- 10,687
- Everywhere
Well, no ... it's not Xtreme by any means. Here are a bunch of pictures from the game. A friend rented it last night and I played it for about three hours.
It's pretty - The graphics are even better than Dead or Alive 3, and the scenes are really spectacular. There are four (I think) locations to play volleyball with three different times of day each (I believe ...). There is also a "pool side" location, a couple of shops, a hotel room, and a casino. I would give it about a 9 out of 10 for visuals.
Animation - The animation is better than a lot of games I've seen. The Sims has the characters doing goofy things that seem unrealistic. This game has the girls doing things like brushing the hair out of their face, or straightening their bikini bottoms. When you're on a volleyball court and everyone is just standing there, they begin to cycle through the different animations. 9.5/10 - it's pretty cool (:
Game Play - Volleyball - Well the game play for the volleyball action is pretty lousy. I was hoping for something more like Virtua Tennis for Dreamcast. That game was pretty incredible. Unfortunately DOAXBV is pathetic when it comes to the actual content of the game. Unless I was doing something wrong, there seemed to be very little control over what your character was doing. 3 / 10
Story Mode - Story mode includes volleyball (of course), but also has a "beach life". You pick one of the girls and try to make friends with the rest of them so you can team up and play some volleyball. Unfortunately I sucked so bad that they wouldn't partner with me for more than a game or two. You buy items from the shops and can give them as gifts to the other girls. There are essentially several "turns" per "day" inwhich you can visit different areas on Zach Island to play volleyball, shop, or just hang by the pool. There is also a casino. If you want to make serious cash, go play some BlackJack (: I found myself spending more real time at the casino than playing volleyball. Now my friends and I want a good Casino game on XBox or PS2. Items at the store are things like new bathing suits, hair clips, jewels, jewelry, athletic apparel, sunscreen, and candies. It's interesting ... 7 / 10.
Audio - Music - Oh My Gosh!!! If you thought the sound track for GT3 was cool, you ain't heard nothing yet. They have a big selections of hit songs that play continuously through the game. There is even a radio station which you get to set the playlist for. It's pretty sweet. There were about 8 people in the room with me and I kept hearing them singing along. 9 / 10
Sound Effects - The sound effects are alright. The ocean sounds ok, the voices are good (though they're all in Japanese with subtitles) and the talk during the volleyball matches are pretty good. The girls call out eachothers' names when they set eachother up for a spike or whatever. And they talk a little trash when someone messes up. 8 / 10
Overall - It seems a little slow, and the core of the game, volleyball, really sucks ass. I wouldn't pay more than $20 for this, and that would just be for the digital boobs (: What's really odd, one of the girls watching me play said it seemed like a girly game, but the visuals were definitely for the guys. I think that's an interesting point. There's a lot of shopping for girl apparel and doing things to make friends with the girls.
I guess it's about a 5.5 / 10. I was really hoping for better volleyball action, and a quicker story mode.
