Dead or Alive 5: Last Round Reviews
For those who never purchased Ultimate (such as myself), then Last Round is definitely worth the purchase.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round takes everything fans could love about the series and cranks it all up to 11, but that doesn't mean it's doing anything new.
Despite the occasional freezing, I enjoyed my time with Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. Its updated visuals, huge character list, and numerous costumes set it apart from previous versions of DOA 5, and the fun and interactive environments really kept me interested in the core gameplay. While the story mode was confusing and the characters felt somewhat bland, Last Round is a game that fans of fighting titles should probably check out. If you're still on the fence about it, remember that a free version — called Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters — can be downloaded on the PSN Store or the Xbox Games Store right now.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round gives Steam users a new and complex fighting game to add to their libraries, but the abysmal online play limits the fun and lasting appeal.
Undoubtedly Dead or Alive 5: Last Round’s strongest selling points are its gameplay and its goofiness.
I'm glad to see the DOA series come to PC, but this port is a bit shaky at launch. The core gameplay is good, but no online play (for about three months when a patch comes out), a mixed graphical presentation, and other oddities make this hard to recommend right now -- might be best to give it some time to simmer.
Even though feminist may cringe at the Dead or Alive franchise, the overtly sexualised content is also what made this franchise so popular and giving up on this would just turn the game into another bland fighter. Given that, most of the female characters are quite powerful characters, although some have one too many clichés.
Without online multiplayer, all the stages and possessing visuals that are inferior to the console versions, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round manages that rare and horrible thing of making PC players feel like second-class citizens to their console brethren and in doing so, succeeds in heavily tarnishing what is actually a pretty incredible fighting game in the process.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is a hard game to review, because honestly it's a good game. However, it's only a good game because of everything that Dead or Alive 5, Dead or Alive 5: Plus, and Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate did. If you want to upgrade to a next-generation version of this fun fighter, go ahead. If you really really want two new characters, go for it. But if you are looking for something truly new and different, you are unfortunately looking in the wrong place. I would like to say that Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is the definitive version of the game, and if it were the last version of the game to come out it would be, but there's nothing to say that Koei Tecmo won't release Dead or Alive 5: Super Mega Ultra Deluxe Edition a year from now, no matter how many times we hear this is the last one.
Overall, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is the definitive version of a last gen game. Visually, it still looks great; however, it's still based on a last gen game. A new DoA running on current gen consoles with higher resolution textures can't come too soon, but for now, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is satisfactory.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is a good fighting game that remains similar to the last release, building on the already strong foundations created by the game two and a half years ago.
The best version to date, but not definitive
If you're still playing Dead or Alive 5 after three years on the market and have the desire to continue on a new set of consoles, then the price of admission shouldn't mean much to you. Even then, it's difficult to recommend only because of how little Team Ninja has added to the overall experience.
Frustrating difficulty spikes in some modes. The sheer, blatant fanservice will no doubt turn some people off. The Xbox One version currently suffers from a number of technical issues.
When all is said and done, DOA 5 ends up being a great looking, middle of the road fighter that still heavily relies on absurd female characters in revealing outfits to sell copies.
Granted you purchase the correct version of course, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is a great addition to anyone's collection. That being said, if you've missed out on previous installments or just want a solid fighter on a next gen system, Last Round provides some good ol' fashioned fun.
There's a lot of content with dozens of fighters, and plenty of costumes to unlock, making it the definitive version to pick up.
Overall Last Round is a good example of a solid current-gen remaster; the final edition of Dead or Alive 5 offers enhanced visuals, plenty of DLC, new content while maintaining what was great about the original.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is a magnificent 3D fighter that anyone who loves this type of game should play, at least once. It's very accessible to newcomers, but it also has an insane amount of depth and content to satisfy even the most demanding player. Unfortunately, Team Ninja chose to disrespect its newest creation and mar its reputation by offering to the PC gaming community a port that is not only very problematic, but also inferior to the current-gen console versions - and while there is hope for it to get improved via future patches, it's impossible to not stop for a second and simply wonder, "What were they thinking?"
I'm not the world's biggest fighting game fan. Those fighting games that I do enjoy (Blazblue, or Persona 4 Arena, for example) always offer something beyond the fighting mechanics to hook me in (narrative and characters, in those two examples). The fact that I've been playing Dead or Alive 5 for years now, and keep coming back for each new release (and continue to buy the DLC) is therefore proof that what is on offer here is something more than a simply entertaining fighting game. It might be decadent, and looking at the screenshots in this review will tell you if it's a decadence that make you uncomfortable, but the gameplay behind it is rock solid and perfectly precise. I can't see any scenario where I'm not still playing this for however long it takes for Koei Tecmo to get around to Dead or Alive 6.