What was the point?
I have been a fan of the Dead or Alive series since its inception on the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The series has always been known for two things, simple fast-paced game play, and of course the outrageous physics of the female characters. The latter has never been a selling point for me, so when the series started to focus on DLC costumes, I lost some interest. Still, the games are a blast to play and when KOEI Tecmo announced it was returning, I was excited. Before we see the newest iteration though, they are bringing a “definitive” version of the most previous game to modern consoles. I had to use quotes, because this version is anything but definitive.
The Last Round moniker is not new. Dead or Alive 5 also received a similar upgrade when it was ported to XB1/PS4. One would expect this new version comes with everything released for the original, but that is not how Dead or Alive works. The sheer amount of DLC available would be unreasonable to be included. There are hundreds of dollars of costumes available in the store. Instead, we get all the DLC characters minus two of them, as well as…well nothing else. There are some bonus pre-order costumes, but they wasted no time and have already released new costume DLC for this version, sitting at $20 on the store.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
The two missing characters are an anomaly, as even if you owned them for DoA 6 proper, you have to repurchase them. This is likely due to licensing because they are guest characters from King of Fighters, but even at that, they have increased their price to over $10 each, which is kind of insulting. As for other previous DLC, I was able to download it all with no problem, though I didn’t have much. I noticed after launch, the original DoA 6 disappeared and now only the Last Round version exists, which makes sense. Sadly none of my progress carried over though, so any costumes I had unlocked in the vanilla version had to be earned again.
I wish it got better from here, but sadly it doesn’t. When DoA 5 Last Round launched, we got some classic stages, here nothing is new. These are the same stages from 6, and that game came out seven years ago. They also didn’t add rollback code for the online mode, which feels like an easy win. There is no tag mode, no crossplay, and the only new feature is a lighting mode that only works in the 60fps mode, and honestly, it isn’t that impressive. Visually the game doesn’t appear much different than the OG version of the game, so what exactly ARE we getting?
Well, for starters, DoA 6 is still a dang good fighting game. The simplistic design of one punch, one kick, and a hold button makes it easy to pick up, but there is a layer of depth to the game that lets advanced players do some incredible combos. The sixth game also added a special move button that allowed for some flashy combos. DoA has always been about holds and counters though, and the simplicity in the system is what makes it fun and addictive. I still loved playing this version, even if it felt like a cheap port used as an excuse to sell more costume DLC.
There is a new photo mode as well, and…well…we all know why. This game is not shy about its exploitative nature. That being said it is very in-depth allowing players to adjust characters and frames to create some great shots, sadly we all know what it will be used for in the long run. While the debauchery has always been part of the series, it was never the focus until the fifth game, and six seems to focus entirely on that aspect alone.
I hate reviewing packages like this. The game is incredibly fun. There is quite a bit of content to keep players satisfied, but selling it again feels wrong. There is nothing of note added here, instead it feels quick and cheap, and as I mentioned, an excuse to spin up costume DLC again, which is ridiculously overpriced. Forcing fans to re-purchase characters again is just icing on the top. Sadly, I cannot recommend this package, if you already own DoA 6, just stick with that, there is little reason to upgrade to the Last Round version.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
