Yeah, I'm back with a review of a Dead or Alive game! Dead or Alive 4 was released for Xbox 360 almost 20 years ago, I got the game this years and I can say that many years later, Dead or Alive 4 is still a game worth playing, I don't know if I'll review another Dead or Alive game someday but for now, I'll review Dead or Alive 4. Dead or Alive 4 is another game rated M and I'd say that it deserves its M rating. Let's begin!

Story: It's a fighting game, and not any fighting game, it's a Dead or Alive game, it's not a game you play for the story even compared to other fighting games like Kill la Kill - IF and maybe BlazBlue. Unlike the sequel Dead or Alive 5, each character has his or her own story, for the most part, some characters aren't playable in the story mode, and yeah, the stories are connected or rather, it's a single story at the end of the day, the final playable character for the story mode you unlock is Helena but even after you beat the game with her, it's still not a good story or anything, it's not much more than ''there is another Dead or Alive tournament and DOATEC has created a Kasumi clone (Alpha-152) using her DNA, the clone must be destroyed''. It's obvious that Helena's story is the canon version of the story or events that take place in Dead or Alive 4 but...even if one doesn't consider the fact that Alpha-152 appears in Dead or Alive 5 again, it's still nothing to write home about even for fighting games. The characters are varied, memorable, interesting (more or less) and for the most part likeable, but the story is...a 6/10 if one wants to be generous.

Graphics: Dead or Alive 4 was released almost 2 decades ago, and many years later, it's still a game that looks great, its art style is like a mix of realism and anime (so to speak), like School Girl Zombie Hunter for example and it looks great, beautiful 3D models, really nice textures and shadows, it may not be as impressive as its sequel, but it's still a game that had amazing graphics for its time and many years later one can still appreciate its grahpics because, let's be honest, it'll always look nice. The perfect framerate of 60fps is impressive, a game with better graphics than other Xbox 360 games and it runs at 60fps. Definitely a 7/10 at least, 8/10 is also good for this category.

Sound: The game has a good (not great) soundtrack. Some songs (Zero Hour, Solitary Desperation) are memorable and overall, it's an enjoyable soundtrack, I really like the use of ''Amazing'' by Aerosmith for the credits. Dead or Alive 4 is a fighting game, so, the game has satisfying sound effect for the fights, the impacts sounds and other sound effects complement the acttion...if there is something to criticize however, is the fact that unlike Dead or Alive 5, Dead or Alive 4 only has Japanese voices...other than the announcers (the voices that say ''get ready'' and what not) and an unlockable playable character that represents the Halo franchise, the characters only speak Japanese, what's worse, there are cinematic CG cutscenes that don't have subtitles, which means that some dialogue isn't translated...It's not the only thing I don't like about Dead or Alive 4 but yeah, the lack of English voices unlike other games in the franchise is something that should be criticized...

Addictive: I'm not good at fighting games but I still consider Dead or Alive 4 a very fun game. The game has many playable characters (more than 18 characters if one counts characters not available in the story mode) and the gameplay is like other Dead or Alive games, you punch with the Y button, kick with the B button and the other buttons are used to guard yourself from attacks and grab opponents, it's a fun system that may or may not be more accesible than other fighting games (I've never played Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat for example) and by using a combination of those buttons or skills, you'll try to beat different opponents, you have to react quickly and attack before your opponent or guard from the attacks, you can lose quickly if you are against a wall...I lost a lot before finishing the game with Helena but I had a lot of fun and it's not just story mode, there are other modes that are fun too, with ''Time Attack'' being the most fun mode that isn't story mode, trying to defeat an oppenent as quickly as possible is always very fun and it's definitely my favorite mode that isn't Story mode. Overall, I don't have much to criticize about Dead or Alive 4 regarding its gameplay, different modes etc, it's a great game and pretty much the only thing I can criticize besides the near complete lack of English voices is the fact you can't zoom in on the pictures you take during ''Watch'' for some reason...like Dead or Alive 5, you can watch 2 characters controlled by the computer fight in an endless fight and you can take pictures if you so desire but for some reason, you can't zoom in on those photos. Other than that, I don't have much else to say when it comes to flaws or negative aspects.

Depth: For a fighting game released almost 20 years ago, it does have depth and content. Many playable characters, different modes and 45 achievements...I don't know if it's possible to get all the achievements considering that the onlime mode doesn't work anymore of course but in any case, it's a game that can keep you busy for a while.

Difficulty: As I already said, I lost a lot before finishing the game and I was playing on the lowest difficulty...I've read that Dead or Alive 4 is more difficult than other games in the franchise, I beat Dead or Alive 5 a long time ago and yeah, Dead or Alive 4 is more difficult than its sequel. Definitely a 9/10 at least if one considers the highest difficulty.

Dead or Alive 4 is a great game even if you don't play a lot of fighting games like me, it's very fun to play and the fact that it has perfect performance during gameplay with smooth 60fps is impressive and Team Ninja deserves to be praised for this game, if you don't have a problem with fanservice (as I said, it's a game rated M), I highly recommend it.