Dead or Alive is a series that has been around for a long time. Beginning its life on the Sega Saturn before moving on to the Dreamcast and PS2, it wasn't until DOA3 was released at the launch of Xbox that the game really hit its stride. DOA3 wowed us with a combination of spectacular graphics, great characters and the kind of cute charm that only the Japanese game developers can seem to master. The series even spawned a side project, the somewhat silly but under-rated Dead of Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

For the next incarnation, Tecmo decided that rather than create a whole new episode in the series, they would revisit the past incarnations and update them for the Xbox. There are two discs packed into the box ' Dead or Alive Ultimate and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate.

DOA part one is almost an exact replica of the Sega Saturn original, with the only update being the addition of Xbox Live capability. This is a great walk down memory lane for anyone who remembers the original, or for anyone who is interested in seeing how the original looked. DOA1 features 2D polygon based graphics, but this certainly doesn't take anything away from the playability of the game. The main difference in the fighting style against parts 2 and 3 is the use of 'safe zones' instead of the sprawling environments. If you go outside the safe zones during a fight you will lose health and get blasted back into the safe zone.

This is a great way of keeping the game moving as you always need to be aware of your movements within the arena. Other than that, the game feels remarkably similar to the others in the series, with similar combo moves and the same characters. DOA1 also introduces one of the best and most hilarious options in the setup I have ever seen: 'Bouncing Breast On/Off'. And bounce they certainly do, to the point where you start to wonder if they are going to pop off and bounce around on their own. Overall it is definitely worthwhile spending some time playing this version.

The meat of the game however is Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate. DOA2 breaks out of the 2D mould spectacularly into the world of 3D, and has been updated to take advantage of the power of the Xbox. The graphics of the game are quite simply stunning; it is obvious that a lot of love and attention has gone into the game's creation.

The environments are one of the stand out points of the game. No other fighting game can really match up to DOA's interactive arenas. Each arena has a number of different elements such as destructible walls, multiple tiers and other interactive elements. The amount of detail is awe inspiring at time, with things such as gently floating snowflakes, rustling leaves, cute bunnies hopping past, angry elephants stomping at you and much more. But more than just good looks, the arenas are also a part of the tactics. Causing your opponent to fall over a cliff or off a ledge deals big damage, and is almost like taking a shortcut to knocking them out. At the same time however you can bet that your opponent is trying to do the same thing to you so a lot of maneuvering is involved. Sometimes the damage dealt here can be a little over the top, but really it is a two way street so all in all the best way to avoid getting half your life bar depleted is to make sure you don't get knocked off the edge. Simple!

Character models are another stand out point. The characters look fantastic and perform animations brilliantly. There are 15 characters available in all ' 12 to begin with and 3 unlockable. There are tons of new costumes to unlock ' as much as 20 for a character. They are mostly available for the girls in the game, although the boys don't miss out totally. Some of the girl's costumes are quite skimpy, including several varieties of bikinis, so if you enjoy graphical eye candy then you'll get more than your fill in this game. Others are simply cute such as Ayane's Santa outfit. Unlocking costumes is a lot of fun and having so many really gives the game some longevity.

The controls are basically unchanged from the original or indeed DOA3, which has both good points and bad points. One of the best things about the controls in the DOA series is that it is easy for anyone to just pick up and play, but equally it is challenging to master. Each character has a whole lot of combo moves available ' at least 50 - and to really do well in the game it is advisable to learn as many as possible. The characters are mostly well balanced between speed and brawn, and with all things being equal any character can defeat another.

The moves available are well varied, with each character having their own specialisation. The contentious part of the gameplay is the counter moves. If your move is countered you can expect to lose a fair chunk of your health, sometimes up to half, which is arguably a bit too excessive. However the reason that these counter moves are included is to force the other player to vary their moves. The more variation you use, the harder it is for the other player to guess your next move and counter it. Still, it is quite frustrating that when you do have your move countered it is such a massive blow. This and the fact that the combos can be impossible to remember are the few flaws in an otherwise great fighting system.

There are a few different modes of play. The main one is story mode, which can be played through over and over to unlock new costumes. A new addition to this updated version in story mode is character story clips, much like in DOA3. These are a great touch and masterfully produced. As well as story mode there are other options such as versus mode, tag team battles and survival mode.

Online play however is really where this game is at, and I have mixed feelings towards it. The online mode itself is basically great. You can set the game up a number of ways, with the most popular way being 'winner stays' so that the challenge is to beat the champion and the reward is getting to play another game straight away rather than going to the back of the queue. Up to 8 players can join the room, and when you are not participating in the fight you are able to watch the other 2 players who are. As well as the winner-stays mode there are plenty of others to choose from, such as loser-stays, survival or even tag team battles, and you can organise your own mini-tournaments. Each win or loss is recorded and a player ranking is given. You can then make use of these rankings when setting up a room to only include other players around your same level.

My only problem with the online mode is the issue of lag. Through several sessions that I connected to both myself and the other player encountered significant problems, even with only 2 players, both of whom were in Australia. I was using a 1500/512 ADSL connection and have never experienced much lag in any other games, even hosting a large Halo 2 game. When joining an 8 player game that had overseas players in it, the lag would make the game almost unplayable.

I did eventually manage to connect to some games without lag, however I came across far more lag affected games than non affected ones. It was a real downer on an otherwise great online system, and I can only hope that this problem might be fixed via a downloadable patch or similar. The online portion of the game is otherwise definitely good enough to make me want to keep trying to find a lag free game though.