Dead or Alive 5 Exclusive!!

Dead or Alive fans were in for a treat when the folks from IGN, Tecmo Koei and Team Ninja hosted an exclusive evening event that showcased the much anticipated Dead or Alive 5.

Set in the spacious basement of Hoxton Studios London, the teams had decked out the room with DOA décor. Crates and barrels with Xbox pods were interspersed throughout giving the few lucky gamers who got tickets the chance of a hands-on experience of the latest DOA instalment, a full month before its expected release date.

Avant-garde was in attendance to check out the game, take advantage of the free bar, and deliver our verdict. Suffice to say it doesn’t disappoint.

Dead or Alive has always delivered an experience that matches its fluid and satisfying fighting styles with beautiful visuals and backdrops. Say what you will about the previous games (that means you critical Street Fighter fans) but you can’t deny how good DOA looks on screen. When we were checking out the screenshots for our E3 predictions it looked great, now that we’ve seen the characters in motion it’s even better.

Fan tries out new DOA

The game also boasts some new features to enhance the fighting experience. In addition to the Danger Zones that also featured in 4 there are also opportunities for Power Blows, a kind of matrix like slowmo sequence where you can deliver a critical blow and hurtle opponents across the arena into highlighted danger areas for additional damage.

5 also provides new cliff-hanger scenarios. In previous games fights could be staged at upper and lower levels by knocking off opponents, characters can now grab last second onto the edge leading to an action sequence in which you face off to knock them down for further damage. We also have blockbuster stages that can be instigated to crumble, blow up or collapse the environments around you depending on how the fight plays out. It’s all pretty cool stuff that I’ve yet to see other fighters really pull off, making DOA that bit more immersive and original.

Also at, what was quickly becoming a bit of a party, was Yosuke Hayashi. I had the chance to chat with the head producer from Team Ninja about certain aspects of the game. Favourite character is naturally Kasumi. Yosuke explained that when they were developing DOA5 she was actually the toughest part of the production process: “Because she’s the leading lady in Dead or Alive everyone has to love her and so we spent a lot of time working on her character.”

  DOA keeps many of its beloved set of characters in this version, some of them like Eliot look a little older, Bayman’s had a haircut and the girls…well they continue to pander to the games sex appeal (the collector’s edition will unlock some swimsuits for them). We also have some newbies such as the mysterious Rig “A fighter without a past” and guest characters from the Virtua Fighter series, apparently a nod to the arcade system that inspired DOA.

The Guinness Book of World Records were also in attendance giving players a chance to set the quickest time to defeat a DOA computer opponent (think it was around 8-9 seconds) and tournaments were held for some very nice DOA prizes. Avant-Garde only made it to the semis in our bracket before our ass was handed to us. Still fun was had and friendly games gave everyone a chance to put the game through its paces. 

The tournament's grand prize

When asked about the possibility of a Dead or Alive 6 Yosuke commented “It depends a lot on the players feedback” though he was keen to express gratitude to all in attendance. Speaking to the crowd he said “we couldn’t have done it without all the continued support of its fans” and followed with a toast to Dead or Alive.

Yosuke Hayashi gives thumbs up

Dead or Alive 5 is due for release on 25th September and after our evening getting to grips with the game tis thumbs up all round.

Angelic Rogue