A lot of Dead or Alive 5 games have come out over the last few years. There was the simply named Dead or Alive 5, which came out in 2012, then there was Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, which graced consoles only a year later. Oh, and let us not forget Dead or Alive 5+, which squeaked its way onto the PlayStation Vita in 2013 as well. Now, about two years later, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round has made its way onto the new generation of consoles, bringing with it some welcomed changes to the core game.
The biggest, and most obvious upgrade to previous DOA titles is Last Round’s graphics. Somewhat surprisingly, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo managed to make the two and a half year old game look gorgeous on the new consoles. The environments are bright, the characters are actually life-like, and the animations and movements are much smoother. While it doesn’t exactly look like a native PS4 or Xbox One game, it looks far better than it did on the predecessors.
While the visual upgrades make a huge difference, Last Round also shakes things up a bit by offering the most comprehensive list of playable characters, stages, and costumes to date. A smashing 34 characters are available to play, with literally hundreds of costumes/skins to choose for each one. Football gear, gym clothes, Santa suits, and an almost infinite number of string bikinis can be found in the closets for each character. It’s great for those who like to play dress up before sending their character out into the ring for a round or two.
Apart from the new characters, stages, and costumes, the fighting mechanisms in Last Round are basically the same as any other version of DOA5. The gameplay is fairly simplistic; while there are certain combinations of technical moves intended to make combos, you are not necessarily rewarded for achieving them. Besides, despite the numerous tutorials that players can take advantage of, many combos are just too lengthy to commit to memory. Most players will likely use basic attacks – such as punches, kicks and throws – to string together their own creative combos. Slightly more advanced players will be able to use proper blocks and counter-attacks, but most of what I have seen in online play is a reliance on these simple attacks to win rounds. To me, this is both good and bad.
On one hand, it allowed me to just jump right into Last Round without having to spend hours on tutorials. On the other hand, it made a lot of the characters feel too similar and rather bland. This blandness was only exaggerated by the fact that a high number of the attack animations were often repeated in different characters. In fact, with enough time playing the game, you begin to notice that each character only truly has a small number of unique moves, with the rest of the moves comprised of semi-recycled attacks and movement.
Come to think of it, the combat, in general, would be rather bland if not for the settings. As most notably seen in Injustice, the stages are interactive and partially destructible. Punching your enemy into certain areas of the stage can result in some pretty intense, and (mostly) highly entertaining, reactions. I have flung characters into helicopters, thrown them into electrified fences, pushed them over a waterfall, shot them with missiles, and even sacrificed them into the mouth of rather large, animatronic clown. Finding the triggers to activate these crazy, intense cinematic shorts takes the fun in Last Round up a notch. Occasionally, throwing people into certain objects will also trigger a location switch, which can really switch things up. (get it?)
Speaking of switching things up, Last Round offers several different gameplay modes to try keeping things fresh. Aside from the classic arcade mode, in which plyers fight a number of increasingly difficult opponents, included with Last Round is a survival mode, a team fighting more, and more. Each mode offers its own unique twist on the traditional beat-em-up style of gameplay you expect from DOA. In survival mode, for example, players have to fight the next opponent immediately after defeating the previous, continuing until their character’s health runs out. It actually is a quite fun way to change up the fight, although if you are really looking for a change of pace, you should check out the game’s story mode (he says sarcastically).
Almost every fighting game has some type of story mode these days. One that tries to briefly explain each character and how they are loosely tied together. Last Round is no exception in this area. Last Round’s story relies on loose references to previous entries in the DOA universe to bring unfamiliar players up to speed on what’s happening. Despite having played some of the previous titles years ago, I did find myself performing quick internet searches on the various bits of information being discussed in story mode, mostly to satisfy my curiosity in how everything fit in the overarching narrative. One of the biggest redemptions for story mode are the character bios that pop up before allowing the player to use a character. These actually gave more real information as to what each character is about, compared to the narrative story line.
If none of the single player gameplay modes interest you at all, then you might want to try the online mode. Here, players can compete with each other in either ranked, or casual matches. In casual matches, players are actually able to host their own small tournaments, and can even dictate what the rules will be. It can be fun if you want to play against friends. Though during my time of online play, I did run into some technical issues that would cause the game to occasionally freeze.
Despite the occasional freezing, I enjoyed my time with Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. The huge character list, vast costumes, and updated visuals set it apart from previous DOA5 entries, and the fun interactive environments really kept me interested in the core gameplay. While the story mode was lacking and the characters felt somewhat bland, Last Round is a game that fans of fighting titles should probably check out.
3.75 stars out of 5
