Two things here, both to do with the inadequate documentation.
DON’T MAKE DESCRIBING THE CONTROLS UNNECESSARILY DIFFICULT
The fighting in DOA is based on three buttons – the punch button (the yellow “Y” button on the xbox control pad), the kick button (the red “B” button on the control pad) and the “free” button (the blue “X” button on the control pad). You need to learn the specific combinations of these buttons (free+punch to throw, etc) to be able to play the game.
But this is how the manual explains these combinations:
Yes, every time you’re meant to hit the red “B” button to kick, that’s described in the manual as a blue “K” button. Every time you’re meant to hit the blue “X” button to do something, that’s described in the manual as a green “F” button. And every time you’re meant to hit the green “A” button to throw, that’s described in the manual as a combination of the green and yellow F and P buttons.
Essentially, the opening page of the manual redefines red as blue, blue as green, and then proceeds to confusingly use this absolutely idiotic inversion of reality throughout the remainder of the process.
Tecmo – bloody well call a spade a spade! A red button is not a blue button.
By the way, this quirk of Tecmo’s made a little more sense (although was still unforgiveable) in previous DOA games which at least came out on different consoles. That way TECMO could produce the same manual for all systems and just have a different redefinition page at the start of each one. Lazy, but at least it made some sense.
But there’s no reason for it at all in DOA4, because it’s only available on Xbox 360.
EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF YOUR GAME IN THE MANUAL
Central to the gameplay in Dead or Alive is a system called “countering”, whereby each particular attack has a devastating “counter” which, if you do it quickly enough, allows you to turn the tables on an attacker.
Only just how this works is not explained anywhere in the manual at all.
It is certainly not obvious or intuitive – I think it’s got something to do with repeating the attack back at the attacker, but when, or in what direction, or how exactly… well, I’m still in the dark.
If I buy your game, it should be decipherable from the included documentation. I shouldn’t need to go hunting on the internet to figure out a basic game concept.
AND A BONUS THIRD GRIPE
What the hell is up with the characters’ cut scenes in this game? They make absolutely no sense whatsoever. When I try to explain to you just how bizarre they are, words fail me – I seriously do not know where to begin. Most of them seem to be trying to be a mix between a bad action movie and a music video, but not in any way you could actually enjoy. The rest seem to be trying for soft porn.
And while we’re on the subject, if you’re going to release a game in the English-speaking market (particularly a prominent one that’s meant to shift Microsoft consoles), is it too much to ask for an English voice translation?
Posted by Jeremy 
