When Sony settled on the slogan “this is living”, we think it may have had Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme in mind.
This eye-poppingly presented PS5 dating game may seem like an oddball outing, but Koei Tecmo has been working towards it for eons.
Those of you with strong memories may recall Dead or Alive Xtreme on the original Xbox, a spin-off sports game featuring the fighting franchise’s buxom beauties in various states of undress.
A sequel was released in 2006 on the Xbox 360, which was later ported to the PSP as Dead or Alive Paradise. A third game, subtitled differently depending on the system you played it on, launched in Japan and Asia only in 2016 – a sign of the times.
This new title – which sees you assume the role of an unnamed manager of the idyllic Venus Islands – does away with the minigames of more recent instalments, instead settling on a dating format not too dissimilar to Chinese FMV efforts like Love Is All Around.
The narrative is thinner than some of the game’s unlockable underwear, but the premise is that you’re overseeing a volleyball tournament known as the Venus Festival, and you must woo a bunch of barely legals to your holiday hotspot in order to assault them with your eyes.
While it may seem controversial, the content is largely quite tame – assuming you can look beyond the sheer number of immaculately rendered skin shaders on display.
With all six of the featured girls very much in Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating range, they’re mostly more bashful than the kind of attention seekers you’ll find bubbling to the top of every X thread.
Misaki, for example, is a shy 18-year-old assistant who’s never even considered the possibility she could be a Venus – despite her heaving cleavage and crystal-clear skin.
Then there’s Honoka, whose bazookas are so big she makes her aforementioned ally look like roadkill. She bristles at the very idea of being considered sexy, preferring to be complimented with cutesy remarks.
Each cast member fills a different trope, with the bossy Tamaki ticking the tsundere box, while Fiona is of course a former princess who’s more Disney than Daddy 4K Dot Com.
The remaining cast members include Nanami, with her intoxicating cat-like eyes, and Elise, the most mature character in the game. She’s 22-years-old.
Gameplay revolves around selecting different dialogue decisions, with each choice influencing each girl’s perception of you. By default, they’re putty, but tell them they’re hot and they may sour to your advances. Rizzers rarely go full perv.
The presentation is extraordinary, with each of the girls animating in an exaggerated albeit engaging way. While this is larger than life in every sense of the world, the vibrant oversaturated graphics and chunky character models are undeniably impressive.
There’s not a lot of meat on this release’s bones, though – more silicone, we suppose, but that ruins our metaphor. Outside of picking dialogue options, you’ll spend most of your time photographing the girls, with each chapter outlining some vague targets for you to fulfil.
For example, you may need to capture one of the girls smiling, or in a specific location. Take the right photos and you’ll be scored accordingly, adding “fans” to your subject’s total, thus unlocking new outfits.
Sometimes the story branches, so you can choose which girl you want to hang out with. This can lead to impossible decisions if you’re trying to play the field, but that serves you right for trying to have your saccharine sweet cake and eat it too. You can replay scenarios to see other pathways through the story.
And that’s pretty much it.
Occasionally the girls will want to exercise with you, triggering some offensively simplistic minigames where their clothes turn transparent while they sweat. Typically, you’ll just be timing button presses to complete these, although once again they are impeccably animated.
We’d be remiss not to mention the soundtrack, which is filled with all kinds of twee 90s bops where sultry singers croon about their heaving chests. You can’t help but respect developer Team Ninja’s commitment to its vision here.
Conclusion
A visual novel that cares more about its presentation than its writing, Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme is about as shallow as a reality television show – but it never pretends to be anything else. Irrespective of your personal appetite for underdressed 18-year-olds, this is an impressive looking game, with vivid oversaturated visuals and some brilliant animations. It’s a lot tamer than its screenshots may imply, but without the minigame hooks of its predecessors, it feels a little lightweight as a consequence.
