Ein and Leon are throwback fan-favorites from older games, but they’ve since been effectively replaced by Hayate and Bayman, respectively. The more frustrating thing about these characters is that their inclusion feels, on one level or another, more like fan-service rather than good design. Sure, having more options is great, but if they aren’t interesting ones, more ends up feeling like less. Honoka is probably the worst offender here: she’s just a generic-looking schoolgirl with a patchwork move list cobbled together from totally disparate styles across the the rest of the cast.
This gives Last Round the largest playable cast in DOA history, but with rare exception, most of these newcomers and returning series favorites feel bland and forgettable, thanks to a lot of reskinned models and generic move sets. Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate introduced some new characters as DLC, and Last Round includes them all, plus two additional challengers, for a total of 34. DOA 5’s original cast still walks that line between authenticity and audacity with grace and energy, but the same can’t necessarily be said of the characters that have joined the cast since then. Many of them jump off from a traditional martial arts base, and then start taking entertaining left turns with teleportation, elemental attacks, and spinning piledrivers that would make Street Fighter’s Zangief cry (very manly) tears of jealousy. Something else that’s set DOA apart over the years, is how distinctive, flashy, and fluid the characters’ many fighting styles are. This is the very essence of what makes fighting games great, and like its predecessor, Last Round does it incredibly well. Even before you start wrapping your head around a character’s extensive, varied move list, DOA empowers you to recognize your opponent’s tendencies, and punish them for them. The triangular relationship it creates between throws, holds, and strikes make every moment an opportunity to outthink your opponent. You can read my full review of Dead or Alive 5 for details on what makes the fighting system so addictive, but in short, DOA takes the rock-paper-scissors idea that lies beneath the hood of most fighting games and bakes it right into your every move and decision. First thing’s first: the fighting in Last Round remains as excellent as ever.
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