‘Dead Or Alive 6’ Is An Excellent Fighter With A Few Frustrating Missteps

In a world where fighting games are a dime a dozen, how do you choose the best one for you? Simple: pick the one that calls to you. For instance, if you’re looking for an intriguing story and abundance of customisation, opt for the inimitable Tekken 7. If you’re in the mood for a solid anime-centric brawler, Dragon Ball FighterZ is the way to go.

If you’re looking for memorable characters and engaging matches with a twist of the realistic grit that comes along with two fighters beating the absolute stuffing out of one another, Dead or Alive 6, like all of the game’s instalments before it, offers satisfying combat with plenty of new additions for veterans and accessible twists for newcomers. When your blows connect with your opponent, it truly “feels” like you’re uppercutting fools across the world or giving the CPU players a bloody nose.

Hardcore fans will appreciate the addition of the Break Gauge, which is something like Final Fantasy’s Limit Break, filling to the brim as your character deals or takes damage. It’s nothing new to fighters in general, but it does add another dynamic to DOA6, which has just now chosen to adopt this mechanic, for some reason.

When it’s full, you can use a special “Break Hold” counterattack, an offensive special, or “Break Blow,” which deliver that special bit of presentation and swagger everyone expects from their fighters. They’re no Fatalities, of course (because no one in Dead or Alive has their spinal column ripped out) but they do a fantastic job of illustrating what kind of insane damage your special attack has done to your opponent.

As soon as it connects, one word will flash through your mind: “Wrecked.” Or “hospital.” They look like they hurt. Your Break Gauge moves are simple to pull off, though find important places in the game as strategic mechanics. You don’t need to pull off a complicated button combo to pull them off, either, meaning they’re accessible to everyone, even newbies who’re still button mashing.

The combatants are important too, of course, and Dead Or Alive 6 introduces two new characters to the team. Diego is a street brawler, while NiCO looks as if she were pulled from the Xenosaga series or an anime full of moeblobs doing some sort of scientific research. But both fit in quite well, especially if you’ve grown weary of the same roster throughout the series. That seems a little impossible given the variety of each fighter, but hey, it does happen.

Each character feels genuinely unique rather than a palette swap with a ponytail instead of a short bob, or a different-coloured gi. Choosing who you want to main out of the varied cast can be a chore because of this. Everyone has their own flow, so it can be hard to pick who you’re going to train with throughout the game.

And they’re not afraid to get dirty this time around! Too often, fighters will completely ignore the violence and visceral reality of two seasoned combatants ripping each other to shreds. They’re gonna start sweating profusely at some point. They’re gonna get dirty. Their clothes can even rip! And honestly, it’s awesome to see them taking this type of damage, which makes you feel like you’ve truly accomplished something. Like giving someone a bloody nose or a shiner that’ll take a week or two to disappear.

If none of this appeals to you and you’d rather Kasumi or Bass to look pristine despite having just traded blows for three whole rounds, you can turn these effects off. And I get it, because when I play fighters like these, sometimes I want my fighter to look fabulous and unfettered as if they’re physically incapable of imperfection – like Best Girls (TM) Nyotengu or Honoka. Just change the setting via the options menu, and you’ll be good to go. Good as new!

Unfortunately, while the fighting and presentation are fantastic, DOA6 isn’t as great as it could have been when it comes to single-player attractions. You can play through Story Mode, which strings together a series of fights divided up with cut scenes. However, its non-linear presentation makes it difficult to follow what’s going on (as if fighting game stories made much sense in the first place). The interface, which looks like dozens of screens cobbled together in a web-like manner, lets you pick and choose which level to play next, and seemingly oscillates between character story threads at random. It’s all over the place, and you’re introduced to a character in one slide, then seeing an entirely different scene with them the next. It’s not very fulfilling because of this, though it does serve some pretty hilarious scenes if you stick with it.

If you’d rather opt for mission-based play, DOA Quest does offer this. It’s also one of the big ways you’ll unlock additional items for your favourite fighters. Completing matches with specific objectives, like using a certain combo X amount of times, will net you in-game currency to purchase new customisation items, new story content, or parts for character costumes. The more quests you complete, the more there are to do. But it can feel a bit barebones, unfortunately, as it doesn’t get much deeper than that.

It also forces you into a terrible grind that’ll haunt you until you get frustrated enough to stop trying to unlock parts for your favourite characters. The most important part of fighters for some is to outfit their main fighters with new costumes, and Dead Or Alive 6 doesn’t make it easy for you. You’re not really able to decide where the points you unlock go. For instance, if you want a new costume for Kasumi, you might play a Kasumi-related quest. When the points are meted out, they could go to Ayane instead. This is not optional, and it means you could potentially play for long periods unlocking costumes and parts for characters you may never use.

In comparison to other games like Tekken 7, which is practically teeming with customisation items that you need only unlock and purchase with currency earned through regular fights, this is a poorly-designed reward system. It takes so much out of an experience that fans flock toward, and makes some playing sessions feel fruitless unless you’re a completionist. And putting your bae in a fun swimsuit or a burly fighter dude in a motorcycle jacket is part of what fighters are all about, right? The fact that Dead Or Alive 6 makes this difficult is mind-boggling.

Single-player may be lacking, but at least the game’s bread and butter isn’t. Local versus and online versus will be the reason you refrain from trading the game in eventually, and luckily online multiplayer works beautifully. The options are barebones, featuring only Ranked matches at this time; it’s still easy and quick to jump into the ring with an opponent in no time flat. You’ll go from selecting a fighter to bashing someone’s brains in halfway around the world in record time, and for that Dead Or Alive 6‘s online system should be praised. I didn’t experience much lag (if at all) during my sessions and found this to be a solid area for the game.

Dead or Alive 6 is an exciting, solid fighter. It looks excellent, feels great, and brings some of your favourite classic characters back into the fold with a few new faces as well. However, It isn’t without a few frustrating design decisions that may put you off playing if you’re more of a solo player. If you’ve got the extra cash, though, and don’t mind potentially wasted time when it comes to single-player progression and just wanna “git gud” for the inevitable upcoming online DOA6 tournaments, this is still a great choice…even if some of the outfits do make the usually vivacious Dead Or Alive 6 girls look like schoolmarms (what’s up with that?).