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In some cases, I would agree. However, when you're talking about an already polished fighter, some imported characters from popular franchises gives incredible weight. Hell, I remember when Soul Calibur 2 was announced to have Link available in the GCN version; Nintendo fans went nuts, including me. I bought the GCN version simply because of the available character of Link.
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Well, I'd agree as well. But the difference is that I'm not assuming that I
am talking about an already polished fighting game. I believe that a cake recipe should be perfected before more frosting is added. And in my opinion, the DoA series has been a prime example of a franchise that's built layers upon layers of frosting on its consistently bland cake. I'm not saying that licensing characters like Spawn and Link is a bad idea but it just seems like wasted effort to add some crappy Halo character when there are other things to be done; deepening the gameplay chief among them (no pun intended).
Call it nit-picking but I'd love to see a more challenging reversal system (i.e. one that is more complex, less time-lenient, and variable enough to allow for parries, dodges, escapes, and other useful moves not limited to just throws and position swapping), a more thorough (objective-oriented, rank progression, etc.) story mode which actually includes unlockable extras, and just a wider array of moves and combos in general.
Perhaps I'm expecting too much but DoA3 was one of the most lackluster sequels I've ever played. I'm not at all thrilled to see that a few new throws, some nifty environmental damage opportunities, and a couple of lame new characters are all the "additions" the series has to show for itself for its next-gen debut. I hope there's more to it than the videos have so far shown.
Don't get me wrong. DoA has never been a bad game. At the very least, it's a fun game to put in when casual gaming friends come over, so I can understand the importance of keeping the game simplistic enough for anyone to get into. But I expect my sequels to be of worthwhile value if I already own their predecessors; not rehashes with shinier graphics like DoA3 (and hopefully not DoA4).
Even if the simplistic gameplay was held constant, there's no reason why Tecmo couldn't include some objective-style matches, more unlockables (more than just one extra character and a few CG endings this time), or even a create-a-character mechanism. Or better yet, something unique that no fighting game (including DoA) has ever done before. When some depth and replayability are established first and foremost,
then feel free to add all the frosting you want. I'm just not convinced that Dead or Alive is quite there yet.
Halo Character in DOA 4 is...(PICS INSIDE) 
