DOA5: The game is finally announced

On September 14, 2011 Team Ninja has released the Pre-Alpha trailer for Dead or Alive 5. The trailer shows off a dangerzone filled construction yard rooftop with Hayate and Hayabusa dueling it out. It should be expected that many of the attacks and motions are from Dead or Alive 4 as pre-alpha builds tend to carry over a lot from the previous version as other system mechanics are ironed out and developed. At the same time it should be warned that anything shown during the trailer could be changed once the final build arrives.

Team NINJA has set out to claim the game as "fighting entertainment", and honestly it makes me feel that the series has returned to the DOA3 style of grittiness that I personally have enjoyed. There's not much core gameplay information to be found at this time as it appears at first glance to be a consolized Dead or Alive Dimensions. I only caught two new gameplay mechanics that stood out: After hitting the dangerzone wall, Hayabusa bounced back into the ring instead of staying on the wall; Hayate did a charge attack reminiscent of the Ninja Gaiden series' Ninpo attack that did a canned animation sequence that could be their answer to "Supers/Ultras" of other games but no HUD is displayed to determine what was canned or not.

I look forward to breaking down the trailer once it's available, but for now I'll leave you with the promotional poster showing off Kasumi/HItomi:

DOA5_Promo_Poster.jpg
 
Based on the dramatic character redesigns (Hayate's face/hair, clothes) - I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually progressing the character age timeline, which would be great news for followers of DOA lore. This might be an attempt to also adhere to paranoid suits (soccer moms?) about underaged female characters. It might just be a side-effect of transitioning from the past anime'ish look to the mature Ninja Gaiden style though. Either way, I'm sold.

The addition of 'super' moves follows the trend of Capcom; Project Soul of Namco is doing the same with the Soulcalibur series. Given the casual technicality of DOA - and by the execution in the trailer - it looks like it's simply done by charging a button(s). As Mr. Wah pointed out, the relation to Ninja Gaiden's Ultimate Technique charge attacks (not Ninpo attacks; which are actually Ryu's non-charged magic attacks with just a press of 2 buttons) is uncanny and would not be surprised if it were implemented in DOA in a similar way. It's worth noting that NG is already very similiar to DOA, such as, the 'stun' mechanic, counter system, among others.

Ryu's bounce off the wall offers some interesting OTG (or in this case, off the wall to off the ground, love me some DOA lol) combos, and while DOA always had cinematic'ish gameplay, I'm sure Hayashi-san knows the legitimacy of claiming "fighting entertainment" for DOA5. Ryu hanging off the ledge further entails that approach, but I'm a bit wary of that part. Will quicktime events come into play there? QTE's can be fun and annoying at the same time, but it's never really been done in a fighter (albeit Dimensions tag mode). Here's hoping Team Ninja implements what they feel is best to not interrupt the flow of the fight- they've never let me down before. Furthermore, I'm also glad they kept the hit effects from DOA:Dimensions.

I'm fairly positive the girl in the promo pic is Kasumi, largely because of the patch of hair color on her left. Kasumi has this weird orange-brownish color, and it's really apparent there. Hitomi has a soft brown color. Not to mention Kasumi is the star of DOA, dead giveaway.

Here's the pic in larger res (1000x1414):

1316009411366.jpg
 
As much as I want to be excited for this, I'm calling this a wait and see. Hopefully TN doesn't play hide and seek like they did with doad.
 
ALL DOA6 DOA5 DOA4 DOA3 DOA2U DOAD
Top