Christie (Dead or Alive)

Christie (クリスティ, Kurisuti) is a player character in the Dead or Alive fighting game series by Team Ninja and Tecmo (Tecmo Koei). Since her official introduction in Dead or Alive 3 in 2001, she is the femme fatale of the series and one of its only true female villains along with some clones of Kasumi. Christie is a cold-blooded and sadistic British assassin that was hired by Victor Donovan to kill Helena Douglas and was responsible for the death of Helena's mother, Maria.

Appearances

In the Dead or Alive video game series, Christie is a cold and heartless^[2] professional assassin whose fighting style is shequan (Snake Kung Fu). She is shown talking harshly to others, making fun of them, and taking enjoyment from their suffering.^{[note 1]} She is completely ruthless when engaged in a mission, employing any means at her disposal to attain her mission objectives (including using her looks, charm, and sex appeal to lure in her victims). She has demonstrated to sociopathically enjoy her job not because of the financial rewards, but for the killings themselves. On occasion, Christie teases or flirts with a person instead of killing them, and she seems quite aware of her attractiveness.^{[note 2]}

In video games

Christie is an assassin hired by Victor Donovan, a powerful figure in the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, as a double agent to keep an eye on Fame Douglas, the head of DOATEC. According to the retconning^[5] in Dead or Alive: Dimensions, during the events of the original Dead or Alive Christie of working with Bayman, another assassin hired by Donovan, and tasked with making sure the ninja Kasumi would enter the tournament. After Kasumi had defeated and killed Raidou, she is kidnapped by Christie and taken to Donovan for Project Alpha. Bayman, who has just killed Fame Douglas under Donovan's orders, tries to contact Christie as she was leaving, but she ignores his message and flies home without him.

Shortly before the events of Dead or Alive 2, Christie is ordered by Donovan to assassinate Helena Douglas; following her father's death, Helena inherited DOATEC, making her the only person standing in the way of Donovan's take-over. Christie attempts to take out Helena with a sniper rifle while her target is starring in an opera performance, but Helena's mother Maria spots her just in time and takes the bullet that kills her instead. Christie escapes undetected and manages to stay close to the vengenful Helena while posing as the woman's personal assistant. After the tournament, Christie tries to convince Donovan to get rid of Helena permanently, but they have to lay low due to the mistakes made last time; the CIA are looking for Maria's shooter, and Donovan's team still had to find Kasumi's brother Hayate, who they were using for Project Epsilon. In order to lure Hayate in, Christie suggests they create a third tournament and use Genra, a former member of the Kasumi's and Hayate's clan, as bait to get both of them in.

In Dead or Alive 3, Christie's mission is to stop Helena from winning, and in the process prevent her from discovering more about Donovan's secret plans and his anti-Douglas faction. Christie later confronts Helena during the course of the tournament, but before she could do anything, Christie is soon caught by Bayman, who is in the process of seeking revenge on Donovan for trying to have him killed. Christie commands Kasumi α, a clone of Kasumi created by Project Alpha, to defeat Helena; the clone is defeated as well, but both Alpha and Christie manage to escape. Sometime later, Christie kidnaps CIA agent Irene Lew to lure the ninja Ryu Hayabusa away from his friends Hayate and Ayane. Although Christie fulfills her part of the plan, Genra fails and is killed in combat by Ayane.

In Dead or Alive 4, Christie is once again in Donovan's employment acting as his bodyguard, unsuccessfully seeking to prevent the Mugen Tenshin ninja clan (Kasumi, Hayate and Ayane) and their ally Ryu from destroying DOATEC's Tritower HQ. As the tower starts to burn down, Christie eventually finds Helena within the building and finally reveals that it was her who killed Maria (earlier it had been implied that Ayane was the killer). After their fight, Christie manages to escape the destruction of the Tritower, and goes on to continue her work as an assassin away from DOATEC. She later appears on Zack island in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 to carry out a special assignment for her client.

In Dead or Alive 5, she now serves Donovan with his new organization MIST. She visits a DOATEC rig and confronts Rig, giving hints that she knows about his past. At the bar, she encounters Eliot, whom she met during the last tournament. When Donovan learns that the ninja plan on infiltrating the rig, he orders Christie to increase the security. There, she is confronted by Bayman, who had his suspicions of the place, and defeats her. When Ryu and the ninja girls launch their attack, Christie confronts Kasumi, who has infiltrated the lab to find her brother, but is defeated. It is unknown what exactly happens to Christie afterwards when the rig is destroyed.

Design

Christie's name is a diminutive of Christina. Being 24-years-old as of DOA4^[3] (and 26 as of DOA5), she was the oldest female fighter in the series until the introduction of Nyotengu^[6] in DOA5 Ultimate. Standing at 5'10^[3] (177cm), she is the tallest female in the game. In her original design, Christie had a heart-shaped face, round eyes, a short and spiky hair style. For her re-vamped design in DOA5, she has been more realistic as her face has been made to look longer and more mature, she has a paler skin tone, and her hair is a little longer and not as spiky. Compared to the other women's outfits in the series, Christie has some of the most revealing, with a lot being tight and having plunging cleavage lines.^{[note 3]} Her costumes nevertheless include some more modest outfits, such as a black business suit. Dead or Alive 5 Last Round pre-order bonuses included Christie's skimpy "Showstopper" costume from Amazon.^[7][8]

Gameplay

In his DOA3 guide, IGN's Anthony Chau wrote: "One of the fastest and probably most elusive of all DOA 3 characters, Christie has a bit more power to her punches than Hitomi, but...even more so than Hitomi, Christie has the quickest hand strikes and combined with a strong combination game, she can rack up 10 hit combos without breaking a sweat. ... Her quickness makes it easy for her to avoid attacks but add in her extremely useful sidestep, and you've got a awfully dangerous character."^[9] According to DOA4 guide by GameSpot's Matthew Rorie, "Christie is among the fastest-hitting characters in the game, relying on incredibly rapid strike combos to deal the bulk of her damage. ... All in all, Christie seems to be an incredibly aggressive character."^[10] DOA4 guide by GameSpy's David McCutcheon described Christie as "widely regarded as a very tough character when used appropriately. She is fairly diverse and general enough in every stage of combat that [one] can pummel the toughest of opponents with a few mere combos mixed in with timely counters."^[11] Similar to Ayane, Christie is unique as in she has a separate set of moves for a reverse stance (back to the opponent).^[12] According to Official Xbox Magazine, in DOAX Christie is similar to Lisa, that is not "exactly stellar in any particular category, but she's good at all around play," and "is a little better in the spike and power departments."^[13]

Other appearances

A comparison between Christie in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 and Holly Valance's portrayal of Christie in the film DOA: Dead or Alive

In the live-action film DOA: Dead or Alive, Christie is played by Australian actress and model Holly Valance. She is portrayed as being a more approachable and social person then her game counterpart, as well as possessing platinum blond hair and the family name Allen. In the film, Christie is known as a master thief (and an assassin, according to her "profile" image), with a character called Max as her partner-in-crime and on/off boyfriend. She is willing to spend time with the other girls, even when she does not have to; as seen when she follows them to look for Ryu Hayabusa, even though she does not need to, nor does it fit in with her job of robbing Donovan.

Various Dead or Alive merchandise items featuring the character were released. These included several figures created by various manufacturers (including Bandai, Epoch and Kotobukiya) and a series of pencil boards by Famitsu.^[14]

Reception

The character was well received and often has been especially noted for her sex appeal.^[2][15] As such, Christie placed fourth in GameTrailers' top list of "gamer babes" in 2007,^[16] and was included in UGO Networks's 2010 list of top 50 "videogame hotties"^[17] and showcased as one of the 20 "sexiest girls from games" by Poland's Wirtualna Polska in 2012.^[18] She was furthermore ranked eighth on the 2012 list of "hottest women in video game movies" by Complex^[19] and included among "hottest video game babes" for both of her incarnations (game and film) by New Zealand's MSN Lifestyle.^[20] Poland's Interia.pl included Ayane, Christie and Kasumi ex-aequo among the "sexiest game heroines" of 2012.^[21]

Christie came second in GamesRadar's 2008 list of top video game shower scenes^[22] and PLAY joked that that two of the top ten best things one could expect to see in Dead or Alive 5 would be her breasts.^[23] She was featured in the 2010 list of ten "game girls you wouldn't dare to date" by Virgin Media,^[24] as well as in the 2008 list of ten "babes who shouldn't meet your mom" by GameDaily, who called her as a "definitive bad girl"^[25] and also included her in their list of "hottest game babes" at 14th place.^[26] In 2013, Brazilian edition of Official Xbox Magazine ranked her fourth among the sexiest women in fighting games, opining "this sadistic assassin is a perfect choice for those who enjoy bad girls."^[27]

See also

• List of Dead or Alive characters

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (DOA5)