Jonny takes his eyes off those girls long enough to compose a review of the latest Dead or Alive game.

I find Dead or Alive a confusing franchise, causing much internal strife.

On one hand, it's among gaming's most shameless cheap and seedy franchises, getting attention by relying on ladies with extremely unrealistic figures, bouncing their - umm, well, themselves around in front of an appreciative male audience. But, for all its sins, it has been one of the most advanced and proficient beat 'em-up franchises of the 3D age. Every Dead or Alive game has been excellent, even the weird departure that was the DOA Girls' brief foray into volleyball. And, of course, the girls are hot.

Hot as they are though, they do not outshine the other visual treats on show here. Dead or Alive: Ultimate has just knocked Ninja Gaiden (funnily enough from the same development team) from its perch as the best-looking console game on the market today. The environments in particular are seriously beautiful, whether you're duking it out in an insanely brightly-lit nightclub arena, an underwater sci-fi aquarium or a burning theatre - which collapses around you as you fight. One level features the most striking lightning effect we've ever seen, while a ghetto level has a police chase going on around you while you fight. You'll consistently find your attention wandering over the incredible detail when you should be concentrating on the fist heading towards your face.

The most impressive level has to be the devastatingly beautiful African savannah which is populated by lions, zebras, hippos, vultures, flamingos, giraffes and elephants. It's simply amazing, stretching for miles in every direction, and it's highly tempting to try and break free of the arena and go on an impromptu safari.

All this prettiness is not for nothing, as Dead or Alive: Ultimate features the best environments in any fighting game to date, environments which open up into new areas as the fight continues, rooms which literally crumble around you, areas which are nothing more than one sick weapon begging to be used in horrible ways. So you can knock each other down huge flights of stairs, off roofs, off roofs and into cars, off rope bridges across ravines, through giant clock faces, and into gongs. Heck, you can even punch someone into an elephant, while the aforementioned nightclub level has huge disco lights to smash your opponent into. But these are like, nuclear disco lights.

This is all thankfully underpinned by an extremely good fighting system, offering depth, nuance, and some spectacular moves. Similar in style to Virtua Fighter rather than Tekken, it is simple to get to grips with but will take months to master. As well as the myriad punches, kicks, head-butts, and charges, the game is also home to a huge variety of dazzling, and often very nasty throws, while more depth is added by the huge range of counter-moves (always great to watch!), and some particularly devastating tag team moves.

The plot is magnificent. Nah, just kidding. It's the usual guff - stories of love, loss, betrayal and honour, as would be depicted by six-year-olds. Extremely stylistically talented six-year olds, it must be said. Likewise the dialogue rarely gets more involved than "Get out of my way!" but then this is totally in line with expectations. I must also point out that the use of 70s Aerosmith hard-rock hit Dream On as the music for the game's opening movie is an inspired, if bizarre, choice.

Dead Or Alive: Ultimate comes with a copy of the original Dead or Alive. It's good for a quick trip down memory lane but little else (though a very welcome addition to the package nonetheless). Much of this is simply because the new game is so stunning, so comprehensive, that any other game in the series pales by comparison.

All in all, Dead or Alive: Ultimate, is the total package for any fight fan. It's always gorgeous to watch, it's always fun to play (though admittedly limited in single-player mode) and offers everything you could conceivably want from a fighting game. And the girls? Simply window dressing. But they are hot.