Dead or Alive 5: Last Round takes the fight to next-gen

Dead or Alive 5 was originally released back in 2012. In just over two year's time, the game has been re-released multiple times. Is the game worth buying a third time with Dead or Alive 5: Last Round? Re-releases are either cool for first-time buyers, or really annoying for long time fans. I bought Dead or Alive 5 back for the Xbox 360 in 2012. I enjoyed the game, but felt that more content could have been added. Team Ninja then decided to release Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate just a year later and advertised it as a new game. They've done it yet again with Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.  I bypassed Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate as I didn't want to buy the same game again. After playing Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, I must say the game is more of a complete package now compared to the original release. There are far more characters, costumes and new stages for you to see here. Not to mention Dead or Alive 5: Last Round looks great on the next-gen consoles. The PS4 version I reviewed looks stunning compared to my copy of the original game on Xbox 360. The character models are very detailed and the stages look brighter and more colouful than ever before. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is without question the best looking game of the franchise to date.  Dead or Alive 5: Last Round also plays at a smooth 60fps with a 1080p resolution. The gameplay is fast and swift, which is great for long-time fans of the series. The only minor gripe I have with the fast pace is that the DUALSHOCK 4 controller for the PS4 is not the best piece of hardware to use in a fighting game. My hands were sore just playing the game for several minutes.  One of the biggest selling points to this re-release is that it's packed to the brim with new costumes. In the original game, fighters only had around seven or so costumes each. Team Ninja only released new costumes if you were willing to pay for it as DLC. In Dead or Alive 5: Last Round however, there are over 400 costumes added.  The Dead or Alive series is the only fighting game series that prides itself with the number of costumes that are available for each fighter. Some characters have around 37 costumes each. The outfits themselves are great to look at, depending on your personal taste. The females have many schoolgirl outfits as well as skimpy swimsuit costumes. Some of the males also have weird yet wonderful costumes too, like NFL uniforms and more.  Dead or Alive 5: Last Round also has the most robust roster ever seen in the series to date. There are special guests included such as characters from the Virtua Fighter and even Ninja Gaiden series. The game also adds two new characters not available in Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate. These characters are Raidou and Honoka.  The story mode in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is disappointing mainly because it's the exact same one added in the original game two years ago. You cannot unlock specific character endings because the main story mode is the only thing that is offered. None of the new characters are featured in the story mode sadly. It would have been nice if they added some new scenarios to the story, but they didn't.  Another thing that may get frowned upon is that not every costume is available for you to unlock. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round includes most of the costumes released for the game previously, but a ton are still only available as paid DLC. It would have been nice if all of the costumes were added since this is a re-release of a re-release after all... Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is a very good fighting game with excellent graphics and decent gameplay. The only major flaw to it is the fact that it's not an original game. If you only bought Dead or Alive 5, this game might be worth it because it adds a ton of new content. However if you already own Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate, the upgrade to Last Round isn't that big of a leap. Hopefully Team Ninja has finally gotten rid of Dead or Alive 5 out of their system so Dead or Alive 6 can finally come out next.  Verdict: 7.5/10