DOAX2: Initial Impressions
This is gonna take some getting used to.
Visually, the game is gorgeous — though the excessive breast jiggling is quite silly. Then again, this is a DOA game.
Gameplay-wise…like I said, this is gonna take some getting used to. The volleyball aspect has been tweaked, though not necessarily for the better. So far I’ve had to literally murder the B button on my gamepad to even get my character to attempt to return a volley or spike…and most of the time she reacts two seconds too late. Whoops.
As for the new stuff (jet ski, water slide, etc.), right now it’s really unforgiving, though I’m sure it’ll be better once I get used to it. One thing I don’t like: if you screw up at all, that’s it. Wheras in the original DOAX (at least during the pool hop) you were given the option to try again if you screwed up — not so here. And it’s frustrating, too — especially in the water slide, where I continually go flying off of the damn slide because I can’t keep the perfect balance of speed and maneuvering. I’m actually getting good at the jet ski and flag race mini-games, though. Woo hoo! (The less said about tug-of-war and Butt Bounce, the better. RAGE.)
As for the swimsuits, accessories, etc. — damn that stuff is expensive. A good chunk of the swimsuits cost six figures, with several (for each character, I’d guess) in the $1 million range. By contrast, in DOAX there was one swimsuit in the entire game that had a seven-figure price. This is gonna take a while.
That’s okay, though — I was planning on spending plenty of time playing it. 
Categorized as Games/Console, Games
Dag. I wish I could offer similar views, but unfortunately the game’s been sitting on my entertainment center since yesterday and I haven’t had a chance to even put it in the console yet. The situation with our house really came to a head here in the last 24 hours; trying to get that all settled. The good news is, within the next 24 hours I think we may be on a totally different course, and a far less stressful one at that. More news later.
That’s one thing I’ve heard about DOAX2 from others as well; it’s damn hard, even for such a lightweight-seeming game. One of Itagaki’s trademarks, apparently.
Hah, I went into EB yesterday to pick up the game, and the cashier says, “Yay! The only other guy who preordered DOAX besides me! Welcome, fellow pervert!” Thanks, buddy…I think.
Oh, and for the record, you were right — no figurine.
Heh. I was the only dude who pre-ordered DOAX2 at the particular EB I went to. How do I know? I told the clerk the game I had reserved, and he’s like, “Oh, (my name), right?” without asking me beforehand. Yep. Though the dude in line in front of me bought the game, so I didn’t feel too bad.
That is, until I popped in the game once I got home - when the opening movie starts up, practically the first thing you see is a gigantic, screen-filling shot of Kasumi’s breasts, followed by shots of Hitomi and Christie’s asses (and it doesn’t get much better from there, as there is much writhing and touchy-feeliness amongst the girls, even including a fake-out, almost-but-not-quite kiss between Lei-Fang and Hitomi. Yikes). Yep, it’s DOAX all right.
The more familiar I become with the game, the easier it gets (which is normal, I suppose). The volleyball aspect has definitely been tweaked, though - I don’t forsee many 7-0 blowouts like I can regularly get against the easy opponents in DOAX. The jet ski takes a little getting used to, but I think that’ll end up being my primary moneymaker. It’s actually a lot of fun to ride the jet ski, though I’m not looking forward to saving up $2 million just to buy the best jet ski in the game (which is also how much the “best” camera in the game costs as well; yes, you can buy a high-quality camera to take photos with).
As for my complaint about expensive items, that doesn’t look to be much of a problem if you hoard, as the monetary rewards seem to be a bit larger than in DOAX (except for the mini-games, which don’t pay out too much).
And I finally managed to get through the waterslide mini-game, and even managed to win a round of Butt Bounce (great accomplishment there, I know).
And really, the breast jiggling is OUT. OF. CONTROL. I know I said that earlier, but it really bears repeating. I joked with Reaper the other day that each breast has independent suspension or something. That, and they totally violate the law of physics that states “a body at rest tends to stay at rest”. Those things jiggle without the slightest provocation, believe me.
Let’s see…what else. The radio aspect has been dumbed down a bit; whereas in DOAX you could select whatever songs you wanted from your playlist, now you just choose a pre-existing playlist on your hard drive and the game simply plays everything from it, which kind of blows. And you’ll have to tell me what the game is like in HD, because as it stands, whenever the ball goes into my opponent’s side of the court, my half of the court is cut off, so I can’t see where my players are to get them into position to return the ball if need be. Whoops. And I’m still wondering why the hell my character won’t return the ball half the time, even when I press the button at the correct time.
Oh, and the English voice acting — for the most part — will make you want to set yourself on fire. Just a heads-up (though, interestingly, the voice actress for both Kasumi and Niki — Zack’s girlfriend — is the same woman who does the voice for Ashe, the main female protagonist in FFXII, and I rather like her in that game. Go figure.).