News by Jedediah H.
I’ve been deservedly punched on the side of my head a couple times in my life (for being too handsome, I guess), but none of those hits registered with quite the impact or playfulness as Team Ninja’s flurry of news: Dead or Alive 5 Last Round will bash its way to Europe the 20th February 2015, and to North America the 17th February 2015, with new stages, costumes, and a free trial consisting of Core Fighters.
Available for Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, DOA 5 Last Round has pre-order incentives that fans of the series have come to expect and possibly appreciate: costumes, baby! In the UK, different chains receive different costume packs: GAME gets the Ninja and Aloha packs, ShopTo gets the Ninja and Showstopper packs, and independent retailers get the Ninja and Beach Party packs.
In North America, the Ninja and Aloha sets are reserved for those who pre-order from GameStop, while Amazon and Best Buy will grant access to the Showstopper and Beach Party sets. (Personally, I’m all about the Ninja Beach Party.)
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| Mila doesn’t need costumes; she’s awesome enough in her MMA gear. |
Of course, it wouldn’t be the next level of DOA rough-housing if not for new stages wherein combatants can use the sturdiness of a fence followed by a damaging free-fall to prolong a forceful combo to the abdomen. Two new stages (well, they’re both refurbished stages from DOA 2 and the original DOA, respectively), The Crimson and The Danger Zone, fulfil the need to interact your opponents head with the beauty and deadliness of the environment.
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| The Crimson’s residential rooftop area. Ladies, please explain yourselves… |
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| The Danger Zone. Explosions have never been more fun or made less sense. |
If you’re more in the mood to try before you buy, Playstation 4 owners will be able to get a few hits in free of charge with the downloadable Core Fighters option, which offers purchasable expansions and includes Ayane, Hayate, Kasumi, and the Dragon of Jump-kicks himself, Ryu Hayabusa, as playable combatants, as well as “almost” every game mode available to experience.
Xbox One owners, inversely, will receive a free trial version that comes with the same characters listed above, but it cannot be expanded without purchasing Core Fighters ($4.99 U.S.), which gets you Bass, Hitomi, Tina, and Jan Lee.
Thankfully, owners of the full retail version can compete with skilled players of the free version of the game, which sounds like an ample playing ground for me to, again, get deservedly punched on the side of the head.
Oh, and if you own Dead or Alive Ultimate, you can transfer all progress from that game to Last Round, regardless of platform.
