Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

Repetitive and nonsensical, but okay in the end

User Rating: 4 | Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball GC

By jmwadd1 | Review Date: November 10, 2005

I've played a lot of volleyball, both beach and indoor, and coming from the point of view of a "sports" game, Beach Spikers is painfully inadequate. I wasn't expecting perfect fidelity, but I would expect some semblance of the real thing. Instead, players always come in for a perfect approach even after getting served off the court, they can put a cut shot right along the net even when the set is 15 feet off (tactical tip: this is your strongest offensive play in this game), and they can dig every single ball once you learn to stand too shallow and take hard spikes overhand. Blocking is non-existent. Played well, rallies basically never end. And you play well within about 20 minutes, and are capable of beating any CPU team with even the weakest teams. In short, the volleyball aspect of this game is awful.

It does have some appeal. The graphics are fine, but repetitive. The player models should have had some variety, but there is a fun dress and hairstyle feature that my daughters enjoy. Of course the athletes are all buxom beach beauties, which is peurilely appealing but mostly farcical. Despite the glaring flaws, it is enjoyable. It's fairly easy, so adults can play with kids, which is nice (and a rare feature; too rare, in my opinion). There is a tiny bit of competitive spirit, until everyone learns the dirty little secrets.

In the end, though, I can't give this high marks. At every level, it reveals a shortcut taken, a lack of fidelity to the sport, a cheap and easy way to dumb down the game to make it way too accessible. I wasn't expecting EA Sports AVP 200x (though that would be nice), but I was hoping for something that felt a bit like volleyball, and this does not.

Other Helpful Reviews for Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball

• Rating:7.7

  As an addition to your repertoire of multiplayer games, Beach Spikers is a solid entry.

  By DJ_Lae | Review Date: Aug 24, 2004 | GC

  Beach Spikers is a fun party game. That's pretty much it. If you're expecting a deep and engrossing single player campaign mode, look somewhere else (not that any volleball game offers that). There is a single-player ... Read Full Review

  2 of 2 users found the following review helpful
• Rating:7.5

  Beach Spikers is a good game, but a little more fine-tuning could have made it an excellent game.

  By naniwa | Review Date: Oct 30, 2007 | GC

  The Gameplay system is good but it could have been planned out and executed a little differently which could have perfected it. The only real problem here is the game's camera setup that can hide some of the action, maki... Read Full Review

  1 of 1 users found the following review helpful