VF4 vs DOA3

I haven't played either, but I can say that I don't agree with people who think that DOA3 looks better than VF4. I've seen DOA3 clips running in video game retailers, as well as in commercials. What I really hate is how they are marketing the game to appeal to the American audience with its big breasted women characters. I hate it because I know it most likely will work with casual gamers,....
Getting back to graphics, I can't technically back up my point, but I believe that VF4 still crushes DOA3 graphically. From what I see, VF4 excels in putting more detail in terms of texture and lighting. Also, I think that DOA3 looks alot like VF3,....

 

You're right about the game's marketing, but it's fair to point out that bouncy breasts have always been one of the main pulls of Dead or Alive. Simply scan through most of the prozine reviews over the years; you'd think most of these reviewers are still virgins.

From what I've seen -- video clips and still photos, mostly -- there's some give-and-take between both games. VF4's strength lies in the character models, their richly textured clothing, faces, and muscle groups. The time spent on Shenmue pays off handsomely here. DOA3's best strength are the gameplay environments. The downtown, beach, and forest stages are magnificiently rendered, and brittle with more detail and life than anything seen in the home.

DOA3's fighters look great, but are somewhat plain when compared to VF4's more weathered cast of characters. And the arenas in Sega's fighter look terrific; it's just that they're, well, confining, and the casual viewer may find DOA's real-world settings more appealing. It's all relative, really.

 

Hey, just got the chance to finally play DOA3 at my local Babbages.

My brief impressions, based on 30~ minutes of play:

- Thank God reversals take less damage...I don't think there's an "arcade" control set up. I.e. reversals are all u/b and b and d/b + F. Oh yeah, mid punches and kicks are reversed the same way.

- I just realized how much of DOA2 I've forgotten! I could barely remember what attack hits what level. Still though, it was VERY comfortable sliding in...it really does feel a lot like an enhanced version of DOA2. Please, don't tell me that T4 is merely an enhancement of T3/TTT and/or VF4 of VF2/3; the difference between DOA2 and DOA3 is really much narrower.

- Free stepping, still useless in close combat.

- That snake girl (forgot her name) is AWESOME, I like her a lot. She'd probably become my main character if DOA3 ever gets ported to the PS2. I doubt I would buy an Xbox for DOA3.

- Bass looks a lot more interesting in this one...definitely a more well rounded character in DOA3.

- There are lots of special dodge and dodge attacks in DOA3...overall, very well executed.

- The one thing I was surprised about is the speed of the game...watching some of the demos, characters seem to move and attack at light speed, but in the actual game it's more steadily paced.

- Graphics: they're very nice, clean and some stages look gorgeous. However, I will reiterate that VF4 makes a strong case for being technically superior...while DOA3 is clean, it is sometimes quite bland. Compared to VF4 at least. Many of the stages don't look quite as good as they do in the demos. Take the beach stage for example...you won't see the scene with the sun setting, birds flying and the water being the way it is. In the actual game the stage is a lot less detailed. Ultimately, however, because you actually fight in the environment, most will feel that DOA3's graphics are more immersive and thus better. It's like comparing PS2 TTT to DOA2.

 

One last thing--I'm actually pleasantly surprised with Xbox's controller. I had given it a try at E3 and absolutely hated it, but with the way it's positioned on the kiosk it was actually very comfortable to use. The digital pad works well and it was easy for me to position my right hand over the buttons, joystick style.

I left the kiosk early after getting bored to tears playing total scrubs, one after the other...

 

VF looks better. I love DOA's character design, but it's on the anime side whereas VF is tries to be realistic.
But yeah I know - thats just my bag.

 

Results of 2001

A last detail: PS2 seems to do an abusive use of lighting textures... in its games amost all surfaces look reflective! In DOA3 on XBOX only certain things reflect lights and in differents ways; skin reflects a little (see Jan Lee), but metal reflects a lot (see Hayabusa). I think D03 have a better balance (or variety) in this sense, however VF4 looking impressed to me the first time i see it (akira's wear... wow!).

And, finally DOA3 got the BEST GRAPHICS of GameSpot 2001 awards. But, i need some more depth... does anybody know anything about VF4 on XBOX?

I've not bought an XBOX nor an PS2, but i wanna have these 3d fighting games -the best for me- in one console, and Itagaki still keeps DOA3 exclusive... So, that's why i hope VF4 appears on XBOX... I'm little tired of SC and DOA2 on Dreamcast... And i don't think T4 is a reason for buy an PS2.

Also, i wanna explore the misterious (for me) world of VF. Here, in my country (Venezuela), VF is almos unknow... but while DOA2 hits arcades and DOA3 hits stores, VF4 is only a distant dream for a 3D fighting fan (me)...