DoA 4 fails to break new ground

By Phil Elliott
BBC Radio Five Live

The animation is fast and fluid

Beat-em-ups, they always remind me of the "olden days".

Groups of people huddled around arcade machines - winner stays on - and a decent queue forming to take on the incumbent champion, 10 pence pieces at the ready.

This sort of thing doesn't happen much any more and it doesn't really have to. Our living room consoles have become far more adept at providing our entertainment for us.

And whilst over the years the beat-em-up has maintained a presence on most platforms, it is not the bastion of popularity it once was.

The latest game to carry on the tradition is Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360. As you would expect, the focus in the game is purely on the fighting, and along with the good variety of characters, there is a fantastic array of kicks, punches and special moves to master.

Story-telling

Visually the game is - as expected from a next generation title - very smart indeed. The characters are exceptional, the animation fast and fluid, and the backgrounds are interactive.

Each hit landed results in a satisfying crunch, and some of the special moves are quite spectacularly violent, though it should be pointed out there is very little in the way of gory detail.

There are several types of play to choose from, with a story mode that is central to the single player game. Your basic aim is to choose a character and then beat every other character in turn.

DEAD OR ALIVE 4 Format: Xbox 360 Graphics: 9 Sound: 8 Gameplay: 9 Enduring appeal: 6 Overall: 8.5

After every few bouts there is a cutscene that gives you some clue as to your character's background and particular struggle.

Unless you're familiar with some of the characters in the previous DoA games, it'll all wash over you to begin with, and it's only once you've completed a good number of these story modes that anything cohesive begins to take hold.

But let's face it, the story's far lass important than the actual fighting, and with Xbox Live you have got the option of taking on a huge number of people from around the world.

It's a knockout

Curiously the game replicates the old arcade days, and rather than go online and start fighting one-on-one straight away as you'd expect, you're instead put in a group with up to 15 other players, waiting in turn to take on the champion.

Interesting a notion as that is, it doesn't work too well outside of the arcades, and you're better off creating your own lobby and limiting it to a handful of players. Of course the joys of playing against real people is what makes online gaming so attractive, and some occasional lag aside, the experience is great.

If you don't have online access, you'll be pleased to know that the computer AI is challenging and intelligent. You won't get away with repeated mashing of the same buttons, and there are plenty of items to unlock as you progress through the game.

Overall Dead or Alive 4 is good, within the boundaries of what it sets out to do. It's fast and fun to play, and whilst beginners shouldn't have too much trouble getting into it, there is a lot to master for the veteran.

However it's a game that is really only repeating what most other fighting games have done before. It may look nicer than anything else out there, but that's really the only trump card it holds.

Certainly there is no glimpse of originality in a genre that seems destined to remain the same for the foreseeable future.

As a result it is a narrow gaming experience, and ultimately repetitive, but one that - if you're a fan of fighting games - you won't want to miss.