Beach Volleyball Summer Heat

Review:
If you own an Xbox, there's a game called DOA Beach Volleyball that features women in skimpy bikinis playing volleyball. While this is not the same game, Acclaim came out with their take on this genre for Playstation 2 owners (thanks Acclaim!).

Once you get past the titillation of watching pixilated scantily clad women (or men) running around playing volleyball, you may discover an actual volleyball video game here. The game has a good and relatively easy-to-learn training mode that teaches you the control system so you can serve, volley and spike. The game itself is two-on-two beach volleyball, and you get to control one player (when playing alone your partner is the computer).

There's an arcade mode, tournament mode, and the more you play the more things you can unlock. Items include unlocking new players, music videos and new outfits (Yippee! I unlocked Abby's red bikini!). Other modes include mini-games (only two-player), and a 'beach house' that lets you view unlocked music videos, listen to music and display your tournament trophies. Not that interesting.

The interesting part is that the physics and gameplay of the volleyball games are pretty good. I haven't been able to score an ace on a serve yet, but am good enough where games are pretty lopsided (guess I need to ramp up to the higher difficulty level). In the dead of winter, this can be a good way to keep things warm and to dream of warmer climates!

Reviewed by Keith Shaw