Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

"Like a bag of candy it has good taste but lacks different flavors"

A game such as this doesn’t come along too often but when it does it usually sparks a lot of controversy before and after release. On one hand you have the guys claiming it will an awesome game and on the other hand you have the guys insulting it for whatever reason possible calling it an insult to the videogame industry, shameful attempt at high sales or a one-handed-game. This usually leads to a heated exchange of words and false information. Then you have the guys like me, who don’t praise the game and don’t slam it either. We just bide our time and when it’s released we rent it and find out for ourselves who’s right. We usually get caught in the middle of the arguing as people try to persuade us to their side. This game was no different of course as it takes all the female characters from the Dead or Alive fighting game series and puts them on an island. On the island the player picks a character and leads her through shopping madness, volleyball action and gambling galore. So was the game actually good or was it a shameful attempt at high sales?

Gameplay

Zack Island
Our good friend or mortal enemy (which ever you prefer) Zack has recently purchased an island and filled it to top with luxury. Now being the ladies man that he is Zack invites all of the female Dead or Alive characters to the island. You’re probably wondering why they would all just come to his island; well Zack claimed the next tournament would be held here. Of course he lied and now the girls have decided that they might as well have some fun while they’re here. As soon as you start the game you can get a partner, which is rather convenient. Considering how you need a partner to play volleyball with against the other girls on the island. When you don’t have a partner acquiring one can sometimes be quite ridiculous. Deciding which gifts a girl will like is usually a shot in the dark and can make you spend lots of your money and time. The whole concept of only being able to use gifts to get a partner is quite gland. Other factors don’t really come into play really considering there are none.

Now if you succeed in the annoying task of acquiring a partner if you choose not to accept the first one or lose her, you can play volleyball. You can play against the others but not any time you like. Certain girls are ready to play against you at certain times. You select where you want to play and then you can play them. You get money for winning and pulling of great serves, blocks and spikes. The amount of money you make from volleyball is fair and you won’t have to play volleyball constantly to acquire a certain item of your liking. Then on the other side of it, the money you make isn’t excessive so the game is fair. There are other things you can do on the island of course as just playing endless volleyball in random matches would eventually put you to sleep.

Your character can also buy things for herself such as different swimsuits and accessories. These swimsuits can then be put on and your character will do everything with that suit on. Unfortunately not all the swimsuits fit all the girls, which can sometimes get you down or create a need for anger management for the extreme fan. The same thing goes for accessories such as hair clips and nail polish. Of course things such as nail polish and suntan lotion are one time use. The items are a nice novelty but you’ll probably spend more time trying to collect every item and stuff it into your collection then actually use them. Some items such as weapons and food are really pointless though as you really don’t need them for anything and they serve no real purpose. There is a real lack of item purposes and usable items.

When you go to a volleyball location where there is no one to play with or if you go to the swimming pool and just take a rest, you watch your character do something usually extremely boring. There are no points to doing this as you just waste some of your day. Unless of course you’re using this game for other purposes, which don’t concern me nor do I want them to concern me. At the pool you can also play a fun hopping game in which the Xbox controller senses how hard you push down on a button and from that point causes your character to jump a certain distance and the faster you go the more money you can get from doing this. If you miss one of the floating platforms and fall in the water you have to start again. The pool game will take up a lot of your time but after a while it does get kind of repetitive and lack of change as you progress makes it only something that’s fun for a while.

You can also go to the casino you’ve probably heard about. You can only go to the casino at night and there you can win lots or loss lots. Your probably going to loose lots though as the slot machines are harder to win money on then wounding someone with a tulip. The other casino games are fun especially blackjack but once again winning big at any one of the casino games is too hard to do. You will eventually find the revenue lacking and not visit the casino often.

That’s pretty much all, now while playing volleyball is fun and the pool game will have your attention for a while, there is simply not enough to do. The lack of revenue at the casino will force you to stop coming after a few visits. The pointless camera action sense keep on repeating themselves and do nothing but give your Xbox controller a rest. You’ll spent most of your time at the island playing volleyball and then using the money to complete your collection. Mixing and matching, swimsuits and accessories in the process of course.
Zack Island Score: 7

Exhibition
By now your probably asking why I haven’t talked about the volleyball since it is Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Well this is what this section is for so enjoy and be enlightened with my words of wisdom (subliminal message free). When I first played the exhibition mode, I noticed that you could select the mood of your opponents and partner, which determine how well they play. Why they couldn’t have just had difficulty levels, I still don’t know. You have a great selection of characters and arena’s to choose from. Well maybe it isn’t great if you really look at it considering the characters all seem the same when you play with them. The instruction manual says they have different stats in things like power but I sure didn’t notice anything when trying out different characters. The matches are simple and you have a choice of how many points you can go to. The bad thing is you can only play lonely exhibition volleyball matches and can’t compete in any special cups, tournaments or leagues. It’s just the same old thing over and over again.

When you first get into a beach volleyball match you may be slightly annoyed at the limited visibility when the ball is not in your court. You can’t change the camera but you shouldn’t worry, as after about twenty minutes you should start liking it or throwing the game out of the window. Hopefully you’ll start liking it like I did. The volleyball is simple to play and only requires two buttons and of course the control stick. You simply move your character and either set the ball up for your partner or hit it across the net. You can power your spikes by pushing the button down hard and holding it, then releasing it at the right time. There are no fancy dials or meters involved and you feel at peace or pissed off because the camera doesn’t fit your style and you can’t change it. The gameplay is smooth and the AI works well not making foolish errors too much or too little. The volleyball action is extremely fun and a nice change from the complications of other sports games and all the setup and variables involved.
Exhibition Score: 8.8

Overall Gameplay Score: 8

Graphics
I’ve decided not to yell out the word “breasts” over and over again in this section like I’ve seen done over and over again in many reviews. Instead I’ll just think it and not take up valuable space. Anyways, if your one of those people who values graphics almost as much or even in some cases more than gameplay (hopefully you aren’t), this is the game for you. Everything is done with excellent precision and immense detail. Starting at the characters which at times even look like real women with perfect bodies that is. They are perfectly designed and will make you consider your morals for a second. When you play volleyball, you never experience any overlapping or strange graphic errors. When your character runs in the sand, footprints are left behind and they don’t just disappear. The sand is shaped perfectly from the action going on and the palm trees sway in the wind. The net reacts when it’s hit with the ball, the ball flies in the correct direction always never overlapping with anything else. Even the water, which I notice as problematic in most Xbox games, meets any standards. This is where those pointless scenes that I mentioned about show of the overwhelming graphical power of the Xbox console. All the swimsuits and accessories are worn properly by the characters with no overlapping or color problems. All the backgrounds in the game are perfectly detailed from the leaves on the palm trees to the occasional gopher. Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a perfect example of what graphics should be.
Graphics Score: 10

Sound Score
If you had your hopes set on hearing the Dead or Alive girls talk in English, you best stop reading now and go cry. By that I mean that most of the voices are in Japanese except for Zack and his girlfriend’s. Great we get to listen to some stuck up moron whose voice is done by a celebrity who just purchased an island. I’d rather not hear him talk in English for that matter. During volleyball the girls will yell out things to each other and taunt. Your partner may call your name telling you that the ball is coming or way or one of the characters may say something cute after a point has been scored. There are sub titles for the deaf and people who don’t understand Japanese such as most of us here. The voices for all of the girls sound unique and natural so Tecmo obviously didn’t just hire some hobo wandering the streets of Tokyo. The thing that saddens me though is the lack of dialogue in the victory celebrations as most of it is very repetitive. After hearing “Well of course” or “No biggie!” for the twentieth time you may start to get a little annoyed. When going to places such as empty beaches you can often hear your character say some thing and it’ll sound just perfect the first time you hear it but then comes the repetition when you go to that place for a second time. The background sounds such as splashing water or the beach volleyball hitting an object are engineered to perfection. Although when you use items, the sounds are extremely cheesy such as when you tell your character to eat something or drink something.

As for the sound, Xtreme has a great bunch of songs that suit the game well. Things like “Come on Over” really go with the game well. Even if you don’t like many of the songs that are in the game or just don’t listen to them regularly they will somehow feel different when in the middle of a volleyball match. The reason probably being you don’t want to hear something like “Last Resort” playing during a volleyball match with good looking women. Listening to the songs any other time can become unbearable but they some how seem to fit well with Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Besides if you want something else you can use the songs you have on your Xbox hard drive and even set things like volume for each individual song you choose to be able to play during your matches.
Sound Score: 8.5

Control
As I said before, the camera during beach volleyball can get on your nerves but more that eventually you’ll get used to it. It’s really a shame that there aren’t different camera styles and angles to choose from but you’ll adapt sooner or later. Playing volleyball requires practice to target and power your shots accordingly at the right times but you’ll enjoy the learning experience. The controls for volleyball are extremely easy to pick up though as you only use two buttons and the control stick. The control stick moves your character. One button is used to set up the ball to your partner or just clear it when your partner is down or you’re on your third hit. The other button is used to spike the ball and depends on how hard and long you press it. The other aspects of the game such as changing swimsuits and accessories are extremely easy to pull off and won’t cause you any problems. The pool game measures how hard you press the jump button and it’s also extremely easy to adapt to.
Control Score: 9

Lasting Appeal
Well the volleyball will keep you going for quite a while considering how fun it is to play and the pool game will also drain some of your time. You’ll probably give up on the casino soon enough because of it’s low odds of winning. There’s one thing that’ll make this game last though. That of course is collecting every item with every character and acquiring every partner with every character. It’s a shame that your task only takes a long time but doesn’t really require much skill. Eventually you’ll get everything if you don’t stop from boredom somewhere along the way. You may come back to this game sometimes after for a volleyball match or two but the lasting appeal of it just isn’t what I’d expected at first.
Lasting Appeal Score: 6.5

Overall
Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball turned out to be a really good game after all without too many flaws. There was one thing really held it down though and that was the lack of things to do at Zack Island and some type of tournament. The developers apparently expected you to drool over the graphics too much to realize the lack of things to do. A great game overall but it didn’t come close to many people’s high hopes. You should definitely rent it first instead of rushing out to buy it.
Overall Score: 8

Score Recap

Gameplay Overall: 8
Zack Island: 7
Exhibition: 8.8
Graphics: 10
Sound: 8.5
Control: 9
Lasting Appeal: 6.5
Overall Score: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/03, Updated 04/18/03