Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

"You can't play V-Ball with only 1 person, so invite 3 of your friends over!"

Intro: Over the span of three generations worth of consoles, there hasn’t been a good beach volleyball game, in my opinion, since Super-Spike V-Ball for the NES. Super-Spike was a great multiplayer game due to its “pick-up-and-play” style gameplay, which made it a party game of choice back in the day. I picked up Beach Spikers (and soon I will buy DOA Volleyball too) in hopes that I’d now have a great multiplayer V-ball game (or two) for the current-gen consoles. Sega definitely went the right way in offering a game starring only women in tight-fitting bikinis, which gives the game that sort of, well, like the French say…oh, I don’t know what.

Gameplay: Easy to learn, especially in Arcade mode. There are some training courses that are available from the main menu that are more than enough to get one acquainted with the feel of the game. After a few single player games, you’ll pick up and learn when to use some other useful techniques: Like tapping the ball over an opponent instead of spiking it right into their block or dropping the ball right next to the net when both opponents are backed up awaiting to dig your spike. These techniques are extremely useful when it’s time to go against some human opponents.

Learning how to successfully block is, by far, the most difficult skill to master. Even if your positioning is correct, there’s still a good chance the opponent, whether it be human or computer, will either aim away from your block or power the spike right through your block sending you ass-end into the sand. Also, in an effort to aid people with poor timing, pressing the button to block doesn’t mean your player on screen is going to jump right away. It feels “unresponsive” at first, but it’s actually just an automatic function the game employs so lesser skilled players won’t be jumping to block too soon. There should be an option to disengage computer assistance, but alas, there is not.

The single player game is just “okay”. There’s a season mode, in which you (and your computer controlled partner) go through the V-Ball tour and rack up wins and points. Your teammate starts out playing like she has overdosed on cat tranquilizers and Harvey Wallbangers at first, but after a season or so, you can earn enough attribute points to bump her stats up to a respectable level. Also, during mid-match you can have a little chat with your teammate and either give her props, give her some pep talk, or chew her out for playing like a friggin’ moron! I don’t like it though, I’d rather have control over both players and switch when necessary. The single player mode did not impress me much. In fact, if it weren’t for my roommate who was curious about the game, I would have probably already returned Beach Spikers back to EB. I’m glad I didn’t.

The multiplayer game is where it’s at, folks! I have yet to play 4-player, but even with only 2 players, this game is the BUMP-DIGitty (ugh, sorry for the *lame* V-ball pun). Anyways, I have played 2 player co-op and vs. I can only imagine what it would be like 2 vs 2. Dare I say “Mario Tennisque”? GameCube owners, if you have 3 friends and 3 controllers, I suggest you get this game. Stop reading now and get this game!

Gameplay receives 9 out of 10.

Graphics: The graphics are good, but not great. The player models all seem to have the same exact body, and while Pro V-ball ladies generally have the same body type, it would have been nice to see some variations, especially since this isn’t a sim-style or Pro-Beach V-Ball endorsed game. Also, to keep it all respectable-like, there isn’t a lot of bouncing and jiggling going on. For all you homers out there who like bouncing and jiggling, you might want to wait for DOA V-Ball on the Xbox. If all you have is a GC, then this is as good as it gets. At least there’s some quasi-lesbian action at the end of each match, yippee.

The animations for the players and ball are generally decent. What I don’t like is the “sand effects”. There is a little bit of disruption and distortion with the sand as the players run around and dive into it, but not enough to make it look realistic. Maybe they’ll get a better grasp on it next time. Also, a minor detail, when a sweaty V-Ball hottie dives into the sand, I want to see her come up covered in the stuff…and then her teammate can delicately stroke it all off of her…ooh yeah baby, who’s yer daddy? Uh, whoa, let’s continue…

Graphics get 7 out of 10

Sound: The sound is acceptable. A bunch of the usual Sega-style background songs, which sound like they are done by the same guy who did the music in Outrun, and some general speech bits here and there. There’s also the usual grunting and screaming from the players as they give their 110%. Where’s the Dolby Digital 5.1? Not here.

Sound gets 7 out of 10

Replayability: Well, if you’re gonna get this game for the single player aspect only, I will suggest you rent it first. You might be pleased enough to go and buy it after, but I was ready to return the game until I played the multiplayer mode. If you have 3 other friends, or even only 1 single friend (dude, really, you need to get out more), then you will enjoy this game. Beach Spikers was designed to be a party game at heart, and it accomplishes that goal big time.

Replayability gets an 9 out of 10…in other words: It’s a GREAT BUY!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/02, Updated 08/25/02