My experience at the Xbox 360 Preview Event in San Francisco Part 2
By Shin Asura of the Teamxbox forums
Dead or Alive 4
After playing Perfect Dark Zero, it was now time for me to head over to the game I've been waiting to play for a long time, Dead or Alive 4. The Dead or Alive series has been around for quite some time, first releasing in Japan back in 1996 on the Playstation. Dead or Alive has received a lot of criticism over the years of not being a top tier fighting game. Many tournaments such as EVO never hosted the Dead or Alive games since gamers felt it wasn't at the level it should be to offer any kind of challenging competition between players. Tomonobu Itagaki, the mastermind behind the Dead or Alive series, reinvented DOA with this new installment.
The first thing I noticed when I played Ayane and Christie (my favorite characters) is that all of their moves from Dead or Alive 3 were brought back, as well as many new combination attacks. She had so many new moves that I found myself falling in love with the game all over again. I remember Itagaki saying that Dead or Alive 4 was going to be different, I always wondered what he was going to do to improve the gameplay. I finally saw it with my own eyes in San Francisco at DogPatch Studios, I witnessed what would make Dead or Alive 4 a game that would finally be accepted by the core fighting game fans.
Each character has an abundance of new moves which will give players a reason to relearn and perfect their character. The graphics engine has also been updated, the first thing I was able to notice was the use of motion blurs. Dead or Alive 4 will also feature stages with obstacles in the stage that can be used to either knock your opponent over or through. Once your opponent has been knocked over, you can choose to execute an attack. For instance, I was using Hitomi and knocked my opponent over an obstacle, I then launched myself over the obstacle with a jumping thrust kick. All characters seem to have a signature move when it comes to this, I wasn't able to test all of them unfortunately. Knowing Itagaki, we're going to notice many spectacular feats. My man doesn't like to settle for inadequacies when it comes to games he creates, it's why Team NINJA is one of the top developers for the Xbox and will be for the Xbox 360 console.
As you can see in these screenshots, the lighting affects are absolutely breathtaking.
(click for larger image and expand window and picture for full goodness)
Here are some screens of the stage and character select
(click for larger image and expand window and picture for full goodness)
The lobby for Dead or Alive 4 has been drastically changed, I unfortunately wasn't able to capture a picture of this, but imagine yourself in a colorful playground with no direction whatsoever, one would be lost as to what they should attempt to do. This is a welcome new feature in my opinion, it gives gamers more to do while waiting for a match to start. There are objects that you can interact with as well, however, I was not able to figure out what purpose they were for.
Dead or Alive 4 is shaping up to be a contender in the fighting game genre. I was very impressed with what Itagaki has done so far with the game and expect nothing but greatness when the game releases this holiday season for the Xbox 360.
Shin Asura meets Rob 'Horus' Semsey
As I got up from the Dead or Alive 4 kiosk, I noticed a familiar face that I've seen somewhere before, it was Rob from the Teamxbox website. At first I was hesitant to approach him since I was currently banned. I was observing him for awhile to see which games he would be playing. I saw him playing Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I had a question about the game so I went up and introduced myself as Shin Asura of the Teamxbox forums. I asked him if he noticed any differences between Morrowind and Oblivion. I don’t want to misquote him, however, he did tell me that the game has come a very long way. I asked about the third person view, because that was one feature of Morrowind that I had the most frustration with, I cant get myself to appreciate the first person view system. Rob switched to the third person view for me, and boy was I amazed. Bethesda really improved on it this time, the detail was amazing. I asked Rob if the third person view was better, he told me that it's a matter of preference. Logically, one would probably think the first person view is better since you're able to see everything up close and personal. I always prefer third person because of my interest in the characters look.
The more I talked to Rob, the more I thought to myself that wow, this is a really cool guy. I talked to him about the merger with IGN and how I missed the old Teamxbox. We talked about how things change when you try and get your name out there, so much happens that it's almost out of control and there's close to nothing you can do about it. It's a tradeoff, when something gets popular and more people are attracted, more personalities are brought in which changes things for the better and worse. I felt ok with talking about how I was banned on the forums. He replied with a smile and said, it happens. This broke the ice even more, I then said that the reason why I've been acting the way I have is due to frustration of the quality in the forums as of late. Almost all of the good posters have moved on. He told me that it was unfortunate that my opinion of the forum had gotten the way it had, it shouldn't have to be that way. I said that it's ok, because now Teamxbox is one of the biggest Xbox sites in the community and that’s one thing I wanted to happen since it’s the one site I always love going to and deserves the recognition.
I told Rob that it was great meeting him and to keep up the great work. Rob went on to check out the rest of the great games at the event.
Shin Asura meets the Frag Dolls
I noticed a girl sitting down playing Dead or Alive 4, I looked over a saw on her shirt that it said Frag Doll. I wanted to see just how good these Frag Dolls were, so I watched her play. I'm not saying this about every Frag Doll, but this particular one didn't impress me with her skill. I thought to myself that maybe the only games Frag Dolls are good at are first person shooters. I then walked around and saw another Frag Doll playing Kameo, she was tearing the game up.
(Here is Jinx, she was one of the best Kameo players at the event. Click for full image )
It seems each of them have their own speciality in games.
I went back to the Frag Doll who was playing Dead or Alive 4. She finished her match so I went up to talk to her. I was overwhelmed by the amount of intensity that was in her eyes. She came up very close to me, eyes wide open. I was taken aback by this, but it interested me since not many girls out there I've met has ever had this much fire in them.
We talked for awhile about how the Frag Dolls came into being, she told me that Ubisoft created them. The rest of the Frag Dolls that were there came over, I asked them if it was ok to take their picture, they all said sure.
Here they are
(from left to right, Valkyrie, didn't find out her name, Jinx. Click for full image)
Valkyrie and I talked for a little while longer, I asked for her gamertag so we could keep in touch. She gave it to me and left to attend another event.
Next update - Shin Asura meets Jay Allard