So, for the first time in a long time, I was able to play a beta of a game that felt almost finished. Finally, we have on our hands a game that will be great at launch. A game that won't need a 40 GB update on the first day and that offers a very good alternative to the FGC, imo.
I played this game all weekend long, alone and with friends on both PS4 and XBOX One. I can't say much about the character diversity and different move sets as I focused on my main, Tina, and of course watching my friend's matches with Ayane also gave me a good idea of how she played but here's an early review of the game for those who are wondering if they should pick it up or not.
Gameplay:
So far, it seems that the game is way more balanced than the previous versions, especially as a Tina main I remember the Ayane V Tina matchup being really cancer because her mid-juggle grabs were shit and overall not well optimized. This time around they are very smooth and in DOA6, if you have patience and punish big, you have a better chance to win against quicker opponents with grappler type characters. No character feels too overpowered as of now, except maybe Honoka.
If you're new to the DOA franchise, holds are parries that have different inputs depending on what type of hit you want to counter. They add another layer of depth in the game that I believe intermediate and advanced players will love learning this mechanic.
Transitions, wall hits look and feel great, especially in one particular stage where if you're thrown against a wall the bystanders will push you back in and you can either try to counter or the opponent will be able to continue a combo. You can also break through some floors, like on the ship arena, set fire to the hull by throwing your opponents in flaming barrels and fight in a pile of gold. In some stages, you can ride dinosaurs or send your opponents flying into a T-rex's mouth. It's pretty freaking great.
The only problem I found was during some of Tina's grapples when the enemy hit the ground there was no sound whatsoever, like her d3 on a knocked down opponent.
Graphics:
Overall very nice, in the beta I noticed that they were some problems will light shadows in areas that were surrounded by trees, it seemed way too bright in contrast to the rest of the lighting, especially on female player's hair. There are also some weird colors on men's chest when they start to get sweaty, I noticed it on Zack and Hayabusa's alternate costumes. Other than that, facial expressions look realistic during break blows (super moves), though payer's mouths don't seem to move that much when they talk which looks a bit weird.
Menu/Navigation:
The menus were pretty good, tho the buttons in online ranked are a bit confusing when you want to select a character to start playing online. It doesn't feel intuitive to have to press 2 to go to the character select screen, then 3 to select then 1 to confirm that selection and then 3 again to start searching for a match. It feels like a big useless detour.
I've also noticed on both PS4 and Xbox when you try to navigate outfits, characters and customization options with the thumbsticks on pads it freaks out and doesn't go in the right direction or just jumps 3-4 options at a time.
Music: FREAKING AWESOME. Have a listen
Verdict/TL;DR: It looks great, feels great and it's really fun to play both alone and with friends. It offers depth and it's hard enough to keep intermediate to pro players entertained while they learn their characters and the game's specific mechanics. It has a few bugs here and there which I'm sure will be easily fixed. I would classify this as a definite pre-order.
Video of my online ranked matches with Tina w/commentary:
EDIT: If you've played it, fill out this survey to tell team ninja if you found any bugs and how your experience was playing the game: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/form/doa6_trial_na
I played this game all weekend long, alone and with friends on both PS4 and XBOX One. I can't say much about the character diversity and different move sets as I focused on my main, Tina, and of course watching my friend's matches with Ayane also gave me a good idea of how she played but here's an early review of the game for those who are wondering if they should pick it up or not.
Gameplay:
So far, it seems that the game is way more balanced than the previous versions, especially as a Tina main I remember the Ayane V Tina matchup being really cancer because her mid-juggle grabs were shit and overall not well optimized. This time around they are very smooth and in DOA6, if you have patience and punish big, you have a better chance to win against quicker opponents with grappler type characters. No character feels too overpowered as of now, except maybe Honoka.
If you're new to the DOA franchise, holds are parries that have different inputs depending on what type of hit you want to counter. They add another layer of depth in the game that I believe intermediate and advanced players will love learning this mechanic.
Transitions, wall hits look and feel great, especially in one particular stage where if you're thrown against a wall the bystanders will push you back in and you can either try to counter or the opponent will be able to continue a combo. You can also break through some floors, like on the ship arena, set fire to the hull by throwing your opponents in flaming barrels and fight in a pile of gold. In some stages, you can ride dinosaurs or send your opponents flying into a T-rex's mouth. It's pretty freaking great.
The only problem I found was during some of Tina's grapples when the enemy hit the ground there was no sound whatsoever, like her d3 on a knocked down opponent.
Graphics:
Overall very nice, in the beta I noticed that they were some problems will light shadows in areas that were surrounded by trees, it seemed way too bright in contrast to the rest of the lighting, especially on female player's hair. There are also some weird colors on men's chest when they start to get sweaty, I noticed it on Zack and Hayabusa's alternate costumes. Other than that, facial expressions look realistic during break blows (super moves), though payer's mouths don't seem to move that much when they talk which looks a bit weird.
Menu/Navigation:
The menus were pretty good, tho the buttons in online ranked are a bit confusing when you want to select a character to start playing online. It doesn't feel intuitive to have to press 2 to go to the character select screen, then 3 to select then 1 to confirm that selection and then 3 again to start searching for a match. It feels like a big useless detour.
I've also noticed on both PS4 and Xbox when you try to navigate outfits, characters and customization options with the thumbsticks on pads it freaks out and doesn't go in the right direction or just jumps 3-4 options at a time.
Music: FREAKING AWESOME. Have a listen
Verdict/TL;DR: It looks great, feels great and it's really fun to play both alone and with friends. It offers depth and it's hard enough to keep intermediate to pro players entertained while they learn their characters and the game's specific mechanics. It has a few bugs here and there which I'm sure will be easily fixed. I would classify this as a definite pre-order.
Video of my online ranked matches with Tina w/commentary:
EDIT: If you've played it, fill out this survey to tell team ninja if you found any bugs and how your experience was playing the game: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/form/doa6_trial_na
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Those are actually all the characters I want to learn, Tina I know very well from previous games, but Mila and Hitomi look freaking great in this game.
