Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is a 2015 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Arcade. It is the third updated version of 2012's Dead or Alive 5, following 2013's Dead or Alive 5 Plus and Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.
Notable changes from Ultimate include two additional characters and a graphical upgrade for the new generation of consoles. A free-to-play version Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters was also released for the consoles. Unlike the original Dead or Alive 5, the game can be updated through a downloadable patch for arcade and those who owns the console (particularly PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) versions Ultimate update.
Gameplay:
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round features all the content from Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, adding new costumes and customizable hairstyles for outside PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, as well as two new characters and two new stages for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions received upgraded graphics, running at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. These two versions also use the new game engine called Soft Engine and designed to better depict "softness" of characters' bodies. Since the appearance of the Senran Kagura DLC costume pack, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions have clothing breaker mechanisms for certain DLC collaboration outfits, including female characters' Valentine's Day DLC outfits when using a Critical Burst finisher on the opponent who wears some DLC collaboration outfit, similar to the Armor Breaker from other Sega AM2's 3D fighting game, Fighting Vipers and its sequel.
Characters:
Last Round retains all 32 characters featured in Ultimate, including the four guest characters from the Virtua Fighter series (counting Ultimate's Jacky Bryant) and the three characters who have first appeared in arcade version and then as DLC (Marie Rose, Nyotengu and Phase-4), along with over 300 costumes for them. In addition, the game adds at least two new characters, bringing back the original Dead or Alive game's boss Raidou to life and introducing a new female character named Honoka.- Honoka: A 18-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who uses has her own style that she calls "Honoka Fu". Although she does not have any experience in combat, she uses some fighting moves from other characters and also a mysterious power.
- Raidou: An evil ninja and Ayane's biological father using techniques he has stolen from other fighters. Killed in the first Dead or Alive game, he returns as an undead cyborg with the memories on what's good left in him from his past no longer exist, leaving only his obsession to copy the fighters' fighting skills remains.
Naotora Ii: Another guest character, but this time from Samurai Warriors. She was announced in December 2015 to arrive in February 25, 2016 on Arcade version, and as downloadable exclusive to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 17, 2016 and Microsoft Windows on March 29, 2016.
Console versions : Dead or Alive 5 Last Round was announced on August 31, 2014, said to arrive during spring of 2015. On January 13, 2015, the new character Honoka was revealed in Famitsu. The game was released on 17 February 2015 in North America, following by Japan on 19 February and Europe on 20 February. It has a digital-only English release for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. North America and South America PlayStation 3 release was moved to the February 24 due to the PlayStation Store issues. The "Beach Party" DLC has been available for free for four weeks after launch for North American and South American PlayStation 3 owners.
Pre-ordering the retail version at GameStop and GAME for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One rewarded the exclusive costume pack containing the "Ninja 2015" costume set (for Ayane, Ryu Hayabusa, Hayate and Kasumi), and "Aloha" costume set (for Ayane, Hitomi, Kasumi and Mila). Pre-ordering at Amazon.com, Best Buy and ShopTo rewarded access to exclusive costumes sets "Showstopper" (for Christie, Helena, Lisa and Tina) and "Beach Party" (for Kokoro, Leifang, Momiji and Rachel). In Japan, there are two special editions for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One: the Collector's Edition and the Strongest Package, containing various digital and physical bonuses.
A free-to-play Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters version (similar to Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Core Fighters) was released in addition to the retail version for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It includes the "core" content with only four characters (Ayane, Hayate, Kasumi and Ryu Hayabusa) with the option to purchase the rest as DLC. Jann Lee, Mila, Kokoro, Hitomi, Rig and Leifang have all been free of charge for limited periods at different points in time as each other.
The Xbox One also received a free trial version titled Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Xbox One Trial, which has the same playable characters as Core Fighters but allows only a certain amount of hours of playtime. After playing for the available play time, the game becomes unplayable unless the players would upgrade to Core Fighters for a small fee. A limited-time special campaign running between August 26 and September 14 of 2015 has offered Leifang for Core Fighters free of charge and decreased prices on the add-ons for the game, also reducing the price of the trial version's upgrade on the Xbox One by half.
Arcade version : The arcade version of Last Round was brought by a free upgrade patch for the arcade version of Ultimate on February 17, 2015. It has the Last Round only contents unlocked by default.
PC version : The Windows PC version of Last Round is only the second game in the series on PC, after Dead or Alive Online's open beta, and the third game for Virtua Fighter guest characters since their last PC game appearance on the PC version of Virtua Fighter 2. It is based largely on the PS3 version of the game, does not feature the improved breast physics of the Soft Engine for the characters but have the effects from the PS4 version for the stages, and its online modes have also been missing to be added later. Originally intended to be released on February 17, 2015, it was delayed six weeks to March 30, with Steam users being given a Halloween 2013 costume pack free of charge. It has been discounted by 40% on Steam in June. The online functionality support was promised to arrive within three months since the release, but the patch to enable it was postponed indefinitely by the end of June. On October 1, Patch 1.04 was released on the Steam version, enabling basic ranked online functionality on the public stable version. This patch, however, still lacks the highly requested lobby functionality that is currently only present on the console versions of the game.
Post-release : Director Yosuke Hayashi said they plan on supporting Last Round long-term, including "adjustments to game balance and maybe even adding additional modes." Several costume packs were released as paid downloadable content, including ninja outfits for all characters, superhero themed costumes, destructible collaboration clothings, such as from the Senran Kagura series, and from the Deception series of video games, and those created by The World God Only Knows creator Tamiki Wakaki. Later outfits included costumes of various characters from Falcom and Square Enix games as well as from Tatsunoko productions. In turn of having Senran Kagura collaboration costumes in this game, the character Ayane is set to appear as a DLC guest character in Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. The costumes for the Halloween pack were selected from fan submissions for a contest. After the release of the Halloween Costume 2015, the update spaces on adding DLC for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are already at their limits due to a file size problem on those versions. A new stage was added to the game with an update in July 2015 and a "major update" bringing another new stage and a mysterious brand new character was announced for spring 2016 (around March), later revealed to be Naotora.
Reception:
The game received generally positive reviews. Reviewers such as Brian Shea from Game Informer, Blake Peterson from Game Revolution, Chris Dunlap from Gaming Age, Ernest Lin from PlayStation Universe, Simon Miller from X-One, and Ken McKown from ZTGD recommended this "great" and "incredibly accessible" fighting game with much content for those who did not get Ultimate or just never played a Dead or Alive game before, and to try out the free version first in case of a doubt. Hardcore Gamer's Adam Beck endorsed Dead or Alive 5 Last Round for those "looking for a fun, over-the-top fighter with a lot of charm," even as he criticized it for how "the few new additions are far from compelling and there are some unfortunate bugs at launch." Jeremy Duff from Gaming Nexus wrote the "jaw-droppingly gorgeous" Last Round "is an excellent ending point for this chapter of the series. It takes all of the groundwork laid in DoA5 and polishes it off in the best way possible. Armed with an excellent roster of characters and a ton of modes, this is a great introduction to 3D fighting on the new generation of fighters."
The PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game have sold more than 35,000 physical copies in Japan within the first week after its release. After first six months, the game's free-to-play versions on all three console platforms have been downloaded by four million users worldwide. The number of downloads crossed five million by the end of 2015.
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