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The Dead or Alive series is in a weird place. A new game is in development, though it’s still a bit of a mystery. Venus Vacation Prism’s gotten the majority of the attention in recent years. Which makes me wonder if the sudden return of a comprehensive Last Round release of Dead or Alive 6 is designed to jog folks’ memories about what to expect after seven years. It feels like an easier entry point, albeit one that does show its age in some ways.
Since the campaign is one of the elements unchanged here, Dead or Alive 6 Last Round’s story goes about the same as before. Helena’s DOATEC and Kasumi are protecting Honoka ahead of the next DOA tournament and working alongside other familiar faces to figure out more about Victor Donovan and MIST. It’s… not great. Especially coming back to it years later and seeing how other story modes in other series like Street Fighter progressed. The missions and way in which things are executed is broken up in an unfortunate way, and we don’t get closure and answers in the same way we did in past titles like DOA 4.
The mechanics in Dead or Alive 6 Last Round remain the same. This is a 3D fighter with holds, punch and kick strikes, and throws, and each character tends to be strong or weak in certain areas. So it isn’t just about wearing down and beating up someone as in any fighting game, but also knowing that a hold will beat one of the types of strikes, the strikes will counter a throw, and a throw will keep your opponent from getting a hold on you. In addition to the campaign taking you through the story and DOA Quest missions, there are training options, Arcade, Ranked Match, Survival, Time Attack, and Versus modes. What’s here is solid, though I think the solo Arcade, Survival, and Time Attack options can feel better than the campaign elements sometimes. While the KOF XIV crossover characters Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond are still paid DLC, the former add-ons characters Momiji, Nyotengu, Phase 4, Rachel, and Tamaki are included alongside some cosmetics and bonus BGM. (Note that you do need to unlock the costumes, however!)
Aside from the included add-ons, probably the biggest “addition” here at launch is the Photo Mode. This lets you set a scene by choosing who is there and where they are, then deciding on the animation that plays. You then pause everything, so you can rearrange the camera, zoom, depth of field, and tilt. This feature also lets you move and rotate a selected character too, in order to better arrange the moment, then also determine their gaze and expression. It’s handled pretty well, and with the actual character models you can typically see the Oboro lighting system differences compared to the original game.
The thing is that there are a lot of ways in which Dead or Alive 6 Last Round, while still looking good and feeling fun to play, doesn’t feel like it keeps up in this new port. At launch, we don’t see many stages that have Oboro lighting system support. Lost Paradise is essentially the example. There’s no cross-platform support, something relatively common now, and that’s a big issue since online multiplayer was always the draw in the original. Rollback netcode is absent as well.
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round feels more like a reminder and accessibility update, rather than a more meaningful addition that gets it on par with current fighting games. Especially since more character and costume DLC additions are on the way. A lot of the important DLC is here, such as the five DOA series characters that were paid updates in the past. The Photo Mode feels like a thing longtime fans of certain characters might want too. But it feels like the absence of things now considered obvious quality of life inclusions, like rollback netcode and cross-play, hold it back. If you still have access to the previous version of the game, you’re fine, but people who never played would benefit from this instead.
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
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