Dead or Alive 6 launched yesterday and some reviews are a bit mixed. I've only played it for a few hours and cannot formulate a proper review. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts so far.
The classic DOA fighting mechanics are back. I've always maintained that DOA is the best series to get into as a fighting game newbie and this is still true. There's a new special button which uses meter, similar to the Rage or Critical buttons in Tekken 7 and Soul Calibur 6 respectively. With it you can do a "rush attack", a special attack or a special hold. I'm not sure I like this direction all fighting games seem to be going but it is a useful tool to alleviate pressure or to land devastating combos.
The game runs well on PC and I had no crashes and did not experience the 100% CPU utilisation bug. I think the official Steam requirements are exaggerated. My PC does meet the recommended requirements so I obviously cannot state how well it performs on lower end hardware. There are only limited graphics settings, which may be an issue for tweaking performance.
The character models look great but some of the backgrounds (in story mode) seem to be upscaled DOA5 backgrounds. The story mode uses a timeline style like DOA5. It doesn't seem that exciting and some of the animations and voice acting is lacking. Surprisingly, I'm growing to like Marie Rose and Honoka in the storyline. They were always my least favourite DOA characters because they seemed so blatantly fanservicey.
Cutscenes in story mode seem to be of lower quality than the game itself. Or they also get upscaled badly.
There are no lobbies or ways to invite your friends. You're stuck with Ranked online only. The devs did reveal this a short while back and the plan is to have this patched in this month.
There is no connection quality or region filter for Ranked. I played a few 1 bar matches. They were okay but obviously not ideal.
The season pass costs more than the game. You don't have to buy it though. People are making a mountain out of a molehill here. This and the lobby issue are why the reviews are currently "Mixed" on Steam.
The single player content includes survival, ranked, arcade, story and DOA Quest modes. There is no tag mode. DOA Quest is a mini challenge mode which helps with learning the game and characters. They will challenge you to hit a side stepping opponent 3 times, for example.
My conclusion thus far - if you liked DOA5, you will like this. The combat is deeper than ever. Single player content may be a bit lacking but it helps in learning the game, which I think is better, especially if you play fighting games for the multiplayer.
The release of the game and the mixed messages about core values from the DOA team has naturally lead to a different kind of debate. I won't address this here but I've found Gamespot's In Progress (at the time) review one of the more balanced. Oh, and mine of course!
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