Dead or Alive 4 - Xbox 360

My girlfriend purchased this for me last week. I was getting mixed messages from forums, blogs, and news sites...so I didn't know whether to be excited. To be brief, I say there is no rush to get this game.

In an earlier post I was mentioning character graphics vs backgrounds and environments. DOA4 is an example of a graphically unbalanced game. More specificly: the backgrounds are excellent, but the character models seem a bit a out of place. The costumes are highly detailed and look really good. But the faces, muscles, and skin look extremely...anime. I think that was the idea, but it just doesn't feel right. It somewhat works for the female characters, but the male characters it seems odd with clay-looking muscles.

Graphics aside, the question is: Is it a good fighter? Maybe. I come from the 2D fighting era, and have not been able to enjoy any 3D fighters except for the console Mortal Kombats. Even those had difficult moves to pull off (even if the move recorder says you did it right). From those, I'm used to fights lasting roughly 30 to 60 seconds. In DOA4 they last about 15 to 30 seconds. Since when do fighting games have A.D.D.? You can lose a match before you even get a chance to attack. Learning the counters is a must, but far from easy.

What I do like is the interactive backgrounds; kicking your opponent off cliffs, through windows, in front of moving vehicles, down the stairs, etc. Doing so results in your opponent suffering a HUGE life bar (?) drop. I also like the counter attack system, but it could be a little bit more forgiving since the game revolves around it.

I really want to try Nicole, but that means I will have to beat the game with all the other characters...not a simple task. I guess we'll see how I do, if I'm not too distracted by my recent purchases of The Suffering: The Ties that Bind or Beyond Good and Evil.

All these new games...and we always end up playing Halo 2 and the end of the day. That just doesn't seem right.