brad Wong, Eliot, Jann Lee, Kokoro, Leifang, and Zack were also among the chaos during the assault. Hayate is confronted by a luchadora named La Mariposa who reveals that she manipulated him into coming to destroy DOATEC. Hayate thanks her and he battles her to return the favor. Bayman vowed to finish off Donovan, Hayate also states his reasons for wanting revenge on the mad scientist as well. Bayman tells Hayate not to interfere in his revenge but Hayate states that he cannot let him fool things up while the ninjas proceed with their assault. La Mariposa reveals to Helena about her involvement in DOATEC's Epsilon project before the second tournament and Hayate coming to DOATEC. La Mariposa resents Donovan and wants to put an end to his motives. Helena reveals to her that there's no way now to stop Alpha-152 from awakening now that her shutdown mechanism has been destroyed and only one option is left to stop Alpha. Kasumi confronts Helena, telling her to stop the fight between DOATEC and the Mugen Tenshin. Helena refuses, stating that Hayate and the others will stop at nothing until DOATEC is destroyed, and she is willing do anything to stop Donovan and Alpha-152 from causing havoc in the world. Helena attempts to shoot Kasumi but she is saved by Hayabusa. Helena is later confronted by Christie who reveals that she was her mother's killer. Almost breaking down in sadness over her loss and now boiling with anger, Helena fights Christie.

The ninja assault left the Tri-towers in an inferno, and the buildings' auto-destruct sequence activated by Helena lead to the buildings' ultimate destruction. Helena tries to commit suicide by willingly letting herself be consumed by the flames of the burning buildings. Suddenly, Zack came flying in with a chopper, saving her before the Tri-tower buildings fell to dust.

Development and release[]

On May 12, 2005, the first screens from the game were leaked on the Internet via the elotrolado.net message boards.^[3] The first official screenshots, in-game demos and cinematics were presented by Microsoft at press conferences,^[4] with the game originally slated to be a launch title for the Xbox 360. In an interview with Famitsu Xbox, Tomonobu Itagaki remarked that he spent 99% of his time developing the game, while only sleeping 40 minutes in four days.^[5] Technical assistance for Dead or Alive 4 was given by Blindlight.

The game was delayed many times before eventually being released on December 29, 2005, more than a month after the Xbox 360 debuted,^[6] having been initially held back by retailers.^[7] Famitsu Xbox editor-in-chief Munetatsu Matsui pointed to Dead or Alive 4's absence as a launch title as the main factor behind the slow sales of the Xbox 360 in Japan.^[8] This was the first main series game to have an M rating by the ESRB, due to a few female characters wearing a few revealing outfits and a few cutscenes.

Since Dead or Alive 4's release, a demo version of the game has been available for free download via Xbox Live in 2006. While the demo showcases the final version of the game, it is a very limited version and only a handful of the features are accessible, while the rest are locked down. Only the Time Attack and Verses modes are playable, there are just five stages available, and only Kasumi, Hayabusa, Brad, Tina, Eliot, and La Mariposa are playable. Some of the settings are also locked-out.

Two songs by the American rock band Aerosmith also appear in Dead or Alive 4. "Eat the Rich" was used as the opening theme, and "Amazing" was played during Helena's ending movie and over the credits.

An Arcade Stick for Dead or Alive 4 made by Japanese video game peripheral manufacturer Hori was released on February 4, 2006 exclusively for the Xbox 360.

The Soundtrack CD Dead or Alive 4 Original Sound Trax (KWCD-1009) was released in Japan by Wake Up in 2006. A guide book titled Dead or Alive 4: Official Game Guide by Prima Games was published in North America on January 24, 2006. Three guide books were published in Japan in 2005-2006: Dead or Alive 4 Official Guide Basic File (by Famitsu Xbox / Enterbrain), Dead or Alive 4 Best Shot (by SoftBank), and Dead or Alive 4 Official Guide Master File (by Enterbrain). The Platinum Collection edition of the game was released in Japan on November 1, 2007.^[9]

Reception[]

Dead or Alive 4 received very positive reviews. Review aggregators GameRankings and Metacritic gave the game a score of 85.49% and 85/100, respectively.^[10][11]

Douglass C. Perry of IGN called the game "a move in the right direction for the series" and praised the fighting system as "deeper and more sophisticated".^[12] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot wrote: "It's simple: If you like fighting games, DOA4 is for you. Between its great selection of powerful fighters, its terrific action, and its addictive online mode, there's an awful lot to sink your teeth into, learn, and master in this latest and greatest installment in the series."^[13]

The game was included in the Evolution Championship Series,^[21] Championship Gaming Series^[22] and World Cyber Games.^[23] In 2008, GamePro staff ranked it as the 11th best fighting game, stating: "The first new-generation fighter to be released, Dead or Alive 4 still makes a strong case as the best one. [...] This is a fighting game that can stand in the ring with any major series."^[24] In 2009, Virgin Media ranked it as the seventh top 20 beat 'em-up of all time.^[25] In 2011, Peter Rubin of Complex ranked it as the 28th best fighting game of all time.^[26]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 28 September 2011)
• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 10 January 2013) (in Japanese)
• Dead or Alive 4 at MobyGames