Out of curiosity, I downloaded Dead or Alive 5: Last Round – Core Fighters on PlayStation 4 this evening. Aside from having one of the most cumbersome titles in recent memory thanks to its string of unnecessary suffixes, DoA5LRCF is actually a really good example of something I hope we’ll see more of in the near future: cut-down, free versions of games that are more than just demos. The modern equivalent of “shareware” versions, I guess.

For the unfamiliar, Dead or Alive is a fighting game series that has been running since the PS1 era. It’s most notorious for its big jiggly bosoms on the female characters — the jiggle factor of which has always been adjustable, and indeed DoA5 is no exception to this — but it’s also one of the best 3D fighting games out there, and one of my favourites. I suck at it, of course, but it’s a game that I enjoy sucking at, whereas many of the current crop of 2D fighters are now so completely overcomplicated that I just get frustrated at not understanding why I suck.

Anyway, Core Fighters is a special free version of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round that includes just four of the characters from the full version’s rather large cast, plus occasional rotating extras every so often. Core Fighters also lacks the full game’s story mode, but other than that it is a complete game — you can play arcade mode, survival mode (a long-standing favourite of mine in the series) and even online. It’s even got the full suite of tutorials in it, which seemingly do an excellent job of explaining exactly how the game works — something that previous installments have lacked.

Conveniently, Core Fighters includes my favourite game mode — Survival — and my favourite character — Kasumi — and as such it’s a package that I’m eminently satisfied with even in its free incarnation. What’s nice about it though is that despite the lack of characters, it doesn’t feel especially “limited”; it gives an excellent taste of what to expect from the full game, and does a much better job that your typical demo at convincing you to part with your cash.

I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the full version of DoA5 at any point — though I do very much enjoy the series — but Core Fighters is a great means of helping me come to a decision one way or another. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot in two-player versus mode at some point, since I splurged on an extra DualShock 4 controller today. Perhaps I’ll even be able to drag Andie away from Final Fantasy XIV for five minutes to fight me. Fight me!

Koei Tecmo has also done a similar arrangement for the PlayStation 4 version of Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. Given that this is a series I’ve also enjoyed a great deal over the years, I’m thinking I may well check this out now. Well, tomorrow, because it’s nearly 1am now and I need to sleep.