Dead or Alive: Dimensions - 3DS quick play preview

Up close and personal with Team Ninja's "best-of" title

Over at the Nintendo 3DS launch in Amsterdam, much of the talk revolved around Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei's Dead or Alive: Dimensions title - not least because it's the first DoA beat 'em up title to land since 2006.

And Pocket-lint was on hand to take it through its paces, getting our virtual 3D ass-kicked all over the world in DOATEC's tournament, and all in the name of research.

Name

Dead or Alive: Dimensions

What platform is it on?

Nintendo 3DS

When's it out?

During the "launch window", which is 25 March - early June.

What other game is it like?

Super Street Fighter IV 3D

Does it use any new tech?

Yep, 3D to the extreme (possibly the most 3Dish title at the launch). There are three clear levels of sight here - the health bars, the action and the surroundings.

The pitch?

Dead or Alive: Dimensions is an upcoming fighting game for the Nintendo 3DS. It was announced as an official title on 15 June 2010 at E3 under the working title Dead or Alive 3D. The game will be the 15th game in the Dead or Alive series. It will also be the first Dead or Alive game on a Nintendo system.

The storyline?

The Dead or Alive series depicts several skilled martial artists in a worldwide competition named the Dead or Alive tournament. DOATEC (Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee), a massive corporation with unknown motives, holds the fighting competition in arenas ranging from the North Pole to the Amazon rain forest.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions was described during the 3DS event as a "best-of" game for the series.

Our first impressions

If there was a title on show at the launch event that perhaps overdid the 3D effect, than it would be Dead or Alive: Dimensions.

It doesn't just present you with a nice depth in terms of 3D as per many of the other titles, it literally jumps out of the screen, screaming 3D at you with venom.

In short - it's pretty full-on.

But the gameplay is still good, and the graphics are superb - especially the depth and detail to each arena. The character looks are on par with the console versions of Dead or Alive that you're used to.

The game also uses the 3DS's bottom screen well, providing you with multiple-combo lists so you can kick, punch, head-butt and knee your way to victory. The fact that we couldn't pull these moves off was more down to our lack of DoA talent than a problem with the controls.

The guard and attack counter system from the old titles are still present and, despite the massive 3D effects, DoA: Dimensions stays pretty loyal to the series and fans of the franchise won't be disappointed.

Please note

The Nintendo 3DS launch in Amsterdam was a fantastic chance to see the new titles due in the launch window, letting us get a glimpse into what are going to be the big titles and the ones to avoid like the plague.

The big problem however, is that for most of the titles that glimpse is, well, just that. At the event we got to play a level here or a multiplayer map there.

So with that in mind we present you with our Quick Play.

What we've done is broken down the key facts you need to know and then given you our first impressions based on around 15 minutes of gaming. For us that 15 minutes isn't enough to do a First Look review. How can you rate a game that offers over 30 hours of gaming on just 15 minutes of play? However, it should hopefully give you an idea, a feeling, a notion, of what to expect come launch day.

Tags: Dead or Alive: Dimensions Gaming 3DS Nintendo 3ds

Dead or Alive: Dimensions - 3DS quick play preview originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:30:00 +0000

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