The future of fighting games has arrived. Dead or Alive 3 delivers an in-your-face fighting experience unlike any other! The incredible tag-battle features lets up to four players pummel each other with exciting tag team moves until only one duo stands victorious. Drool over the lush fighting environments and multi-tiered stages as you kick, punch, and throw your opponents over balconies, through walls, and off of cliffs!

Although people may say that Dead or Alive 3 is the same as Dead or Alive 2, once they are shown the true power of DOA3, there's no turning back. This game has by far the best visual display that the Dead Or Alive series has seen so far. Unlike DOA2, where you just get pictures for beating story mode with different characters, in DOA3 you get short movies! These movies are superb graphics and will blow you away every time you watch it. I particularly like the female movies if you know what I mean.

All up, there are 16 characters to fight with. My personal favourite is Jann Lee and I am virtually unstoppable with him and any other character in tag mode. There are several different modes to choose from including: Story Mode, Time Attack Mode, Versus Mode, Survival Mode, Tag Battle Mode and Watch Mode. The first 4 modes all have unlockable features mainly including new costumes.

Dead or Alive 3 is the most dynamic, jaw-dropping fighting game out there, and the slick control makes it easy to pick up and play. The future is now. Are you ready?

The gameplay in DOA3 is sensational. The way that the fighting is choreographed in this game is unique, subtle, and brilliant. The techniques used in the combat look virtually realistic. There is definitely at least 8 hours of gameplay in order to unlock everything, and then there would be another 20 - 30 hours of replay value.

The control figuration in DOA3 is often described as button mashing. This is the case for the unskilled player. However, after playing DOA3 for about 3 hours, you'll probably realize that you're not going to be any good by just doing this. Button combinations are not hard to learn at all and they are in the manual that you get with the game. For instance, Jann Lee's Flash Spin Kick is [ Right Right Punch Kick ].

I particularly liked the way you couldn't go the same character. This put more of a "real" fight feeling to the game. Unlike the good old Mortal Kombats, where you'd see flying head-butt competitions between 2 Ravens. Also, the level of detail that went in to the walls in the levels is amazing. There is a cage arena where the cage is electric, and when you hit your opponent into it there is a damn loud explosion. Also, in one of the arenas, if you pummel your opponent into the ground, then the specific tile that he landed on breaks!

The Beach arena would have to have some of the most spectacular features with the water looking great and being all reflecting with the sun, and the seagulls. This is probably why it was used in the title screen!! But nothing beats the graphics of the forest arena, with the little creek running along the side. This arena is marvellous, especially when the leaves brush past.

Absolutely, positively, completely, certainly, definitely, unquestionably, indisputably, thoroughly, perfectly, incontestably, undeniably, arguably, incontrovertibly, totally, utterly, extremely, entirely, somewhat conclusively, without a shadow of a doubt, Awesome.

The details of the graphics on all of the levels are unbelievable, well.. to put it in reality, they almost are believable! The water almost looks real, the people cheering in the background look scary in the cage level, and the fish in the aquarium look pretty darn good as well. I particularly like one of the levels where you bash your opponent into the wall and he hits the electric vibes that then stick on him until he hits the ground. This is a great example of physics being used in a video game, and showing the power of Xbox. The fighters move perfectly as if they were actually fighting in real life. There are a few unrealistic moves, but hey these are the best fighters in the world.. why can't they do unrealistic moves! You'll never see a punch or a kick go through the opponent as the collision detection is spot on.

I think that above all, if I could use my own tracks in this, then I would have given the Audio component a 10 out of 10. The voices for the characters are perfect, especially Jann Lee ;-) I love the way he goes "WOLOOOLOOLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" as he trots around the 3d environment.

The level of sounds when looking at blows given to the opposition is amazing. I think they are working on an estimation system in this game where the softer punches make softer noises, and big connections make pounding noises. There must be heaps of different sounds when somebody gets hit. It's hard to review this part though because the noise is coming out the same time as the fighter that is delivering the blow is making his/her little "HOOIIYAA" noise. These noises are very attractive and add to the length of the gameplay.

The Multiplayer on this is unbelievable. In tag mode, you can go 2 or 4 players. For 2 players, you can have you two against the computer, or of course against each other. One downside I've found about playing the computer with a friend is that when people press the tag button all of a sudden, you get confused because it's rather unexpected, but you can also use that against your opponent.

The Practice mode for multiplayer is great, especially on the level where you can be knocked off the cliffs (they're continuous). It's loads of fun, and with god mode on you can pull off the sweetest moves and your buddy can still get up and have another go! The normal versus mode is even better, as you can play every level, and experience the different arenas. You can fall out of buildings, you can be fighting in a nice little room then all of a sudden get booted out onto a rooftop and you can get kicked through a stalactite or stalagmite!