Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

When Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball came out on Xbox, there was much talk about how many people didn't "get" the game. But let's be honest, there wasn't a whole lot to get. It was a relationship game with volleyball tacked on where success meant you got to see the lovely Dead or Alive girls in outfits that ranged from revealing to absurdly revealing. It was a thin game, but fun nonetheless and I probably spent more than my fair share of time collecting everything. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 was a chance for Team Ninja to expand the idea into a fully realized game. Instead, they've decided to improve the graphics, add a few poor mini-games and call it a day. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 feels like a shameless cash-in to a series that is already pretty shameless.



If you've played the original Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, then you'll find yourself in a familiar place when you boot up DOAX2. The point of the game is to win over the hearts of the other girls through a series of gift exchanges and fill out your wardrobe of swimwear. To do so, you'll need some money which can be obtained through a variety of mini-games. Volleyball, the focus of the first in the series, has a slightly diminished role behind a series of other ways to occupy your time. The pool hopping and casino have returned and to complement them you'll find games that run you through your normal vacation activities. You know, jet skiing, going down a giant waterslide, playing tug-of-war, racing across the beach, and butt-bouncing. Ok, so maybe they're not all normal. The problem is that they aren't all that fun either.



The tug-of-war and butt-bouncing games are pretty much the same thing. You can choose to either feint or attack in hopes of sending your opponent girl off into the pool. The first person to three knockdowns is declared the winner. The beach flag race is forgettable as it's just a sprint across the beach performed by tapping on a single button and capping it off with another to dive for the finish. The entire game lasts about as long as it takes to load. The waterslide is a trial and error affair thanks to the camera that doesn't always let you see what turn is coming up ahead. If you go into a turn too quickly or don't lean the right way, you'll fly off of the course and won't be given the option to try again.



The marine racing jet ski game is the star addition, though that doesn't mean much in this crop of losers. This Wave Race clone lets you blast through the surf and try to maintain a straight course as the waves rock you from all angles. It takes a while to master and even then a rogue wave can send you off course. Having the waves bounce you around in a semi-realistic fashion as you try to turbo boost your way through the straights and line yourself up for a trick filled jump is pretty fun. If there were more courses and variety here, it wouldn't be half bad. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to zip around New Zack Island's shores.



These little games only last for a couple of minutes at most and, outside of the marine racing, are far too simple for their own good. As short as they are, they can also be extremely frustrating. If you lose, and you will on the waterslide the first twenty times or so, you'll be sent back to the hub and it will take up one of your three daily actions. If you want to try again, you'll have to load back in. While this makes some sort of twisted sense in the world of the game, the lack of an option to try these out at any time on the main menu prior to traveling to New Zack Island doesn't. You also can't play them against another person, further removing them from the realm of things that are good. In fact, the only multiplayer option in this game is to play volleyball or marine racing through Xbox Live.



Perhaps the worst part about the new mini-games is that there isn't any incentive to work past the frustration and get better at them. In a game where getting more cash to make purchases for both gifts and to fill out your collection is of the top priority, the monetary reward for winning these games is so small that you are better off ignoring them entirely. Only volleyball, poker and marine racing are worth your time. The rest exist only as a poor distraction.





With all of the new additions lacking any sort of compelling gameplay, you would hope that the parts that return from the original would be improved. Sadly, they weren't. The casino wasn't expanded and you're still left with just poker, blackjack, slots and roulette. The latter three games are all about chance and the poker game is still broken, so there isn't much fun to have here. You can't see your opponents' chip count in poker, but if they raise above yours you'll have to fold out and lose anything you already put in the pot. Even worse is their nonsensical betting style where they'll often call your raises to the maximum bet with nothing more than a jack high. We're not expecting a fully realized casino simulation here, but its hard to see anybody wasting their time in these games. Going hand in hand with the lack of improvement in the casino is the way the games are presented. Your opponents in all of the casino games are still represented by icons. This game is supposed to be about the beautiful models and they aren't even placed at the table around you.



The volleyball has been left mostly intact. The gameplay is still a two button affair with one for passing and the other for spiking or dumping the ball across the net. A few tweaks have been made to the gameplay, but it all still comes down to rhythm and timing. It's not the perfect volleyball game and it's a far cry from a simulation, but it's a fun arcade style of game. Helping it are the animations which are excellent and make for some great looking replays. The odd camera angle from the previous game is still present, though, and you'll often find yourself unsure of whether the ball is coming towards you or your partner. To save you from total camera-induced failure, your character tracks to the ball to simplify things when you find that you're off by several feet. The volleyball is still the most fun part of the game, but for some reason the option for playing it against another person offline has been removed. As if this wasn't already a game that people tended to play by themselves, it now seems that there isn't any other option.



The presentation, a place where this game could have been brought into the next-generation of gaming with style, feels dated. If we're put on a beautiful tropical island, why can't we walk around it? The island hub screen is still just a series of backdrops where you can scroll through the locations and then select from a list of options at each one. After your three actions and shopping are completed, it's back to the hotel which is just another backdrop and a menu. It's not just the presentation that was left alone. Many of the swimsuit designs and collectibles are the same as the original game as are the locations where you can play volleyball or frolic. To be fair, some new swimsuits have been thrown into the mix as have a couple of new locations. Still, the amount of new design work done here is minimal.



While we're running the gambit of things that were recycled, it seems we should mention the music. The soundtrack uses many of the same songs that we heard in the first game. While the reggae inspired tunes were fresh the first time around, veterans of the game will find themselves reaching for a custom soundtrack quickly. The option for having the girls' voices in either English or Japanese saves the sound from total pain, especially since the voice bytes are limited. How many times do we really need to hear Christie tell us that the target is in her sights?



The game isn't really focused around the music or the menus or the mini-games. Aside from dressing the girls in successively more revealing outfits and watching (and photographing) them relax around the island, your main focus will actually be on keeping your volleyball partner happy. You do this by learning what they like and providing gifts of that sort. If you ignore them, you'll find their trust in you diminishes and they'll eventually leave in search of a more fulfilling volleyball partner on the island. On the other hand, the more they like you, the more likely they are to give you gifts of your own or give you the option of being friendly at an empty location. Being friendly with your partner is the same as watching them relax, though it puts your character next to your partner and provides some sexual undertones revealed through their conversation and actions. In this regard, the game succeeds, just as the first did. Managing your relationships can get tricky and its genuinely difficult to get a new partner if you haven't been paying attention to your gift giving needs. The photo shoot scenes are shameless, but you really need to go into this game knowing that you're going into the equivalent of a Maxim spread. If you want to watch jiggling breasts on mostly naked digital women as they bounce around on a pool toy or rinse themselves off in a shower, then there aren't any options out there better than this.





The graphics are a big part of why the eye-candy works in DOAX2. Although there isn't a ton of fancy texturing or lighting techniques through most of the game, the girls and island have the visual flair we've come to expect from Team Ninja. The island backdrops are lush and bright, conveying the idea of an idealistic vacation resort. The girls all animate nicely and there are only a few problems with clipping when you start stacking them with accessories. Like other Dead or Alive games, you can turn your age up to 99 in the options to see just how bouncy fake breasts can become. There is still room for improvement, though. The major problem with the graphics is the hair. While it's pulled back in a bow or pony tail, it moves fluidly and looks real. When the hair is left down, it moves in a most unrealistic fashion. It's a serious sore spot when everything else looks so fluid.



Further hampering the visual experience are some of the odd loading issues. When you first enter a new location, the backdrop is often presented as a low resolution image for a few seconds before popping in with the higher resolution. If this is a shop, the annoyance is furthered when you try to scroll through the menu and find that the items take far to long to load up in the list. Rather than having the set of little icons load quickly, each one loads separately and you end up with blank spots on the list if you begin scrolling as soon as the menu pops up.

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