Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Review (Including Extra Jiggle Physics)

By Benjamin Kelly on 29/04/2024 21:51 UTC

Semi naked buxom ladies fighting in high definition, what more needs to be said, right? Seriously though, I've already waxed lyrical about why I love the Dead or Alive series, and the very best thing about Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is that it still does everything I love about the series perfectly, and even added a whole heap of new things into the mix to freshen it up a little.

For those of you who have read my previous article on the series or are familiar with Dead or Alive (especially the DoA5 series), you can probably skip ahead a few paragraphs, for the rest of you, let me explain.

Now that has to hurt...

Dead or Alive is a fighting game, and I would almost go so far as to say that Dead or Alive has now become THE fighting game. Whereas Tekken and Injustice both (I felt at least) fell into a kind of clunky, heavy feel, Dead or Alive keeps the action moving through swift moving characters, fast combo inputs, and destructible environments that players can throw each other through. There's nothing quite as satisfying as pulling off a combo that finishes by blasting your opponent through a second story wall, bouncing them off pipes or stairs (or cars) into the streets below to continue your punishment.

Street Fighter, long considered the 'King of Fighters' (perhaps rightly so for keeping an almost partisan stance of purity) has a heavy emphasis on combo memorisation – if you can remember, and skilfully input the button presses required for some of the more insane moves, you can usually blast your opponent right through the KO screen. Whilst I applaud that purity to the genre, it can be a hostile environment for a newcomer to face. It's daunting, and Dead or Alive, though it has an insane amount of depth to it's combos and inputs, doesn't require that you memorise which buttons to mash in which order, it requires you to out-think your opponent, get into their head and outsmart them.

That's where the DoA triangle system comes in, with a rocks-paper-scissors approach to Strikes, Holds, and Throws. Countering moves feels intuitive and rewards twitchy fingers. Combo-ing strikes together has space to cancel a combo mid-input and twist it into something else; if your opponent is expecting four strikes, they might throw up a block in time for the fourth, but if you've twisted that combo and replaced the fourth strike with a Throw, you'll bust through their guard and slam them for added damage and satisfaction. It's pure combat bliss, and we've not even looked at the graphics and new stuff yet.

That's Dead or Alive in a nutshell.

Like father, like daughter. Tina shows daddy that she's ready to take over the family business.

Welcome back to those of you who skipped ahead. Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is the final instalment in the DoA5 series (meaning that the next DoA game will be DoA6) so builds on the strong architecture of DoA5, DoA5+, and DoA5 Ultimate, and it's safe to say that Koei Tecmo have learned a lot in the past three years. For starters, the game is presented now in that arbitrary “gold standard” of 1080p and 60fps, and this extra resolution allows the game to bring out those extra fine details and resolve the backgrounds sharper and clearer. Sweat, water and dirt builds on the characters and you can see every drop and grain of it. Whilst it's not the best looking title on next-gen, it is very pretty and it's smoothness is impressive.

Speaking of smoothness, the biggest graphical shift is what Tecmo have referred to as their 'Soft Engine' which improves both the smoothness of skin, and how it moves on the characters. In layman's terms, the breasts got even more realistic bounce physics (though the game contains the option to modify how the breasts bounce, from realistic to an almost comically chaotic level).

The pause button, every rowdy teenager's best friend.

Secondly, the game may be mainly focussed to Xbox One and Playstation 4, with PS3 and Xbox 360 getting digital only versions, and PC currently having no online functionality, but an interesting new dynamic has arisen. On the Xbox Live Store and PSN Store, you'll find something called Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters, and it's free, much like DoA5 Ultimate: Core Fighters. It gives you the core game and the four 'main' characters (Ayane, Hayate, Kasumi and Ryu) with everything else purchasable as DLC. Of course, you can still grab the complete game for a fairly modest fee.

Speaking of DLC, players who purchased any of the costume DLC for the previous games can import this into the new versions, and believe me, there is a LOT of costume DLC available. I'm not gonna jump on the DLC hate-train, there's enough content in the game for the price to keep me happy, and if I really want to see Hitomi and several other girls in swimsuits or bath-towels, well, the option is there. Yeah, I miss the days when DLC didn't exist and all of these costumes would be in-game unlockables, but it seems pointless to lament the state of the gaming industry at large, so I'm just happy that buying the physical game unlocks all modes, relegating all the DLC to the 'Optional' category.

That's a lot of fighters, and with some of them having over 30, a lot of costumes too... 

Thirdly, for anyone who cares about the DoA5 storyline (or more accurately, anyone with the mental acuity to actually figure out what the hell is going on), there are a few extra chapters to conclude the DoA5 story. Let's be honest though, Story mode exists purely to introduce you to the characters as a kind of tutorial, to give a few cutscene based laughs, and as another way of unlocking trophies/rewards. Let's be honest here, nobody came to the fighting game scene for the storylines. We came to kick ass, and in that, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round absolutely excells.

The only minor drawbacks don't even really feel like drawbacks. DoA5LR adds two new characters; Raidou (the boss of the original DoA game) and Honoka (a Japanese schoolgirl with a blended fighting style). Raidou is a nice addition to the game, feeling like a heavier character, his place in the game seems fair in that he actually adds something new to the game. Honoka, on the other hand, feels like the developers wanted to keep the character select screen symmetrical without any extra work. She's a stereotypical Japanese schoolgirl, and almost all of her moves are directly and unashamedly lifted from other fighters. I get that a kind of 'medley' character could be cool and interesting, but her fighting style feels disjointed at best and lazy at worst, meaning that the slot feels wasted on her. I like the idea, but the execution leaves me wishing that much more had been done.

Raidou takes on a very lovely cat-Ayane.

That said, I refuse to lament an extra option, even if I don't use it. The game hasn't lost out on anything through it's inclusion, nor are the players paying extra for it (in fact, going the Core Fighters route you can easily cut her out entirely).

The bottom line is that Dead or Alive 5 Last Round doesn't add tonnes of new content to the series, so if you're happy still mashing away in DoA5 Ultimate or one of the other DoA5 games, fair game to you. For those looking for a solid fighter on PS4 or Xbox One, you cannot go wrong with this game.

Oh, and boobs. Lots of boobs.

8.2

“Dead or Alive 5 Last Round packs a punch.”

Quite possibly the strongest fighter on next-gen consoles so far, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round oozes style and fluidity whilst retaining the tight core gameplay that makes the series so damn good to begin with. With the most characters, costumes and modes of any Dead or Alive game so far, there's a lot to get stuck into, even if some of the new content is a disappointment when considering what it could be.
Story65%
Gameplay94%
Graphics80%