Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round

We've heard it all.  DOA is too sexy.  Nobody takes DOA seriously.  The one thing nobody seems to want to admit is the DOA is actually a good game.

Just look at the series as a whole.  Each sequel only gets better, a rarity in any long-lived series.  The original DOA was a good game.  The second game improved the so much, the original is almost unplayable by comparison.  I missed the third game, but the fourth game improved on the second, mainly in the graphics department.  Then came DOA5, the biggest, fastest, most content heavily of them all.  They kept making updates and additions until we finally got DOA 5 Last Round.  While no one will admit it, DOA5 Last Round is a great game.

The graphics are vastly overhauled, going away from the doll look of previous entries to a more realistic look.  The speed of the game is even faster and the character roster is much bigger than any of the prequels.  The DLC system isn't a load of bull, because they gave you a complete game that can be fully enjoyed without the DLC.  The original DOA5 is just as fun as Last Round, which only makes Last Round that much rewarding.

As mentioned before, the character roster is huge.  Some people don't like that, because a bigger roster means there's a greater chance for clones and crappy characters to show up.  DOA5 Last Round doesn't really have that problem.  The cast is filled with characters who are likeable, mostly unique, and (most importantly) usable.  The player feels like they can truly win no matter who they pick.  That's a good thing.

Staying on the roster, they added a number of characters from the Virtua Fighter series.  Finally, those who dreamed of a match between Lei Fang and Pai Chan can watch that dream player out.  They also added the sexiest woman in video game history, Mai Shiranui from King Of Fighters (or Fatal Fury, if you're really old school).  That's right.  They took the sexiest woman from any game ever and put her in one of the sexiest games ever.  Honestly, the only thing wrong with the roster is that Ikkitousen's Ryofu Housen and Tekken's Asuka Kazama aren't on it.

Of course the game's perceived sexuality is why it has a bad reputation.  Even though the roster is roughly fifty percent male, the DOA series as a whole is one where hot women take the spot.  This is not a flaw, but what sets the game apart from the competition.  The men aren't bad characters by any stretch, but the women shine just little brighter.

The outfit are unfairly balanced between the men and women, as the women can have as many as four times the outfits as the men once all the DLC has been acquire.  This should not be a shock to anyone as this is how the series has always been.  The skimpiness of the women's outfits is often source of internet whiners, but the fact that there are conservative outfits for the women is often over looked.  Also, notice how these same people don't complain about some of the skimpier outfits for the males (Yes, you can find them if you looks hard enough).

The game does have DLC, but unlike a certain other game (cough, Street Fighter 5, cough) players have access to all of the essential modes right out the box.  A real story mode shouldn't have to be downloaded, something the creators of Street Fighter 5 didn't realize for some reason.  You have story mode, arcade mode, survival, tutorials and more from the moment you fire up the game.  No, you don't need Ayane's new bikini, but you do need story and arcade mode.  Even if the story just jumbled together nonsense (and it is), the creators of DOA 5 did a good job of knowing what to cut and what to leave in.  More companies should follow their example if they're going to rely on DLC.

Now as for the flaws, the only two that come to mind are the sometimes unfair combo system and the stagger system.  The combos can be unfair because if you start up a long combo, you have to pray the computer decides not to reverse out of it and hit you with its own.  The unfair part is that you can't do the same.  Once the computer starts a long chain, may as well grab some popcorn because all you can do is watch until the computer decides to let you fall.  It's not as bad here as in past games, but it's still there.  Hopefully, they fix this in DOA 6.  The stagger system can be irritating, but it's not a game breaker.

Yes, there is plenty of this, but...

...you can also have this...

...or meet halfway.

Just a little something for the ladies to drool over.

Proof that you can be sexy and functional at the same time.

Yes, it true.  Virtua Fighter Characters are here.

Oh, how long I've waited to see this match-up.

So to wrap it up, DOA5 Last Round is a game that flat-out gets it right.  Sure, it may be a little sexier than some players would like, but beneath the surface there is a great game.  In that way, DOA 5 Last Round does exactly what sequel should do.  It improves what series the has always done, which is give players a good fighting game and hot girls to go with it.  Not feeling ripped off is just a bonus.