Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

"Welcome to Zack's Kingdom"

This is a DOA fans dream. All those beautiful DOA girls are back, but this time, on a vacation! Yippee!

Story:4/10
This story is a masterpiece, an instant classic! Yeah right, sounds like a 5th grader came up with this story. Basically, Zack wins the big one at a casino and buys his own island. He even gets his own currency! He declares that he will host the 4th DOA tournament there. But for some odd reason, only women are invited...and why is the 4th Dead or Alive tournament being held at an island resort? Hmm...that Zack is a tricky one. This whole story can even be summed up on the back of the box, nice and convenient huh? Well the girls figure out that it's a hoax and decide to spend the next 2 weeks shopping and playing volleyball. With other goodies attached. Sounds boring ay?

Gameplay: 8/10
Well, amazingly, it isn't boring. It's very addicting and fun. The volleyball at first may seem boring, but the more you play, and the more experienced you get. You quickly find that it's very deep and rewarding. But volleyball isn't the only thing you can do! There is also the relationship aspect in this game. If you want to do well in volleyball, you're gonna have to keep your partner happy by buying her presents and winning games. But if you're not winning, and not giving her the things she likes, well, start hunting for a new partner. It can be awfully hard to get a new partner, or sometimes even giving people presents! You have two more activities you can do in this game though...

You can also head to the casino at night to try out some Blackjack, roulette, poker, and slots. If you like those games, you'll like them in here. The cards are cool too. You'll see what I'm talking about if you get the game.

The last thing is the pool hopping. I had my doubts at first, but it can be really fun. And a nice break from volleyball sometimes. Oh yeah, one more thing. The Gravure system. When you go somewhere when no one else is around, you'll activate a cutscene called a gravure scene, which shows the girls training, stretching, or just having fun.

Audio/Video:9/10
Team Ninja has just showed me that they know how to make females and maybe even males in video games. They are the only developer to perfect making females in video games. And it definitely shows. Most people will probably only buy this game for the visuals, but they soon learn that there is more to the game that just the visuals, although it helps. The backrounds are nicely detailed, from bark to water to chairs and even sand. Everything looks amazing, yes, even the bikinis and girls. The audio is the main gripe. The soundtrack basically sucks. But, with the ability to use a custom soundtrack, via that handy Xbox harddrive, the audio gets better. The original soundtrack kind of suits this game, but some additions like ''Baby Got Back'' and the ''Thong Song'' wouldn't exactly hurt.

Dennis Rodman does a good job as Zack, although no one really cares about Zack or Dennis when you buy this game. The girls are well voice acted, although you will ask why Hitomi, Tina, and newcomer Lisa are speaking Japanese when they aren't even Japanese. It somehow just sounds right.

Replayability:10/10
I have spent over 50 hours with this game now. Getting every suit for every girl will take hundreds of hours. I'm far from done with one girl! This game is definitely time consuming if you want to complete all the girls collections, it's even time consuming if you want to complete one of the girls collections. And with the slight possibility of a booster disk, I should really give replayability an 11/10, but sadly I can't.

To Buy or Rent?
It depends really, if you're a DOA fan, buy this now. There are some surprises for you DOA fans, and you won't regret learning the personalities of these girls. However, if you're not a DOA fan, rent it first. If you like it, buy it. This game is a good way to get more people into the franchise.

Overall:8/10
This game is addicting, and once you play for a couple of hours, it will suck you in to stay for 100 more. The graphics are amazing and really show how detailed the Xbox can get. The sound is lacking, but a custom soundtrack fixes that. Dennis Rodman does a good job as Zack and the girls voices will make you like them more. This game could be underrated in the gameplay department and could be a niche game. So try it out if you aren't a DOA fan.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/15/03, Updated 06/17/03