The Dead Or Alive series has a proud heritage that began in the arcades and moved swiftly onto the consoles. As such, Dead Or Alive 4 has a lot to live up to - and I'm delighted to say that even the highest expectations have been exceeded on every front. Old favourites unite with several new characters, a host of varied and interactive levels await your battling pleasure, there are more modes than you can wave a clenched fist at and the big, gravity-defying boobs are jigglier than ever before. Yes, this game truly has everything!

When you fire up DOA4 for the first time you'll be astonished, perhaps even overwhelmed, at the sheer number of options you can scroll through at the main menu. Starting with the Story Mode, there are seventeen characters (sixteen plus one extra that becomes available when the rest are complete) with a story to work through, consisting of seven battles, plus a tough final boss battle at the end. There's no shortage of very sexy babes to battle as and against in DOA4, with such favourites as martial artists Kasumi and Ayane (plus new addition Kokoro), innocent looking (but very deadly) Leifang and Hitomi, despicable assassin Christie, superstar wrestler Tina (with the biggest, jiggliest boobs of them all!) and newcomer La Mariposa, a very sexy new wrestling star and Tina's newest rival. Who also has rather lovely boobs. That jiggle really nicely. Ahem. Excuse me while I take a cold shower.

Right, that's better. Now where was I? Oh yes. It's not all about the girls, as there's a formidable line-up of musclebound males (and also Eliot, the new kid on the block who looks like a girl but can hold his own against the best of them!) The men include super ninja Ryu Hayabusa (who non-DOA fans will recognise from the hit classic Ninja Gaiden), drunken and swaying Brad Wong, martial artist Jann Lee, mercenary for hire Bayman, wrestler Bass (Tina's father), DJ Zack and ninja Hayate.

There are several other classic characters to unlock as you play through the Story Mode, but the one that I'm sure every self-respecting Xbox fan will be dying to get their hands on is Nicole - also known as Spartan 458. When I first heard that Bungie and Tecmo were doing a Halo crossover, well, I was absolutely delighted! And rather than using MC himself, they've put in a female Spartan, who is identical to the Chief in every way, except her voice of course. And boy does she look incredible! It's sad to say, but my love for all things Halo makes me think she's hotter than any of the girls showing skin!! The graphical portrayal of the Spartan is incredibly detailed and precise, looking miles better than the Chief in Halo 2, this being the next generation and all. I take my hat off to Tecmo for the fantastic job they've done of not only creating and animating such a perfect reproduction, but also for the Nassau Station, which is based on the MAC Orbital Platform of the first level of Halo 2, specifically the two-level bay with a view of Earth out the window, complete with a Covenant boarding craft attached. In the bay itself there are Warthogs and even a trashed Banshee and Ghost on display. Everything about the level is crafted to perfection, even the way your feet sound on the metallic floor and the noise when you smash someone into a Warthog; Halo fans are going to go nuts over this!

Sticking with the theme of graphics, DOA4 looks simply stunning. Sometimes it's easy to expect games not to look perfect, with the odd glitch here and there, dodgy texture or grainy graphic, but not with DOA4. The graphics team are truly artists and what they have created is something very beautiful. Every character has a set of over fifty moves to execute and the animation is the most smooth and natural looking that I've ever seen. The way the men and women move just has to be seen to be believed, with every body part flowing as naturally as if they were real people. Furthermore, the interaction between players is equally as flawless; with every attack, block, grab and throw, it always looks totally convincing as any two characters grapple together and knock the living crap out of each other. The absence of any blood or bruising is notable, but it doesn't detract from the action in any way - rather it gives DOA4 a touch of class, as if the game knows it's so fantastic that it doesn't need gore and blood spraying everywhere to keep your interest!

Just as good as the characters are the diverse, large and interactive arenas within which they battle. Some are enclosed, like the dance floor (which looks amazing with flashing disco lights everywhere), the Tri Tower arena set high above the city with three massive buildings around you, one of them on fire, and the wrestling ring, which again is one of the most spectacular levels to behold, with spotlights of many colours beaming everywhere and hundreds of individually animated people cheering, holding up signs and moving around in the crowd. However, the best arenas are those where there are opportunities to knock your foe into a whole new area. The African plains, complete with a host of wildlife such as elephants and giraffes, starts off on a flat hill that you can knock your opponent from, landing on the ground below. Or how about a rickety wooden bridge set high above a shallow riverbed? Someone's just bound to be knocked off and it's a long way down! There's a mansion with windows to smash your opponent through, a room straight from Ninja Gaiden with secret panels (punch or kick your enemy through the panel and you'll find a way to smack them right outside, if they're still alive at that point!), a bright and bustling market stall with a beach below, and an Oriental temple with several flights of steps - see if you can bounce your foe all the way to the bottom before they run out of energy!

Each and every environment feels really alive, be it from destructible objects like big vases, windows and market stalls, or the pack of brilliantly animated monkeys gathered at the temple, or the few casual onlookers watching the brawl in the road outside a casino. And watch out for cars outside that casino - knock your opponent into the path of an oncoming vehicle and they'll take extra damage as they're smashed into the air. The same works for the bizarre prehistoric level where raptors and pterodactyls speed around the place! Complimenting all this very nicely are the ambient effects - everything sounds as realistic as it looks, be it the screeching monkeys, smashing glass or splash as someone falls in the water. Every punch and kick that you land sounds convincingly meaty (and this is backed up by great usage of the rumble feature to accentuate the bigger and more damaging attacks) while an assortment of memorable and very catchy tunes accompanies the action. Thankfully no dubbing is present, so you can hear the original Japanese voices of the contenders at the start and end of the game, with subtitles included, while the voice announcer is minimal and doesn't become intrusive or annoying.

Arguably the finest part of the presentation is the truly astonishing cut scenes that take place at the end of each story mode. Utilising full CGI that's possibly the most advanced I've ever seen in a game, each of these sequences is truly awesome to behold, from the titillating ones like Tina as a rock star or Kasumi swimming around as a mermaid, to the fun of Brad Wong's bizarre trip and the action of Ryu's incredible assault on enemy airships, or Ayane's struggle to fight off enemy DOATEC soldiers. There is a story running through the game, although it's largely irrelevant and often nonsensical, so don't worry about it too much and just appreciate these beautiful CGI animations for what they are.

But enough about the wonderful presentation - it's time to move onto the crowning achievement of DOA4 - namely, the gameplay. I'll confess that I've never been a huge fan of fighting games, and haven't really looked at any since the excellent Tao Feng: Fist Of The Lotus and the enjoyable Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. But DOA4 has me absolutely hooked - so hooked in fact that it's taken me a little longer to getting around to writing this review than I had planned! The mechanics are very simple - you have kick, punch, guard and throw buttons (plus taunt and tag on the shoulders). Each character has their own set of punch and kick combos to learn, which are carried out in conjunction with directional presses on the left thumbstick. However, although there are subtle differences for every character and specific combos to learn, the mechanics are largely set out in the same way, so while you'll find yourself specialising with your favourites, you'll also be able to hold your own with any character. Multiple presses on the kick or punch buttons carry out a series of blows, and you know that if you press up and then kick a couple of times you'll do a high kick combo, down and punch for a low punch and so on. Each character also has a powerful dash move as well - double tap the thumbstick in the direction you're facing and then hit kick or punch for a seriously powerful attack.

The system is very intuitive and easy to get to grips with, yet has the range of truly brutal attacks and combos to make it a challenge to master. The only part that isn't entirely intuitive is guarding and holding, where you not only block an enemy's attack, but grab hold of them and perform a tasty counter move. You see, you have to not only time it right, but press the thumbstick in the right direction as well - back and guard for a mid range punch, forward and guard for a mid range kick, diagonally down for a low attack and diagonally up for a high attack. And there are more variations as well. However, this is not a complaint - on the contrary, if countering was too easy then you wouldn't be able to ever attack without simply having your move reversed and turned against you. The balance is just right, and as you gain experience and start anticipating moves or recognising set combos of your opponents and instinctively pressing the right buttons at the right time, it really is one of the most satisfying moments of gaming bliss you'll ever have! Throwing is also great fun - there's a range of throws you can perform and these will be different if you're at the top of a flight of stairs, or by a wall. The first time Tina pinned me face down to the floor and rode me down some stone steps like a sled, I was quite astonished - and possibly slightly aroused! But I digress - the point is, there's such a range of moves to make that you could play indefinitely and never get bored.

Coming onto the many modes available, as well as Story, there's a Survival Mode where you go up against 100 foes in the wrestling ring, with your health restoring a little after each knockout and pickups for score and health appearing after each victory. Then there's Time Attack, where you go through eight stages as quickly as you can, with the aim of setting a new low time. Sadly, this is made somewhat frustrating by Kasumi's dark nemesis, Alpha-152. Some sort of energy-based being, this automaton is far tougher than regular opponents, with lethal holds and combos that can decimate half your health in a single attack. The final fight regardless of the character you pick (and the boss for the majority of the Story modes), she's a real bitch to defeat and it can be soul-destroying to speed through seven fights perfectly, only to get your ass handed to you in a bag and see your potentially record breaking score go down in a flurry of kicks and punches. Still, it's good to be challenged and Alpha-152 by no means invincible, making it a matter of practise, judgement, timing and just a pinch of luck.

Survival and Time Attack can also be played in Tag mode, where you form a tag team with two characters (the health of whoever's on the bench slowly restores while the other one is fighting). Time Attack in Tag has no Alpha-152, meaning that I actually managed to get a silver trophy, while it's also just a little easier to get further in Survival too, as long as you're careful and keep your characters' health bars topped up by resting them appropriately. With Tag mode come some fearsome tag attacks - time it right and you'll be putting a world of hurt on your opponent with both of your characters in the ring, attacking as they change over. Some tag teams have unique attacks too, so it's good to figure out which teams to use!

And there's more - Versus mode gives you a one-off fight between any characters (Single or Tag), while Team Battle allows you to form two teams of up to seven players for a massive scrap, against the computer or against a friend. Watch mode lets you watch computer controlled characters battle it out indefinitely and you can take snapshots in this mode to save to an album - I put Spartan 458 against a hapless foe and took a series of shots with her beating him to a pulp, and the sequence was very amusing to browse through in the viewer too!

Sparring Mode is without doubt the finest training mode ever to grace a video game. You can select any two (or four for Tag) characters and place them on any level, then practice moves to your heart's content. Not only this, but you can set the computer opponent (who just stands there by default) to either just attack you (across multiple difficulty levels) as in a regular match, or perform specific moves over and over, so you can practice countering them. There's even a mode within this that takes you through every move your character can carry out, so you can make sure you know how to perform them all correctly, while the computer character obliges you by turning around for the moves from behind or falling down for the moves that can be carried out on a downed foe. If you're struggling to carry out the move (the button combo is displayed on screen) you can click the right thumbstick for a demonstration as well. It really is second to none and it's a very useful tool for delving into your character's full repertoire.

Finally, DOA4 has full online play - and the system is excellent. You start off as Rank C and gain or lose points as you win or lose matches, gradually affecting your rank. You also gain extra points for defeating someone ranked higher than you and lose extra points for losing to someone ranked lower than you, which is a nice touch. The lobby system is uniquely cool - you have a cartoony 3D world to roam around in before you join the match in play, and there's a range of 'avatars' to choose from, with the default being a cartoon ninja. You can buy extra lobbies, avatars and even accessories for your avatars with the points you gain from winning matches, adding in a nice little mini-game and an extra incentive to go online, if you actually needed one.

While the computer controlled AI is well-balanced, skilled and uses a variety of moves and counters to provide more than enough challenge, there's nothing quite like the unpredictability of going up against real people and watching matches unfold as someone with only a bit of health left makes an unexpected and superb comeback to get the knockout. The game is competitive online for sure, but the single player isn't exactly a walkover, so even if you lose a lot at first, you'll often find that you do a lot of damage in the process and at least don't get totally stamped on - provided you make sure you pick a room with ranks similar to your own, that is!

There are six online modes to choose from and each room can host up to sixteen players, queued up and waiting to fight while watching the tactics and strategies of the people in play. Voice support is here too, so you can chat while you're watching and then unplug your mic if you want to really focus while you fight. Winner-Stays and Loser-Stays are pretty obvious, while Tournament works on a points system and Team Battle works as it does offline, with the players splitting into two teams and the team that wins is the one that defeats all the other team's opponents. Finally you've got Survival, where one player takes on all the other players in succession in an attempt to defeat the most enemies, and Kumite, where the chosen player stays on for the next fight every time, regardless of the outcome. That's for the greedy players who can't be bothered to watch!

Online play is just so much fun in DOA4 and while the game can occasionally suffer lag and glitches when players come and go in the lobby, most of the games I encountered ran as smoothly as a single player game, which is an impressive but also vital achievement for it to be a fair fight. There's nothing quite like taking on opponents from around the world and while it is very competitive, there's a strong online community and plenty of people out there who just want to have a laugh and aren't bothered about winning or losing - not that they won't try their best, it's just that they won't get mad when they lose!

Dead Or Alive 4 bodes very well for the future of Xbox 360, thanks to the incredibly high standards of quality lavished upon it by the wizards at Team Ninja, who have quite simply worked magic. They've set the bar for fighting games incredibly high and DOA4 will be extremely difficult to knock off the top spot. Boasting amazing looks, stunning animation and instantly accessible yet deep gameplay that's hugely addictive, it's the kind of game that is not only awesome to show off the power of your beloved new 360, but will be a faithful companion for many months to come, thanks to a huge amount to do and a variety of modes both offline and on. I know I've heaped a lot of praise and very high scores on several other Xbox 360 games recently, but DOA4 really is another must have title for everyone but those few that absolutely detest fighting games - and even they might yet be enticed over to the violent side by this shining gem of a game.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).