Dead or Alive 6: Last Round
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
For most people the words Dead or Alive no longer bring up thoughts of the fighting game, but of Venus Vacation and the workarounds they need to do to access the free-to-play PC volleyball game or even the dating game released only in the East, albeit with English subtitles. There’s a fairly good reason for that as Koei Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 6 released in 2019 to rather tepid reception and, despite being a fairly impressive fighting game nonetheless, detailed in full in my review of it back in the day, shattered the fanbase. In an effort to chase the struggling eSports scene the game toned down heavily on one of the best aspects it was known for, the fan service and goofier modes.
Combine that with hundreds of dollars of DLC costumes for the characters, eventually some seeking to bring that same fan service back, and the title never really saw the same success as Dead or Alive 5, which was given not just one but three extra versions. So, now that Koei Tecmo is looking to bring Dead or Alive 6: Last Round out, is there any worthwhile upgrade to the original release?
Story
Despite including four characters that were originally DLC for the original release as part of the base roster now it is worth noting that the entire story mode for Dead or Alive 6: Last Round is the exact same as it was in the original release. In fact, if players of the original play this version and transfer their save data, it will automatically clear and finish any story scenes, or the entire story itself, if they’ve done it before. That is because unlike other games that at least offer some type of small story scenes for completing an arcade run, there is no such option here. Instead the only offering is the singular story mode.
Nyotengu, Phase 4, Momiji, Rachel, and Tamaki could have been handled better now as part of the main roster, but sadly that is unfortunately not the case. Instead players can only deal with the eight chapter storyline that is layered between different characters and jumps around far too often for its own good and still leaves players with just as many questions as they do answers since, as mentioned before, nothing has changed.
Gameplay
Thankfully, the gameplay of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round has been given a bit of tune-up but not in the way that many would have expected. All of the combat mechanics remain the same as they were before and all characters still have the same exact move-set and perform the same way, though now the base roster is 29 characters since the five mentioned earlier are now included in the game as part of the package. On the other hand, guest characters from King of Fighters Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond are still only available as paid DLC, though these two increase the roster to 31 and at the moment Team Ninja has announced that a new character, named Minato, will be revealed as an exclusive to Last Round sometime in the future.
Those unaware of how to play the game or are rusty with some of their favorite characters will find that Dead or Alive 6: Last Round remains as accessible to newcomers as possible. There are numerous gameplay modes designed around teaching the player the ins and outs of standard gameplay mechanics such as a tutorial for each character. These include command training that showcases every move that the fighter is capable of using as well as a much more difficult to complete combo challenge that focuses on stringing together these moves into devastating combos.
The standard fighting gameplay remains mostly the same as Dead or Alive‘s triangle style of combat remains true here, with strikes beating grapples, grapples beating holds, and holds beating strikes. Holds are handled similar to they were in the past with players attempting to grab an incoming attack and reverse it on their opponent. It is interesting to note that should the player want things a little easier, it is now possible to swap from the newer 4-Way Hold mechanic that requires mid-kicks to be input different from mid-punches to the 3-Way Hold of older games though this option is only available in single player modes. The “Break Gauge” remains the same as before with players being able to charge up the meter and unleash a powerful combo or singular blow to deal a large chunk of damage to the opponent’s health and usually alter their clothing or hair as well. The Break meter can be used to trigger Break Holds for emergency escape and side-steps are tied to the same button as well, including side-step strikes that burn a portion of meter to use.
There’s mostly retreading old ground here because well, that’s what Dead or Alive 6: Last Round will be to anyone that played the original, a lot of old ground. However a few elements have at least been improved as mentioned earlier. The biggest is the fact that the costume unlock system has been improved drastically. Players used to need to fight countless matches with their favorite fighter to only get two or three random pieces for a random costume for a fighter. That means that unlocking Tina’s classic costume might’ve taken ages, especially since costume pieces are randomized. Now leveling up a character by using them in any single player or online mode will generally unlock a complete costume or two right away, making the in-game costume unlocks far easier than ever before. That being said, there is also a button players can press that shows how many costumes a character has that can be bought with real money too and sometimes that number is more than the game itself is worth which is a bit of a joke.
The only other major mode to be included in this release is the Photo Mode which is limited slightly. Players can only use two characters of their choosing and have them either pose or commit attacks on one another automatically while players can zoom, tilt, or adjust the expression of a character. Some of these features give players a great look at how detailed the character models are but it is disappointing that there is no way to have characters pose in their winning or losing animations. The photo mode is also available in the theater though lacks the frame by frame adjustment and character modification that the direct option offers.
Unfortunately, outside of the adjustment to the in-game costume unlocking, the photo mode, and offering five of the seven DLC characters as part of the main roster now, that is all Dead or Alive 6: Last Round has to offer. The single player modes are still the same and, given how fighting games have advanced over the last seven years, are disappointingly slim pickings, and the online mode is even worse. Online play in the game also lacks any of the improvements most games feature these days as it does not feature rollback netcode at the moment nor does it include any form of crossplay, meaning players may need to wait a bit to find a match if they are unlucky, with one time requiring a few minutes waiting for a ranked match. The only other online mode is through lobbies and that is it, though the lobbies offer some more ways to adjust settings, there is also the fact that there is literally nothing to do while searching for a match or waiting in a lobby. Players cannot spar with a practice dummy or even fight against the computer while searching for an opponent, instead they must simply spectate or watch the “Searching for opponent…” screen.
Audio & Visuals
Perhaps one of the biggest selling points of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round is the fact that it brings the game to modern platforms and also sees a graphical improvement mostly across the board when it comes to the characters and how dirty and sweaty they can get after a brawl, especially on a victory screen. The stages themselves are all the same but it is worth noting that at the moment only one actual stage has been given the visual upgrade and that stage is Lost Paradise. This is a rather odd choice, almost as if Team Ninja had to rush things out the door in an effort to eventually play catch-up later on with stage graphical upgrades.
The voice work for the game remains the same as it was in the original with players having the option of using either the English voice work or the Japanese voice tracks for the characters, though it is worth noting that both Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond only speak Japanese. Players can complete in-game challenges to unlock system voices featuring their favorite characters rather than the default voice, such as having Tina do the stage announcements. The background music remains as fitting as ever for the game and players will still unlock a number of tracks that can be listened to at will in the game’s theater mode.
Overall
Dead or Alive 6: Last Round is a strange choice from Koei Tecmo. It offers most of the previous DLC characters as part of the main roster now, a fine graphical upgrade to the character models and a single stage, faster in-game costume unlocks, and a singular photo mode. However that is where the actual improvements end and where everything else is either the exact same or falters. That isn’t to say that the core combat of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round is bad, far from it, it is still an exceptional fighting game and plays great especially with the expanded roster, but the lack of any other significant improvements is baffling. No rollback netcode, no crossplay, not even training while waiting for a ranked match is available for online play and with the single player content remaining as simple as ever, longtime fans will be disappointed with what is on offer here while newcomers will find an incredibly solid fighting game that is lacking some of the fundamentals of online fighting games these days.
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