Dead or Alive 3

Dead or Alive 3
European-German Box art
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo
Designer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki
Platform(s)	Xbox
Release date(s)	NA 20011115November 15, 2001 JP 20020222February 22, 2002 EU 20020314March 14, 2002
Genre(s)	Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 11+ ESRB: T OFLC: M

Dead or Alive 3 (デッドオアアライブ3 Deddo oa Araibu 3) is a fighting game in the Dead or Alive series. It was released exclusively on the Xbox as a launch title.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay controls and commands remain essentially unchanged from Dead or Alive 2; however, some minor tweaks have been added to the game system in the form of increased counter periods, unrestricted 3D-axis movement, and less emphasis on juggling combos. All these gameplay enhancements make the game more suited for beginners, and makes the artificial intelligence much more forgiving. Finally, the game incorporated less damage percentiles in counter maneuvers, and added four new characters to the roster.

Despite the somewhat lacking gameplay updates of the US version, the Japanese version featured many gameplay changes, with new attacks for characters, tweaked move properties for attacks, and a new intro cinematic for the game. Among the tweaks was to render most moves as safe against throw punishment on a normal hit, and to make version of Dead or Alive 3, which is termed by the hardcore Dead or Alive players as the 3.2 update.

Story

The super ninja Ryu Hayabusa put a stop to the evil doings of Tengu. Nevertheless, it was too late to stop the Tengu of Destruction from triggering a massive, worldwide collapse. The collapse churns up a dense cloud that covers the entire planet in a shroud of darkness and fear. DOATEC has gone astray, turning into the hunting grounds for power-hungry scam artists. This is when DOATEC's development department (a fortress for state-of-the-art military technology) witnesses the success of a genius. Following Project Alpha and Project Epsilon, the ever ambitious Dr. Victor Donovan completes the Omega Project, producing a new Superhuman: Genra. This man, who was once leader of the Hajin Mon Ninja, is no longer human. He (or it) is a force of singular and unprecedented capabilities. A slaughterhouse has now been provided as the exclusive domain of the Omega superhuman. It is a realm that has come to be known as the world Combat Championship.

Booster Disk/Pack

The European and Japanese versions of DOA3 feature more content such as extra costumes, a time attack mode and a new CG introduction. Because of its early release, the NA version does not feature any of the above. On June 2002, the Official Xbox Magazine provided a 'Booster Disk' for DOA3 which included all of the extra costumes released on the EU and JP versions of the game. It did not however contain the extra fighting moves or general game balancing tweaks that the other versions brought. The booster content continued to be provided with the Official Xbox Magazine demo disc from June 2002 to September 2002. Each disc featured the same content but gave magazine buyers multiple times to acquire it.

Cast

• Ayane - Wakana Yamazaki
• Bass - Daisuke Gouri
• Bayman - Banjou Ginga
• Brad Wong - Yukimasa Kishino
• Christie - Kotono Mitsuishi
• Gen Fu - Takeshi Aono
• Genra/Omega - Osamu Saka
• Hayate/Ein - Hikaru Midorikawa
• Helena Douglas - Yuka Koyama
• Hitomi - Yui Horie
• Jann Lee - Toshio Furukawa
• Kasumi - Houko Kuwashima
• Lauren (a.k.a. Rolande) - Yuka Koyama
• Lei Fang - Yumi Tōma
• Leon - Kōji Totani (deceased)
• Ryu Hayabusa - Hideyuki Hori
• Tina - Yuko Nagashima
• Zack - Bin Shimada
• Announcer - Miyako Endou

Soundtrack

A soundtrack for the game, called Dead or Alive 3 Original Sound Trax, was released in 2002.

Reception

Upon its release Dead or Alive 3 received mixed reviews, but mainly positive. GameSpot stated "Once you get past its graphics, you'll find that Dead or Alive 3 doesn't offer much of anything that hasn't been done in other 3D fighting games." giving the game a rating of 7.9/10. IGN on the other hand, giving the game a high rating of 9.4/10, stated "...Dead Or Alive 3 represents the new standard of excellence that only the Xbox can deliver." and praised the game for its great attention to detail and its vast improvements on its predecessor Dead or Alive 2. Nonetheles, the game became the third best-selling launch title next to Microsoft's Halo: Combat Evolved and Project Gotham Racing and the first third-party Xbox game to garner Platinum status.