In my personal opinion, Dead or Alive 5 was one of the best fighting games to hit consoles in recent years, especially after we have been treated to a number of fairly lacklustre options for a good couple of years. However, what I am going to try to establish is in this game review is whether Dead or Alive Plus is worth a purchase on the PS Vita, or whether you should just give it a go on the standard consoles instead.Firstly, there is absolutely no difference between Dead or Alive 5 Plus and the Playstation 3 version. In fact, the developers have gone out of their way to ensure that the two versions of the game are as compatible as they possibly can be. This means that you will be able to transfer saves between the two of them, and of course, play against Playstation 3 players online. This means that when you dive into the game you get the impression that you are playing nothing more than the same console version, just on a scaled down computer. In fact, the graphics of this version of the game are even the same as the offering on the Playstation 3 version, they have to be, any dips in the frame rate would mean that playing online would be an absolutely terrible experience. In my play of Dead or Alive Plus I noticed absolutely no slowdown, which is more than I can say for any of the other Vita games on the market that have tried to push boundaries like this.
It isn't just a similar game though, in fact, a vast number of changes have been made, well special features added at least. The problem is, there are not many of them, and neither makes or breaks the game. Perhaps the best feature is the first-person mode which relies on the touch screen capability of the Vita, but even then this is poor in comparison to the standard mode, mainly because the screen on the Vita isn't up to processing a lot of information at once, something which is vital in a fast paced fighting game.
In addition to this, there is a slightly better training mode which makes it much easier to pick up the controls and button combinations, and this is a place where the majority of advanced players will be spending most of their time. Although I can't quite say that it is enough to justify a purchase.
So is Dead or Alive 5 Plus worth a purchase? Only if you love your portable gaming. In my opinion, (and that is only the opinion of this game review) if you love to play fighting games, then are much better off playing whilst sitting on your couch, everything is so much more intuitive when it comes to control. However, if you can't seem to pull yourself away from a good game of Dead or Alive 5 for too long, then by all means purchase the Vita version. It is worth the money, it is still a decent game, only there is a much better offering out there at the moment.
