Dead or Alive 2 is a game of extremes. Everything from its trademark bounciness to its exquisite look has caused heads to turn and pushes a limit somewhere.

Take, for instance, the graphics. Each character has been lovingly rendered down to the smallest nuance. With the power of the Dreamcast at its disposal, DOA2 does not have any harsch, sharp edges, but smoothes each character to almost human-like sleekness. When Kasumi, with the wind softly moving her flowing skirts, steps up to battle, it is hard not to be awestruck. Each fighter's movements impersonate the ebb and flow of real life with a deceivingly beautiful grace.

Little extras help to make this title a masterpiece. Things like, well, shoes. When we see how much care and precision has been taken in rendering a small detail such as a boot, it really makes us appreciate the passion within this title. In one of Lei Feng's alternative outfits, she is dressed in black with a pair of matching black boots and red shoe laces. Not only can you tell that these are red shoelaces, but you can also see that they are tied, and you can watch each individual end of the shoelace move during battle. Even a unique tread on the bottom of the boot has been rendered. These finer points prove that details matter to Tecmo.

In this case beauty is not skin deep. A fighting game cannot survive without a competent combat engine. DOA2 uses an engine that provides the almost perfect balance that most players hope for. Fighting at blazing speeds that Street Fighter II Turbo alumni wil appreciate, DOA2 gives you complete control over difficulty within every aspect of this title. A beginner can step up and after setting the game to Easy or even Normal and be able to stand a chance. Veterans can jump in and using the higher difficulty settings, and expect a challenge as they attempt to master the intricacies of the counter attack system.

The Dreamcast version of Dead Or Alive 2 is much more than a simple port of an already great arcade game. Along with the now requisite time attack, survival and versus modes DOA2 features a Tag Battle, that will allow up to 4 players to engage in the action or let 2 players work cooperatively against a computer team.

While no game is perfect, the list of problems with DOA2 is quite slim. The translation from Japanese to English is confusing and sometimes just downright wrong. However, this has virtually no effect on the gameplay whatsoever, unless somehow the few chuckles it causes detracts from your skills. Also, the level layout causes some objects to go semi-transparent when the camera swings past them in order for them to not block the view of the action. While not blocking the action is a good thing, it can sometimes be a distraction.

DOA2 will be one of those titles, muck like the original Tecmo Super Bowl that will cause gamers a few years from now to pull out their "old" Dreamcast, dust if off, and fire it up for a couple of rounds. It is what we refer to as a Classic.

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9/10

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Reviewed By
Matt