Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

"A game only for the Cube or Sega Fanatics. You can easily find a better sports game. Though it isn't half bad."

The Pres: Oh, hello again. And welcome to The President’s World of Review. I’m just playing this game, Beach Spikers, The first volleyball game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Do you remember the game Virtua Tennis for the Dreamcast? It is pretty much like that, when you get down to the gameplay mechanics. Now I would like to have any questions answered to me now about this game. Though I may seem to think that the game is all fine and dandy tastes like candy, it end up just being another sports game. Now, a question?

Young boy: So, who makes this game?

Pres: It’s made by Sega, you know, the people that made the Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn, and The Dreamcast?

Young Boy: I love Sega. They make some really interesting and original games. But I don’t remember any game called Virtua Tennis. What was that?

The Pres: Well, if you do not know Virtua Tennis, let me explain. It’s Tennis. Played in a videogame. That’s about it. As everyone knows, every single net game is a variation on Ping Pong. Even volleyball is, technically, Ping Pong played with an inflated ball with a raised net while standing on the table. However, this game does add some twists to it. Mostly because of the gameplay system.

Young Boy: I think that you mean that Pong is a variation on every net game. But let’s get back to what you were saying. This game is volleyball, played on the sand, like all volleyball is?

The Pres: Yes. As you can see, you take the role of two women, who are in the Sega Volleyball league, and do tournaments. You can choose between a wild variety of countries to pick from, from Canada to Japan to Brazil.....and many more. This game came out for the arcades first, if I remember correctly. However, I never found one. The arcade mode is just one simple tournament, with you facing 3 teams in preliminary matches, and the final match, if you make it that far, to win the tournament. You must win each game by at least 2 points to advance, but if you somehow didn’t know that, shame on you. Until you get good at the game, you might get beaten profusely by the computer like a 90 year old man against Oscar De La Hoya.

<A Different Audience Member: I didn’t know that. Mostly because I don’t want you to play these games. They hurt your schoolwork. I don’t like you going to arcade either. Too much money.

The Pres: Mom! I told you to stay out of the audience! And besides, This game was well worth the money I spent on it: Jack! I borrowed it from my friend. Still hasn’t gotten it back after all this time...but back to the review. To win each game, you need to be come adept at timing. This game uses timing more then any other Sega sports game that I can think of. To serve and spike well, you must press the A button just at the right time, otherwise the serve fails (and no re-dos, and the other team loses a point, a major turn-off of this game) and the spike becomes easily blockable.

Someone named Jim: That would seem to put a damper on this tomfoolery of a game now doesn’t it?

The Pres: Of course. I think. However, however, you do have more then the arcade, which is the World Tour. Here, you make a volleyball player to be as yourself. Of course, it must be a lady. Anyway, you have you, and your computer controlled partner here, and you go around looking for Tournaments to compete in. See? We have this Pringles sponsored tournament right here. Now, all I do is press the A button go enter. As you can see, I am now against China right now. Everything looks amazing, the sand gets little imprints in the sand, the people look great, and there are large amounts of colors everywhere. And right now, I’m getting my butt whooped....butts.......oh yeah, come to poppa! ”drools”>I MUST.......REGAIN....CONTROL......FIRM BUTTOCKS....... That was a close one. One more look and I could of said that DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball doesn’t have any pretty ladies! “cue laughtrack......now”

The Pres: Now, as you can see, I’m not doing very well. That is because my computer controlled character isn’t very good. Mostly because we do not have a lot of teamwork. Teamwork is something that I kinda get, it is that the more teamwork percentage you have, the better your partner gets at setting up the ball, and such. So, at the beginning, you suck. Badly. Unless you have cheats, like my certain someone that I know. “glares at brother”

Pres’s bro: What?

The Pres: Nothing. Now, onto the sound! ''cue laughtrack...now'' The sound doesn’t sound like a monkey in heat, that’s for sure. The sound is has more of an arcade feel to it though. Mostly because I am sure this game was developed on the hardware made by Sega, Nintendo, and Namco that is almost like the Gamecube. So, when you think about it, they really just added the vs. and world tour mode to the game. As I said before I have not seen the game out in arcades around here, so I can’t compare, but the tunes do sound very familiar to me. They might be remixes of some Virtua Tennis tunes. You have only a small selections of songs, but they get the job done.
Anyway, back to the world tour. To get more teamwork, you either win games, or in-between the games, you can encourage, praise, or dis your partner. Sometimes your teamwork goes down, sometimes it goes up. It matters how good you are doing during a match. With more teamwork, the better your partner gets at setting up the ball to you. You also have points which you use to make your partner better also, so she can be as good as you!

Young Boy: Very clever Sega!

The Pres: As you can see, the game supports 4 people, meaning it could be a pretty good party game. However, because of the strange camera angles, it could get confusing. You have a few modes of play, but all of them are really just simple variations of the main game. You have one where the ball is a timer, and you want to get it on the opponents side when it goes off. You also have something with flags, but I found the vs. game boring with my brother, and we both hated it. The controls are pretty straight forward, but, because of this game having the same type of controls as Virtua Tennis, and because the B button the on GC’s controller is the size of a humming bird fetus, you most just press the A button over and over and over again. Mostly you have yourself an A button fest going on. However, unless you want to change you shots, the earlier opponents can be fooled by spiking and changing the direction of the ball with the analog stick.

Now, this game is well deserving of what rating I am about to give it. You see, the graphics are really amazing, the gameplay works fine, but the sound and the fun I had playing this game was at a minimal. If you are looking for a VT experience on the Gamecube, then this is your best bet. In sports games, I would rather get Sega Soccer Slam or NFL2K3. However, if you like the ladies...then get this game. However....wait, I don’t care wehter or not you buy the game, it is all up to you.

Well, to sum to all up, Beach Spikers is a game for volleyball fanatics. Unless you want all the Sega games on a Nintendo console (a thought that no one would of said 2 years ago) or you want to get all volleyball games, I would put this in my renting category. Good for a little while, but doesn’t have enough replay value to keep this game going, unless Virtua Tennis. I would wait for any Virtua Tennis to come out on the ‘Cube then get this one. However, if you are a cult Sega fan, you would not want to miss out on this buy.

Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 7
Sound: 8
Fun Factor: 7

Reviewer’s Score: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/01/02, Updated 10/01/02