Daniel Macgregor

If you're fans of the Dead or Alive Xtreme series, then this game is for you. But be aware that fan favourites of Tina, Lisa and Christie aren't included, which was very disappointing for me as Tina is one of my favourite fighters in the game. I myself have the Scarlet version which at least includes Leifang and Misaka from Venus Vacation. The game is split into two modes: Owner Mode which is where you're left in charge by Zack to look after the DOA girls on the island, taking photos, and even dating your chosen girl and Girl Mode where you play freely with your chosen girl. There are a range of activities of the traditional Volleyball, Flag racing, Pool hopping, Tug of War, Butt Battle and their newest of Rock Climbing. You also have the Casino with games of Poker, Blackjack and Roulette to amuse you in the evening. Owner Mode is tough as you barely make as much currency than in Girl Mode and it is quite frustrating because some girls such as Ayane and Nyotengu are not easy to please. During the game you will also be given some challenges either in Owner Mode or Girl Mode. If you want more Zack Dollars in Owner Mode than do these challenges. These challenges will build up the satisfaction of the girls and if you've satisfied them enough, you're rewarded with a special ending pictorial. As you progress through the game your Owner Mode bar goes up from the amount of experience points you get from completing a mission and you get rewards from it being at a certain level, it also builds up your girl's satisfaction level. As you progress through the game, three new modes are added to the Owner Paradise mode (Note: It is unoperational until you progress at a certain point in the game): Event Paradise: Showing the girls' main story pictorials. Pictorial Paradise: Showing the unlocked pictorials of the girls having fun on the island. Unlike the second game, you don't have to go through the agonising time of unlocking every swimsuit in the game to unlock these two modes, which is a relief. Photo Paradise: A special mode where you can place your chosen girl wearing the swimsuit of your choice in a fancy background during various poses whilst you take pictures of them. Most of these poses require Pose Cards that you have buy in both modes, especially in Owner Mode if you want to give another girl's pose to someone else. Six will already be unlocked but you have to obtain the other 106. The cards are a little tough to obtain and you need to make sure your girl's satisfaction level is very high before you give them the chosen pose card as a gift. Some are also unlocked if your girl's excitement level goes up such as Kasumi reaching level 5 and so on. Apart from Tina not being around, I did have a few other disappointments with this game. Firstly the hassle you have to go through in Owner Mode just to get currency. It's more harder than Girl Mode, especially when the items are so expensive and it costs more to rewrap the gifts if the girls reject them. Secondly, there are not as many pictorials shown to unlock such as the girl swimming, the same scenes as your partner and there's no "Be Friendly" Mode where you see your girl and her partner having fun together. Thirdly, there is no Multiplayer Mode for any of the games and the Jetski Racing and the Water Slide are gone. And finally some of the swimsuits are rather tasteless and reveal too much, and now even malfunction or are destructable (but to each their own). All in all the game is fun and the graphics are fantastic, but has it's frustrations, and lacks some of the special stuff that fans of the other games enjoyed. That's why I've given it three stars.