Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

"Let's hit the beach."

I just rented Beach Spikers two days ago and I have to say it wasn't a disappointment. I am a volleyball player so this game really did attract me. You don't have to like volleyball to enjoy this game though.

Graphics-
The women are very realistic up close and far away. The stadiums are well done and really give you an atmosphere of being in the game. The lighting effects give reflections from the sun and a feel that it's a hot day out there. The crowd is simple yet 3 dimensional and moving. They sometimes clap out of time with the applause however, but you will only notice that if you are stupid like me and stare at the crowd.

9/10

Sound-
The sound effects are pretty good, but the music sucks. It's monotonous and boring, very repetitive, and restarts too often with a guitar riff taken right out of an Offspring song. The women's dialogue is hard to hear sometimes without cranking your volume, but it's great that they even included dialogue. The announcer guy can get REALLY annoying

6/10

Gameplay-
The controls are tight, but you WANT tight controls in this game. Bumping, setting, and spiking are all very simple. Easy to learn, hard to master. The serving is great too. It's sometimes frustrating, however, that even when your partner is jacked up stats-wise in World Tour Mode that the Brazilian team will block almost all of her spikes. I don't think they are THAT good. The way you can converse after every 10th point is a neat add on that can really make this game a gem.

8.5/10

Multiplayer-
Very fun, one of the best multiplayer games out there for the next generation systems. Probably THE best multiplayer sports game for fun factor. I like the Madden series as well for sports multiplayers. Four players can play at once, and there are even mini-games that I will touch on in the next topic.

9.9/10

Mini-games-
The mini-games are an okay thing, but they are too small and short to really be enjoyable. It's better that they are there than not, though. So I'm not going to rag on them too much.

5/10

Final Comment: Buy this game if you have friends. World Tour mode is great, but will get old eventually. The multiplayer will keep the game new (much like the Bond series) and fun. The game is not frustrating for the most part, and the graphics are done beautifully which makes this game easy to look at.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/02, Updated 09/02/02