The best fighting games balance characters; find nuance in movement, attacks and blocks; offers ways, in other words, for the player to take on challengers in a test of agility and mental prowess.

In many ways, these games are a form of immersive chess fought with just two pieces.

Dead or Alive 4 is just such a title.

Once you get past the high-definition sound and graphics, past the settings crawling with interactive objects and animals, dig into the meat of the game, you discover that Tecmo has created a well-studied bit of live-action strategy.

Unfortunately, like with most fighting games, it will be hard to notice that, because as a neophyte you will likely spend much of your time being smacked around the screen.

DOA4 doesn't mess much with the successful formula it has developed for its Dead or Alive franchise; instead, Tecmo concentrates on smoothing out most of the rough edges and pumping up the setting for the often-stellar fights.

I can't say enough about the stages for this game. They just go on and on and on. In the Taizan Temple you can get knocked down a set of stairs, twice, over a railing and through the roof of a house and into its interior. And all of the stages seem to offer this level of depth.

Not only does this give you a lot of fun and interactive elements to play around with, but it also makes the overall experience more immersive. Instead of feeling like you are trapped between invisible walls fighting for score, it feels more like you are in a real world trying to prove yourself.

And really, that's what the Dead or Alive franchise is about: proving yourself.

You can play through the single player story mode with all of the characters (in fact, you have to to unlock all of the characters), but that's just training for the real DOA experience: playing against other people on Live.

Instead of just plopping online players down into text-heavy lobbies to await the start of a tournament or match, Tecmo decided to graphic things up a bit.

Lobbies are now truly that, graphic lobbies with little avatars used to represent the players. You can even unlock better lobbies, decorations and even cooler avatars by earning points.

While in the lobby you jump into the gameplay and wait your turn there, watching the current battle through a controllable freecam, or you can sit in the lobby and watch the fights on a big screen.

Wherever you decide to wait, you can chat with everyone in the room, even if they are fighting.

The end result is the same sort of experience you might have if all of the gamers were sitting in the same room bullshitting while you're playing. Something I love.

Online play was mostly lag-free, but when lag hits it can really screw up your experience. I think that's why a lot of companies are hesitant to port their fighters to an online experience. All it takes is one hiccup and your timing is completely thrown.

I created a lobby a few days ago and played the game for four hours or so with lagging only hitting a few times. The good news was that the lag seemed to clear itself up over time, instead of forcing me to recreate the room.

As a gamer who learned fighters playing Street Fighter, Tekken, and to a lesser extent, Mortal Kombat, I'm not exactly open to learning new types of fighters. Despite that, Dead or Alive 4 has gone a long way toward winning me over.

The well-honed counter system (much more robust this time around) and highly technical throws balances well with the game's seemingly simplistic attack and block layout.

And I was delighted to see that, at least to my eyes, the characters seem well-balanced with no one character too strong or weak.
I think I may have finally found a 3D fighter I can grow to love.

I give the game a 85 out of 100 hits in a Kasumi chain attack. (Yes, I keep changing the way I grade games. It's to keep you on your toes.)

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