Genre: Beach Volleyball
Developer: AM2
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1-4
Memory Needed: 3 blocks
ERSB Rating: Everyone

Introduction:

Volleyball is a genre that developers haven’t touched in nearly a decade and now it seems to have made a comeback. With Tecmo’s Dead Or Alive Beach Volleyball and Sega’s Beach Spikers it seems that volleyball videogames are no longer a thing of the past.

Presentation:

Load times are short enough that they go by un-noticed, menus are easy to navigate and designed to look like file folders. The whole beach-like feeling is present even in the menus and the announcer that helps navigate through the menus is surprisingly NOT annoying. The introductory FMV also gives a good feeling of what to expect, but most importantly and probably what makes this game a must own for every SEGA fan is the return of the Sega scream... Segaaaa!

Gameplay:

Simple gameplay has always been one of the things Sega has done well for years and Beach Spikers is no exception. Beach Spikers plays very much like Sega’s Virtua Tennis , not as simple but close enough.

Timing and precision is the key , whether your positioning yourself to get underneath the ball or determining the power of a serve/spike, if you don’t time things right chances are you won’t fair to well. Serves, spikes, etc... are executed in three different ways , pressing the A button , B button, or both A and B at once (X and Y can also be substituted for this but don’t work as well) , each execution will be determined by the situation the player is in, whether it is performing an overhand/underhand serve , a spike or a feint shot. The game’s controls are easy to learn but hard to master.

Arcade mode, is probably the most enjoyable mode in the game aside from multiplayer. In Arcade mode you enter an eight match tournament which you and your partner face off against different teams across the globe. In arcade mode you take control of both players , switching between teammates according to the situation.

Career mode , the cor single-player mode is a tour across the globe competing in different tournaments to earn first place at the end of the year. In Career mode you do not have control of both teammates , one character controlled by you the other by the CPU. At first your CPU teammate is just a plain crappy volleyball player, screwing up in all areas , you know this and that is why a teamwork meter has been added . Every ten points scored in a match you and your partner take a break to sit on the side , while sitting down you have the options to praise, encourage and even reprimand you partner, whatever your choice is it will be reflected with a teamwork meter. The higher the percentage in the meter the better your partner performs during a match. After each match stat points are rewarded and you then must spread them across in different areas to improve your partners response time, power, speed , etc... Stat points are rewarded after each match despite a win or a loss, more stat points are rewarded if you win and if you teamwork percentage is high.

Not all is perfect in the gameplay department for Beach Spikers. The game is plagued by atrocious camera angles at certain times which cause you screw up at the most intense and important of times. CPU opponents in career mode may prove to be very difficult in the final matches of the tournament always blocking your spikes , or somehow making a drastic comeback after a 14 to 3 lead (damn you Brazil!). Also there can be serious frustration with the dependence on your partners in game performance during Career mode , but its always easy to blame a loss on your partner. Finally, career mode may take more than one run to finish in first since you will lose badly in the beggining because of your partner sucking, playing a second time through with your partners stats at its highest is just a drag and somewhat of a bore.

*Beware the difficulty and frustration found in this game has already caused me to destroy one Wave Bird...R.I.P*

Graphics:
Beach Spikers is one beautiful looking game, with beautiful polygonal scantly clad women running around in the sand. Textures are excellent , and the game is locked at 30 fps with no drops anywhere in site. Extreme detail was also put into this game, movements are extremely fluid and lifelike and footprints are also left in the sand. AM2 knows how to use their tools.

Sound:

Sega has always been a big fan of 80’s style guitar riffs in their games, and for some reason they always fit their games flawlessly. Some may find these guitar riffs , annoying but I’ve always been a fan of them and it fits Beach Spikers perfectly and nobody can deny that. Bumps, smacks, yells , and spikes are what they should sound like and recreate the sound of a real volleyball game perfectly. Commentary is almost non-existent , other than Fantastic!, Excellent! and Spike! being yelled out every so often but when has commentary ever been a good thing in a game? Almost never, so its better this way...

Lasting Appeal:

While having short single player modes Beach Spikers can actually be finished within a day but with addictive gameplay straight from the gaming gods at Sega you’ll always be coming back for more and like always as long as you have friends multiplayer can keep you going and going just like the Energizer bunny.

Conclusion:

With kickass simple arcade-like gameplay , Beach Spikers definitely deserves tons of attention and should be given a try by everyone. Give it a rental at least but this title is a must for every Sega fan and there’s a simple reason why... the return of the Sega Scream!