Perhaps more than any third-party developer, the work of Tecmo's Team Ninja (led by Tomonobu Itagaki, one of gaming's most flamboyant personalities) came to represent the best that the original Xbox had to offer. Even in the console's earliest days, the team seemed to be able to push the system to its limits, especially in terms of graphics. Dead or Alive 3 was one of the system's early "showcase" games, and Team Ninja later struck it big (huge, actually) with the phenomenal Ninja Gaiden. Most recently, Itagaki-san and his friends brought the battle online with the release of Dead or Alive Ultimate, which was essentially a pretty update with all of the Xbox Live bells and whistles gamers have come to expect. Now, with Dead or Alive 4 it's time for Team Ninja to see what it can do with the Xbox 360.

In many ways, the gameplay you'll find in Dead or Alive 4 is similar to that seen in the previous games in the series (and, for the most part, fighting games in general). The Y, B, and A buttons allow you to punch, kick, and grab your opponent, and you'll be able to pull a variety of different moves by pressing the D-pad in various directions (you can use the left analog stick, but it can be tough to be precise). Of course, a huge number of effective combos can be pulled off by stringing your button presses together, and you're bound to find some reliable favorites through simple experimentation. Guarding is as easy as pressing back on the D-pad, but you'll still be beaten to a pulp if you don't learn how to master the vastly improved countermove system.


One of the biggest criticisms that fans of the fighting genre have had with the most recent titles in the DOA series is the fact that it was far too easy to successfully pull off countermoves. This resulted in matches that unfortunately featured very little in the way of traditional punching and kicking, instead turning into an affair that was full of countermove after countermove. Now, rather than simply timing your counter by hitting the X button at the proper time, you'll also need to predict where your foe's strike is aimed. It makes pulling off countermoves much more challenging, as well as a lot riskier, since mistiming will leave you open to the strikes of your enemy.

While DOA 4 has characters that are well-designed, move smoothly, and sport a nice variety of fighting styles, they can't hold a candle to the stunning environments. This isn't a surprise, since the series helped to introduce the concept of the interactive, multi-tiered fighting arena, but you can't help but be blown away by the level of detail that the Xbox 360 affords. Each stage is beautifully designed and offers plenty of unique touches. The Vegas-style level features speeding cars that can hit players, knocking off a lot of their health, while another lets you toss your opponent through plate glass windows and down flights of stairs. All told, DOA 4 features the best environments we've ever seen in a fighting game.