Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

"As fun as Mario Tennis, but with good looking girls instead of Mario!"

Remeber Mario Tennis? Wow, that was one of the funnest games ever, right with games such as Mario Kart and Mario Party. Nintendo is making us wait before we see Mario Tennis for the Gamecube, but that's ok because Beach Spikers is here!

Graphics 8/10:
Pretty good graphics. Now, this is no DOA Volleyball, or FFX, MGS2 or RE either. The graphics are good, but nothing special. The girls look pretty good. Their feet seem to dissappear sometimes though, but I think this was intended since the games are on sand, and well, your feet tend to get in the sand a little bit.

Sound 6/10:
Not very good. The ''GREAT!'' gets too repetitive, and the sounds the girls make get repetitive too. The music is ok, not annoying, but not good. And, the game has good manners, it tells you ''thank you for playing'' and stuff like that. It would have also been nice if Sega would have taken time to add some actual dialogs in the world tour mode when you praise, cheer up, or bash your partner.

Gameplay 10/10:
Remember Mario Tennis, well, this is even easier than that! You only use 2 buttons, which it isn't even necessary, you could get along by only using one button! It is very easy to learn how to play, as I got the game today, and beat the Arcade mode in very few tries, then when my friends came over, they were just as good as me at the game in only about 3-5 mins!
This game also tests your reflexes. You will need fast reflexes to be able to hit the ball (sorry, I'm no volleyball fan and I don't know the terms used).

Replay Value 10/10:
There is a lot to do in the game. You gotta beat the arcade mode several times to unlock everything. Then, you gotta play in world tour, build up your skills, play games, get your rankings better, and even if you beat it, you can always play it again just for the heck of it since it's so fun. And, if you have friends to play with, this game will last forever!

Story 0/10:
It sucks, you are on a quest to save the world. The evil (and ugly) female monster wants to destroy your world. But there is an ancient ritual which says that the evil monster has to beat you in a volleyball game before she can destroy it. So, you have to beat her or else she will destroy your world.
Actually that was all a lie, since this game has no story.

Buy or Rent?
You don't have to even like volleyball to enjoy this game. I hate volleyball, but I still enjoy this game. It is really fun, as I said, just as fun as Mario Tennis. I would say, you can go ahead and buy this game if you have friends to play it with. If you don't, the game is still pretty enjoyable.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/02, Updated 08/15/02