Rin's Favourite #gaming Things from 2012: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

I know what you're probably thinking. Why would  Rin like something as dumb as DOAX2?  I'll try to lead you through my thought process.

When I first got my xbox360 last year, I did some research on xbox exclusive titles.  Basically, Halo, and I can't play FPSes because they make me dizzy.  Then I realized there were a couple of games that I really wanted to play that went xbox exclusive around launch time, namely, Dead or Alive 4, Rumble Roses XX (which I'll probably blog about later), and you guessed it, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.  

While I'm not a fan of the franchise (yet), all I wanted was a satisfactory volleyball experience.  The only one that came pretty close was PS2's "Summer Heat Beach Volleyball" (kudos to them).  I also have Women's Championship Volleyball sealed and unopened ($9.99 bargain bin!)  I particularly like IGN's verdict of the game:

Do not play Women's Volleyball Championship, even if you are a woman that plays volleyball and has participated in championships -- especially, in fact. I can understand trying to do a budget version of volleyball, but when 8-bit versions of the sport actually offer more fun (and maybe even look better), there's quite literally zero reason to take a look at the game. Well, okay, looking at the cover is kind of nice, so look -- but don't you dare touch.

That aside, DOAX2 was definitely one of the titles I wanted to check out.  I liked fighting games and I like volleyball.  How bad could it be? So I hunted down a copy on eBay and plopped it in.

The volleyball mechanics were a DISASTER. I was really disappointed.

Granted, I sort of expected it since DOA games are more renown for the pretty rendered models than their game mechanics.  As the IGN review puts it:

If you want to watch jiggling breasts on mostly naked digital women as they bounce around on a pool toy or rinse themselves off in a shower, then there aren't any options out there better than this. 

The physics in this game were (literally) out of this world.  It's as if every girls boobs were suspended by moon gravity and just bounced and bounced and bounced. 

The real point to Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

Then I read about what you needed to do to get xbox achievements, and it totally blew my mind. I'll break it down for you.

You start off your vacation on Zack Island as one of nine girls in the series.  Each girl has their own favourite colour, items and accessories they like.  Maybe say, pink, iced tea and a parasol.  So what you need to do is figure that out, give the different girls items they like wrapped in their favourite colour and earn their friendship.  You can also partner up with them and play games against them, and just y'know, have fun.  You're on vacation.  

After you become friends with them, you can hang out with them and have mini-movies with them. But you'll only get achievements if you're able to a) purchase the swimsuits available for you in its entirety, and b) persuade your new friend to not feel awkward and take your swimsuits for their collection, and finally, c) do this with every single girl for every single swimsuit.  It's so time consuming and OCD that there are people playing for YEARS and only a small handful ever made it to the finish line.

It'll literally take you hunderds of hours.  But it's a non-competitive, viable goal.  I think that's what I like most about DOAX2.  Sure, it's funny, it's dumb, it's full of fan service, it's OCD driven, it's horrible sports mechanics, but it wasn't "kill 50 chickens and come back with their beaks" or "jump around rooftops and collect all the flags".  It's more "interact with our characters, each with their mood and personality.  Get to know them more; they're not just rendered boobs in a fighting game." I went from not being able to tell the difference between Kokoro (Asian girl, long black hair) and Lei Fang (Asian girl, long black hair ... in braids) to knowing one likes orange and the other likes yellow, one's training to be a geisha, trying to free herself from her mother's strict rule. Helena likes the colour white but hates mornings.  Just little details that fleshed them out from 2D renderings (in a 3D game) to a person, albeit fictional, that people can relate to.

Essentially, it's a dating sim built inside of a game 

It didn't turn out to be the thing I wanted it for, but it did turn out to be something I'm enjoying.  I wouldn't really recommend this game to anyone else.  But I liked it.