I threw a bit of a soiree over the weekend with the folks from the team, and before and after a late-evening viewing of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, we played Dead or Alive 4 on the communal 360.
First and foremost, the jiggle physics from DoA2 are back with a vengeance. If you’re into that sort of thing. Which I’m definitely not. Nope.
Aside from the fact I suck at the game, everyone seemed to have more fun mashing buttons and spamming attacks than actually engaging in a battle of wits and tactics, carefully positioning yourself under your opponent as he jumps, only to devastate them with a flying dragon punch or whatever. No, our epic battles were more of the slap fight variety, two of us ham fistedly pounding controllers as 10 others cheered and jeered in the background.
After my third round or so of getting my ass kicked by the character we dubbed “Snake Chick,” I realized I was having more fun this way than I did back when I was a teenager, memorizing move patterns and combos like a scholar on amphetamines. My friends and I used to burn through countless hours of Street Fighter, constantly battling back and forth, leaving the house pissed off at each other because “juggles are so cheap, man, damn.” And I ask myself now, what was the point? People swapped in and out of the living room, passing controllers and drinks, and had fun essentially testing the structural integrity of the 360 controller. Sometimes, the dance is more fun when you don’t know the steps.
