Everyones knows Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball its a game filled to the brim with chick with large chests. Now thats all well and good but there really is no game underneath it. So what would happen if someone else made a game with the ...
Introduction
Everyones knows Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball its a game filled to the brim with chick with large chests. Now thats all well and good but there really is no game underneath it. So what would happen if someone else made a game with the females playing Beach Volleyball but shock horror was actually good? That game is Beach Spikers solely developed for the Game Cube and overlooked as a quality game. Beach Spikers is developed by Sega AM2 which is responsible for some of the best arcade games ever (Daytona USA) and this game is no different. Bringing Arcade style Beach Volleyball to the cube.
Graphics
This is one department where AM2 are rather good and have used many of the Gamecube’s special abilities to make the game look one of the most realistic sports games Ive played. Not only is the interface slick and simple and gets the job done (just like all of AM2 games) the in game graphics are excellent. Each level is different with each one taking on a different theme (Sega, Coke, and Pringles). As you can tell there is corporate sponsorship all over the joint. All the Grandstands are filled with people that dont look like Flat Crappy Sprites and the air is often fill with Planes, birds etc. Also with each stage the weather is a little bit different so on the Coke stage its night time and since there is lights on the characters cast 4 shadows. Also the sand itself is animated well. Whenever one of the girls dive’s for it she leave her mark in the sand and the sand also goes flying. But it doesnt take diving to deform the sand just walking and running around moves it around realistically. Wether this has an actually game play effect I dont know but it looks good none the less.
Also the games characters being all female also help to keep the game interesting. All of the characters are well animated and reacted realistically and move, jump and hit the ball. Motion Capture had to of been used. However there are 2 gripes I have they don’t have the camera angle that Seven have for the Olympics which show the hand signals from the girls behinds. And also unlike DOA: Volleyball there is no jiggle physics, there hard as a rock.
Sounds
Since its meant to be like an Arcade the music of the game isn’t that deep. The music tunes are only simple but with matches only lasting short amounts of time (depending on how good you do of course) it really isnt a worry. The crowd effects are of a simple nature with them reacting to win/loss of a round or when a good rally gets going. Also the grunting from the chicks isnt that bad. However what I would of liked to of seen is like at the Olympics when the one team or the other win they play a short burst of music and all the grown cheers to it. Sure its not an Olympics game but it would have been cool.
Gameplay
Being developed by AM2 and Sega, and for the Arcade first you can assume the keys would be simple and yes they are but in the best possible way. All you need pretty much is the Control Stick, A, B and Y button. The A button is to hit it over the B button is to set it up for a spike and the Y button is for a quick over the net type move. The game is simple enough for anyone to pick it up and play but also requires a bit of skill to master. Basically if you don’t know the rules of Beach Volleyball its simple 2 People on each side of normal volleyball court that sand. One Person serves to the other side and you keep hitting back to one another until one of you drops it.
If you still dont get how play the Game or need to refine your skills there is a very good tutorial mode and trust me on this work through it youll unlock some more uniforms for your Custom Beach Volleyball Person. Speaking of which when ever you play through the game modes (Arcade, World Competition, and VS. Mode, Tutorials) you can either select to be one of more then 20 countries including Australia, USA, France, and Spain even to places such as Brazil and Mexico. However you can select a customer team which you make when you first start in the World Competition mode. The editing of your Team of 2 Ladies isn’t as in depth as say Tony Hawks however you can edit there hair, skin, clothes, and the colour of those. You edit 2 people the one you will be playing as and the COM player, however if you use that team in multiplayer there 2, 3, 4 person will take then person depending on what team they select to play.
Vs. Mode is probably the most fun way to play the game as you have to rely on someone else to help you and not just the computer and its good fun with 4 as you can all screen and shout and have a great time with it. Along with the “normal” beach volleyball formula your familiar with there other modes one of those being Beach Flags which involves no volleyball at all. Basically you have to tap the A button as fast as you can to run to get the flag out of the ground. May not sound exciting but its alright with a couple of mates. There is also a Bomb Count Down, where you play a simple Volleyball game however the ball is a bomb, and every time you hit it counts down two. However it can change and count up or count down faster.
But even with these side games the single player is almost just a good as the multiplayer; however the addition of other people to play with is welcome inclusion.
Difficulty/Value
Being an Arcade the main arcade mode wont last long heck you might be through it in 20 minutes however if you want to unlock everything and win the game the World Tour Mode is the longest way to play the game and should take you a fair while to get through the game. Also the multiplayer is one reason you’ll be coming back again and again to play the game as its just so much fun. However there is a down side, since this game was probably released at 1 year ago it will be hard to find it in the stores and it will still probably be about 69 bucks. However that aside if you looking for a game for a party or just for something different and thats not a licensed game (of sorts). Then Beach Spikers could be for you.
Oh and the Views not bad either… 🙂
Rating: 4.5/5
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