The basics: Tecmo’s renowned 3D fighting franchise has remained a loyal Xbox staple for years, and the latest installment pushes the series’ lush visuals even further. Scantily clad vixens engaging in jiggly catfights have never looked better.
Why it made the list: Many hardcore fighting purists still consider Dead or Alive inferior to Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur in terms of complexity, but even the most jaded pugilist has to give DOA props for its full-featured online play (introduced last year in Dead or Alive: Ultimate). Of course, the father of Tecmo’s sexy series regards this title with his normal level of humility. “There is no other fighting game in the world that can compete with DOA4,” explains DOA creator Tomonobu Itagaki. “I am also not good-natured enough to call something that doesn’t even support online fighting in the year 2005 a fighting game.” (Cough, Tekken 5.) DOA4 will up the online ante with planned four-player matches over Xbox Live. (DOAU offered one-on-one only.)
And although it’s not terribly chic to be a graphics whore...the DOA titles provide fast ’n’ dirty ......
