One of the game franchises that remains exclusive to console platforms is the "Dead or Alive" series. This might be the reason why the versus fighting system was outplayed over time by other titles of the same genre, like the "Street Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat" series, both long-running combat franchises.
The developers hope to turn that around with the release of the fifth instalment of the game, "Dead or Alive 5: Last Round," for Windows PC. However, it seems that the game port fell short of expectations.
The title, which is already available on consoles, was launched without an online multiplayer support, viewed as a must for fighting games nowadays. Support for achievements for single player wins via Steam is also missing, as well as Steam cards and Steam Cloud feature, which would be dreadful for hardcore players who play on different PCs – they would not be able to start where they left off. Aside from these shortcomings, the game is also missing two key stages present in the console versions – the Danger Zone and Crimson maps. These shortcomings will hopefully be patched through a series of updates, notes the game's publisher, Koei Tecmo.
However, the biggest drawback that the game has is on its graphics. Most of the previous "Dead or Alive" titles were known to take advantage of the current generation consoles' graphics power. In this latest title, though, the publisher notes that the various fighting effects in the game are equivalent to their game's PS3 versions, although "DOA 5: Last Round" is known to support higher-end resolutions. Notably, the game is missing the effects seen through the Soft engine that current-gen consoles have to make characters more realistic.
The PC version already suffered from various setbacks. It was originally scheduled for release on Feb. 17 but was delayed. The release for console versions ached with numerous bugs, too, which players have seen and reported even before Koei Tecmo delivered a PC version.
