Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate - PS3

I've been playing this for a few months through the free-to-play version on the Playstation Network ("Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Core Fighters"). After logging a ton of hours into it and purchasing 3 characters, I said, "I need to buy the full game".Granted, you'll be fine with the f2p version if you find yourself only enjoying playing as a few fighters. Buy 2 or 3 to add to the 6 that come with it (that's 4 standard 'core fighters', plus the 2 additional fighters they cycle in every two weeks), and have a blast. But I quickly found that, after a few cycles of new fighters, I found pretty much every character to be fun to play as.DOA5: Ultimate is the best entry in this fantastic, underrated fighting franchise. This joins fighters like Tekken in being a one-on-one 3D fighter without any of the fantastical elements in your Street Fighters or King of Fighters. It's not 100% realistic - some of the shinobi/kunoichi in the game can still do things like disappear in a flurry of rose petals - but you're never going to toss fireballs at your opponent. The emphasis is on getting in their face and trading blows while trying to avoid damage; as it should be.The thing that always elevates Dead or Alive above other games is the speed/responsiveness of the combat and the brilliant "counter" button. There's a big difference in hitting a button and punching a guy versus hitting a button and playing a punch animation, or queuing up a punch animation for a combo. In DOA, when you hit a button, you'll punch someone - the animations are snappy, responsive, brutal looking and flow smoothly into other animations. It's an absolute joy to play; even if you're just mashing out basic combos.The other thing that puts DOA on top is the counter, where you can "catch" an opponent's blow to interrupt their combo, do damage and turn the match around. Fighting games are only fun if there's competitive, and frequently, the user base either leaves or just becomes too good to lend itself to fun, competitive matches. If you are up against someone better than you in most games, you just spend a lot of time watching your character flop around at the mercy of your opponents combo; there's nothing to do. In DOA, the chance you can counter means even getting beaten up becomes something intense for you; if you pay attention and time it right, you can turn the match around at any moment.The core fighting system at work is still fantastic. Every one plays well on a basic level, so if you master the core systems, you can apply that to anyone and have fun. Get good at countering, and you'll be plenty competitive to boot. But if you want to explore the different play styles the characters lend themselves to, you can. Someone like Ayane can move normally, or you can learn how to spin around and do backflips constantly, putting your opponent off-balance. Or learn how a character like Tina can knock down then start chaining throws & holds; you can see how much more interesting she is by doing stuff AFTER knocking her opponent down or getting the up against a wall. The beauty is that this depth IS there, but you CAN ignore all that if you want, because everyone plays well on the same basic level.In DOA5 they added some features like power blows you can perform to launch an opponent towards various traps that bust up & transform a stage. DOA has - ever since Dead or Alive 2 - always been about adding some spectacle to a fight with their cinematic stage breakthroughs. So this feels like a natural extension, if not a little gimmicky (it can be turned off though). Instead, the big appeal here is to see the most refined version of the combat yet (countering was also either too easy or too difficult to pull off; it's perfectly tuned here) and to see the best crop of new fighters yet -- including guest characters from Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. The visual style too has been updated and refined, so the fighters no longer resemble action figures & real dolls. They're still stylized, with unnaturally pretty eyes and hair, for example, but they clearly look like PEOPLE now. The presentation upgrades now include better particle effects (so water, dust, snow, etc. look better), bruise/dirt/sweat maps, and more detailed character models & outfits. These are all little touches on the outside, but really, looking back at DOA4, this is a MASSIVE upgrade. And one that the series has needed for awhile now; put the days of fanservice-y DOA X-Treme behind them.I've been ranting, so let me cut to the chase. This is an awesome fighting game; fun for everybody, looks amazing, there's tons of content, it the best entry in the series so far, the online is great (I didn't even get to that!), and absolutely should be played by anyone who likes fighting games. I bought it here on Amazon for $21! That's a frickin' steal!

I am a big fan of this series, for all the reasons people buy games.Story: This is story much like a soap_opera, in the regards that there is no one protagonist or antagonist. Everyone one is a good guy and a bad guy (except for Ryu) for what ever personal motivation drives them. Knocking the other person out, for getting in your way, well that's an acceptable measure for achieving your cause, after all this is a fight game making it a competition. Being a game with 25 characters I am not going to go into details for all but, some characters see vindication from the DOA Corp. for personal violations against them, while others perform out of a sense of duty, some just come to fight and win, while others are trying to save the world. The beauty of this is that you can pick your favorites.Visuals: The most stunning visuals and high resolution models of the highest quality I have ever seen, they rock the PS3 technology, but also keep in mind, they were rocking the first generation consoles long before with the best visual qualities of that time, and making it all run smooth, check out DOA3 and Ninja Gaiden Black to see what I mean. These guys just out do the industry standards in this regard. (if someone wants to rebut this, give me an example of something better)Gameplay: Smooth transitioning, easy to learn. This is probably the only fight game you learn easily, jump right in with the best of them and have a winning chance, Unlike many other fight games that have strong unbeatable characters where you don't ever stand a change against someone good, DOA gives you a balanced system where acrobatic little girls can go toe to toe with big brutes of men, and there are several characters that are comprised of strength and speed balance which also puts them on equal footing with fighters of a different style. So many characters to choose from, there is someone in the lineup just made for you.Content: many different modes to play, Arcade, Time attack, Survival, Team battle, etc.The only thing I wonder about is the price, why would the better more inclusive version sell for $20.00 less than the version that came before it. The game that came before it had less characters and less content, anyway, I am happy to have paid $20.00 less for a better version of the DOA5 release, (DOA5 Ultimate).Buy it, Enjoy it.

Fantastic game!

The game does not support past DLC. So any money you have have spent on its predecessor is wasted. I tried calling Tecmo Koei for support to help me and they won't answer their phone. So no, I don't like it.