Koei Tecmo’s second sequel to the long-running spin-off franchise (it started life in 2002 on the original Xbox) has had a troubled year. When it was announced that the game would be released to only the Asian market the majority of people in the West put this down to the disinterest and terrible sales figures. While there was some disappointment, it was relatively muted.

After an employee of Koei Tecmo took to Facebook to respond to some disappointed fans, he riled up the anti-gamergate crowd, suddenly petitions were being made demanding the game to get a western release. Since then it has released in Asia and is available to import from www.play-asia.com for anyone who wants to experience it. Is it worth importing ‘Dead or Alive Xtreme 3’ (henceforth DOAX3) or is it best left in the East?

First things first, DOAX3 focuses heavily on eye candy (that should come as no surprise to anyone by now though). As everything on offer here is designed to titillate gamers. To be fair to game though the character models are exquisitely beautiful, the girls are all beautifully rendered and animated and the Soft Engine Lite (or 2.0 on PS4) does an incredible job at making their bodies and clothes move and behave in a convincing way. The girls will sweat during games. They will get realistically wet in the water, and they even tan in a realistic manner – there was clearly a lot of love put into the modeling of these ladies.

dead or alive xtreme 3 ps vita beach booty

There are plenty of high-res booty to be found in DOAX3.

Beyond their looks, the girls also have distinct personalities, some are bubbly and friendly while others are colder and harder to please. When you spend time with them, you find yourself liking some and disliking others based entirely on their personalities rather than their looks! The girls are without a doubt the main reason why people will play this game.

Once you get beyond the initial “wow” of the graphics and the girls; you begin to see the cracks appear in the actual game. To begin with there is also no meaningful story in ‘DOAX3’; what is there acts as a setup for what you will experience – Zack Island has fallen foul of nature and been destroyed (for the second time). While Zack has rebuilt it, he has been called away on important business and left you in command.

It is your job to make sure the girls who are on vacation there, are fully satisfied. And although the opening cinematic is fully aware of its conceit. And it plays it with an air of joviality, which is refreshing and entertaining. However, it’s just fluff and serves absolutely no purpose. The only thing you need to know is that you have 14 days on the island to give the girls an amazing experience (each holiday takes roughly three hours to complete). And if you do this well enough you will get treated to a strip tease from your chosen girl.

dead or alive xtreme 3 booty war

To be fair, very few of the other DOAX3 girls stand a chance against Honoka´s bottom.

Everything in the game revolves around the ladies, and there is a distinct Tamogachi approach to the girls. They all have their own desires, personalities and favourites (colour/item/clothing range, etc.). And it is up to you to meet their demands and treat them all equally. It is a fine balancing act to ensure you don’t neglect any of the girls! The easiest way of winning their affections is by partnering with them and making her feel valued by taking care of her needs and buying her gifts! It’s here that uncovers one of the games major issues; everything in the store is priced incredibly high!

And you are actively encouraged to buy the girls presents and swimsuits. In fact, there are missions in which you have to buy one (and these presents and swimsuits can cost up to 1,000,000 credits each). And in order to gift them, you have to wrap them (this costs HALF of the item price) – if the girl refuses the gift, you must re-wrap it (and pay again) in order to give it to another girl. Soon you are out of money (because of the 1,500,000 limit), and you have a choice; pay a micro-transaction fee or begin an incredibly long grind in order to get more credits.

You make money through the mini games (and they are all mini-games) and while they are fun diversions, none of them offer any depth to make them legitimately good. Beach Volleyball is undoubtedly the best activity it has a difficulty curve, nuance in the controls and the requirement to control both your characters at the same time presents some actual gameplay. However, at its core, it is very simple with a lot of automation in play (spiking is half automated). In saying this I have a lot of fun with it, and it’s become my go to game.

dead or alive xtreme 3 rock climbing

Rock climbing may sound fun in theory, but it´s not fun in practice. Well, at least not in DOAX3.

The rest does not fare so well, games like ‘Pool Hopping’ and ‘Rock Climbing’ are unchallenging QTE segments that last roughly 30 seconds. And the rest (‘Butt Battle’ and ‘Tug Of War’) are skill-less exercises in guess-work (you have two moves and have to pre-empt what your opponent will do). The games are largely unsatisfying but like fast food, you find yourself wanting to play them every now and then.

There is a surprising full-featured casino section in the game too; it has poker, roulette and blackjack (which offer options that many “better” games don’t, like doubling down, placing tactical bets and playing the system). The girls all play the games with actual personalities – Helena is an incredibly aggressive raiser, and she will price you out of good hands, whereas Marie Rose is much more likely to fold if her hand isn’t excellent. The casino allows for some tactical play from the player and is a real highlight in the game (even though it is mostly luck).

dead or alive xtreme 3 beach fun

Are you beach body ready?

The grind for clothes and hairstyles is just like a good MMO, you know that you are repeating quests and activities for hours on end but the reward at the end is just enough to ensure you do it again. The addiction kicks in and suddenly its four hours later, and you’ve gotten five bikinis for the girls – most importantly though is that you’ll feel that you had fun!

Pros:
+ The graphics and soft engine are incredible
+ The girls personalities
+ The casino is excellent

Cons:
– Most of the mini games are skill-less
– The game is awful at explaining controls and mechanics
– High prices are obviously geared toward micro-transactions.

Gameplay: 3/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 2/5
Controls: 2/5
Replay Value: 4/5

tgg grade 3 out of 5

Verdict: 3/5
Overall, ‘DOAX3’ is not a terrible game, but it is vapid, quick fire and relatively skill-less but the graphics, girls, casino games and rewards provide the game with enough to elevate it above its faults. We have a game that is more than the sum of its parts and despite my better judgement, I had a lot of fun with it.

Title: Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3
Developer: Team Ninja
Format: PS Vita
Genre: Sports/Dating sim
Resolution: Highest possible for PSV
Release date: 2016-03-24
Difficulty: Normal
Spent time: 10+ hours
Average grade internationally: 40% via Gamerankings.com and 38/100 via metacritic.com
PEGI: +12
Price: 69.99 USD via Play-Asia

***Disclosure***
Play-Asia provided me with a review example of DOAX3 for the PS Vita.

Credit
Robin Ek – Editor

tgg author avatar Chris Petticrew
Chris Petticrew
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @Mr_Luvva_Luvva

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