It is what it is.
The main part of the game is the volley ball itself. I have been a fan of volley ball games since I played the game "Beach Volleyball" on my Amiga 500 and this is one of the best ones I have played so far. The volleyball in this game is what you would expect from the genre. It's simple, fun and exciting. The environments in this game look great and add to the feel of the volley ball games. The music is decent and goes with the action well enough but I wish that Bob Marley song was playable outside the credits. A minor issue considering you can play your own music on the 360.
The new addition to the series is jet ski racing. This is surprisingly good but your not going to want to buy the game for this alone. The graphics were my main issue here. Everything seems to be too shiny and the water doesn't look anywhere near as realistic as it does when you see it from the shore in volley ball games. Despite that it's fun and there is lots of courses and tricks to learn. It's a good diversion when you don't feel like playing volleyball and by far the best of the ones that have been added since the last game. The others besides the water slide are a complete waste of time and the waterslide isn't all that great itself.
After your pleasant day at the beach buying gifts, playing volley ball and riding jet skis is over you can relax and loose or win some money at the casino. The casino features blackjack, roulette, slot machines and poker. Out of these poker is my favorite followed by blackjack. The characters all have English voice overs and comment on the state of the game as you play, it's a nice touch and often contains mildly interesting dialogue. Like some other parts of the game it's not going to measure up to a stand alone casino game but it's still very good and makes for another nice diversion.
You may think it was strange of me to write a Dead or Alive Extreme 2 review without mentioning teh jiggles but to me that isn't really what this game is about. The game has a beach setting and the characters fit into this setting really well. Making use of well known and designed characters in a game themed on a beach vacation is a no brainer and it works well. In fact they seem more at home on their beach vacation then they do in the DOA fighting series.