Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

"What's next? Dead or Alive: X-treme Snowboarding?"

The Dead or Alive series has been acclaimed as one of the finest fighting titles of our time. One for it's incredible use of the martial arts and secondly, for it's drop dead gorgeous women. Tecmo has brought us every die hard geek fantasy, Dead or Alive: X-treme Beach Volleyball. A mere side-story as we wait for the next DOA game.

Incidentally, this game HAS a plot to it. It seems that Zack had won the Dead or Alive 3 tournament. He takes his winnings to Vegas and by sheer dumb luck he manages to garner a massive fortune. With all the money he has now, he buys an island, names it after himself and makes the place into a gigantic vacation retreat. After that, he cons all the Dead or Alive women into coming to the island by thinking that they are there for the next Dead or Alive tournament.

Visually.... uh... visuals... yes... pretty... sorry. Visually, Dead or Alive: X-treme Beach Volleyball goes all out to bring us some of the best visuals on the X-box. Tecmo went all out on putting together this game. Everything from the way the fingers arch, to how the sand moves as you move back and forth during a match, right up to where the, you'll find out soon enough if you get this game. It is truly amazing some of the things that you will notice. Hey, the media is right, sex does sell. It definitely shows here.

Sound quality is a bit iffy. The soundtrack isn't all that great. But thanks to the incredible power of the X-box (Thanks, Bill!) you can make your own custom soundtrack. Which is good. Very good. Who wants to listen to a Christina Aguilera song anyways? Not a total loss, thou. Tecmo also brought in former NBA basketball star, turned actor, Dennis Rodman to provide the voice of Zack. Even if he sounds a tad wooden in some parts, but he still manages to effectively pull off his lines. Shame they only gave him less then 30 words to say. The rest of the cast consists of Japanese voices. Which can be real annoying at since, I can't understand a word they say. Too bad, they didn't do the Virtua Fighter thing. Give each character a voice from their own nationality. Oh well, maybe the next DOA game will feature that.

Gameplay is a mixed bag. While the gameplay functions under two buttons. Which is good. But what really kicks me is the total lack of mini-games that Tecmo had promised. They left in only one mini-game. Which revolves around crossing some blocks that are floating across the pool. This is something the Man Show would dream up. I guess Tecmo is going to make a ton of extra revenue when they release a booster disk for this game. Tecmo also included a casino into the game where you can play poker, black jack, slots and the roulette wheel. But the core element of the game is to acquire money for purchasing various items like swim suits, hats, sun glasses, etc. With the casino you can double it, triple it, or lose it all. The real thing that this game is lacking in is a free roaming mode. Because Zack island is just screaming to be explored.

Another aspect about gameplay is that each character has a set of likes and dislikes. Not only that, but each character has their own sets of swim suits. So there's going to be a lot of gift giving. Sometimes, the things you give another character will not be to their likings and after the day has ended they will end up throwing out the bathing suit, item, etc. But for some girls, you will have to work really hard for a long time to get them to like you. This can takes days at a time to begin. But once you're successful, you'll have a deep sense of accomplishment.

Replay value is high. Very, very high. There are literally hundreds of bathing suits, various accessories, including hats, sun glasses and other items. Plus, the addition of your own customizable soundtrack also makes the game worth while.

Graphics: 10

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. The women, the environments and everything else in between. Simply gorgeous.

Sounds: 7

The soundtrack varies. Whether you decide to keep the soundtrack as is, or go with your own. I wish, I wish they would have dubbed the female voices over into English this time around. Rodman adds a nice touch as Zack. I wonder if Tecmo will have Rodman be the main stay voice of Zack in future DOA titles.

Gameplay: 8

If they only had those promised mini-games and a free roaming mode this game would be a classic. Well, I guess I'll just have to sit and wait until the boaster disk comes out.

Replay Value: 10

I don't think I've ever seen so many swim suits in my whole life. Hundreds of suits. Accessories galore. With hundreds of items to purchase, you'll be in this game for a good long while.

Final Thoughts:

I, like many others have enjoyed this game. But there are things that would have made this game a whole lot better then what it already is. So what's next? Dead or Alive: X-treme Golf? Doubt it, But it would be interesting. I wonder if Sega or Namco will try to copy Tecmo's idea and release a product similar to this. Tekken baseball? Virtua ping pong? The ideas are endless.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/18/03, Updated 02/18/03