The Dead or Alive series has always been one of the largest fighting game series in the genre, providing some of the best 3D fighting in the industry. With Dead or Alive 5 Tecmo Koei looks like they will be setting a whole new standard for the fighting genre. Today at E3 we were given a behind-the-scenes look at a version of Dead or Alive 5 never shown to the public, hosted by Tecmo Koei’s Koehei Shibata and his translator Carol Suzuki, featuring not only two new characters but the return of a much beloved game mode.
Now the key concept for Dead or Alive 5 is to create fighting entertainment and open the series up to potential new comers with action packed stages which have multiple environmental interactions. As many of you likely already know, fighters will experience crazy environmental hazards while battling against one another. We’ve seen fighters launched out of cannons in a clowns nose, hit by rockets from a passing helicopter and even hit by cars flying through the air. Now these various interactions can be triggered through simply hitting your opponent into a specific area of the map, but special finishers can be performed through the use of “Power Blows.”
In this segment we were shown how a power blow, which is a charge attack that takes a small delay to use, can be used to launch enemies across the map. Interestingly enough, when the power blow is occurring, the game will slow down and in this slow down players can change the trajectory of where they send their opponent flying to. As we watched a number of fights shown in front of us, one stunning feature of Dead or Alive 5 was impossible to ignore, the way fighters’ appearances change during fights.
Now it is nothing new that someones hat may be knocked off, as this was a common occurrence for Tina users in past Dead or Alive games, but what is new is the fact that fighters will literally become covered in dirt, grime and sweat as they are fighting one another. In a battle between Kasumi and Bayman we were able to witness both fighters clothing affected by the environment and covered in dirt. This was especially evident on Kasumi’s previously white stockings which, by the end of the battle, were covered in dirt.
This may not be new to a number of you, so what were these new reveals that I mentioned at the beginning of this article? Well as you can see above, a favorite character of many and father to our lovely Tina has returned to try and rain on his daughter’s parade. Bass has returned to the roster and it appears that he has spent quite a bit of time in the gym as he is more muscly and less chubby than in past games. Also revealed was another female for the roster in the form of Virtua Fighter’s blonde bombshell Sarah. Sarah will feature the same move she has had in past Virtua Fighter games and will be given the same updated visual touch the rest of the cast has, including visual wear on clothing.
These two fighters will be able to make quite an impact in the game when it is released September 25th, but what will make more of an impact at the moment is the fact that the Tag matches will be returning to the game in a big way. These matches will be just as great as fans will remember and feature plenty a number of combination throws and attacks, as shown above with Tina and Bass working together on poor Kokoro. Unfortunately at the time of the presentation we weren’t able to see much of the tag team fighting mechanics, but we will be eager to hear more about them over the next few months.
