Publisher: Koei

Developer: Team Ninja

Release Date: 5/24/2011

Available Exclusively On

I have never been a huge fan of Dead or Alive outside of the characters. The fighting system is convoluted, overcomplicated, and not always explained very well. Dimensions breaks this barrier with a great Chronicle story mode that introduces these complicated techniques little by little so you can absorb them, and it works great. The story mode is entertaining, but nothing to write home about. You play as various characters trying to stop Alpha-152, which is Kasumi’s evil clone. DOATEC is trying to use this to destroy the ninja clan, Mugen Tenshin.

The fighting system is actually complicated, but after the story mode, you can actually use it. There are the usual combos of kicks and punches, but you can juggle opponents and stun them in a critical state. You can throw and hold opponents, and holding is kind of a counterattack. You can actually counter a counter in this game. If someone counters your attack with a hold, you can counter back or get out of the hold. Understanding how to do this takes some getting used to, but it adds some strategy to online fights. You can also do a super stun, which is called OKing an opponent, and this means they can’t counter. There are also special stances that the characters go into, which can be used to strategically add extra combos without the opponent knowing. You can also delay attacks in combos to kind of trick the other player into thinking you’re done, so they stop blocking.

The fighting system is fluid and smooth, with great animations and controls, but my favorite part is that the combos are listed on the bottom screen, so you can tap them or just use them as a quick combo list. This is really handy and actually makes playing the game more enjoyable, so you aren’t constantly pausing the game to remember a combo. On top of this, you can now tag teams, which is fun and adds some great combos to the fray. I liked the extra modes, such as tag team and infinite mode, and of course the showcase mode, where you unlock figurines to take pictures in 3D.

There are a lot of costumes to unlock to make the females look sexier or the males look cooler, and StreetPass and SpotPass are wonderfully integrated into the system. I’ll have my 3DS in my pocket all day when going out, then come home and have a few challengers ready to fight online that I passed when going out. I might even drive by a few SpotPass areas and come back with some downloaded costumes. Dimensions really utilizes these features, and I have a blast using them.

With all that said, the 3D effects are amazing and really show off the features of the system in this way, but overall, the graphics are smooth and crisp and look very detailed. I highly recommend Dimensions because it’s the best fighting game on the system right now.