While the visuals are definitely controversial, and while it may sound somewhat contradictory, DOA2: Hardcore is in fact a really great fighting game. Every single character fights with amazingly fluid animations and with moves that wouldn't look out of place in a top notch kung fu flick. All of the fast paced action takes place in marvelously detailed arenas that often feature the ability to throw an opponent onto another level of the playing field. 

What's easily the most fun part of playing this game is the ability (and in some cases the necessity) to grab an opponent's attack and counter with an incredibly cool counterattack. This seemingly complex sequence of events is easily carried out with a single (properly timed) button press! This addition makes each match feel like a movie kung fu fight. Yes, button mashing will still work a lot of the time, but it's not nearly as much fun as trying to fight with style.

As a one-player game, there's not a whole lot to discover. Once you've played the story mode with each character, you've seen basically all that there is to see. And the story is as insanely bizarre as they come. The manual doesn't even give background info on the characters. Instead, there is a lengthy (and quite dry) definition of Shinobi, Tengu and other Japanese/martial arts terminology. While this bit of background is interesting and does help to make a little more sense of the game, the main draw of the one-player story mode is simply to watch the incredible real-time cinemas. These short cinematics surpass even Shenmue when it comes to character modeling. This has to be the first time that I've seen real-time game characters without sharp polygonal corners anywhere!

There's a lot more than the story mode available, however. There's a standard versus mode, a four-player tag-team mode, a one-player survival mode, a practice mode, a record-a-fight option and even an endless watch mode that lets you watch two CPU controlled characters fight. Some of these modes are more valuable than others, but the bottom line is that there's plenty to keep you busy.

In addition to its copious number of play modes, DOA2: Hardcore features numerous time-released character costumes to keep you spending time with the game. Most if not all of these are released by playing with a character a set number of times. Some characters have as many as eight different costumes! What's really nice is that each continue in the one-player mode counts as a character use, so anyone should be able to unlock these extras with time and persistence. However, it must be pointed out that some of the later costumes for the female characters get more and more controversial. These range from somewhat revealing lingerie to cat ears and a tail. There is also a CGI gallery that can be unlocked, but it features still more controversial imagery (as if this game didn't have enough of that already!).

While this will undoubtedly sound a bit hypocritical, I really like this game despite the less than appropriate images of women. There's no sexual activity of any kind in the game and none of the game's women are the helpless victim stereotype (in fact they're rather strong characters), so it really is simply the impossible body types and inappropriate costumes that one might find offensive.  

DOA2: Hardcore could easily rank up there with Soul Calibur as the most fun fighting game to pick up and play. If you like fighting games at all (and if you don't object to the game's imagery), give it a rental. I wouldn't be surprised if you find that it would be a welcome addition to your fighting game collection. 

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