Overall Rating

Beach Spikers (GCN) - 1This week on "Extended Play" we set you up with a review of AM2's "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball." "Beach Spikers" is the first of two big-name volleyball titles hitting the second half of this year. (The other of course is "Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball.") Adapted from the arcade version of the same name, "Beach Spikers" for the GameCube improves upon this already solid title, refining the graphics, expanding the versus mode, and adding an addictive AI coaching system.

"Beach Spikers" follows the traditional professional beach volleyball setup, where the game is played with teams of two. All the known moves can be played, from the bump, set, spike routine to recovery dives, jump serves, and blocks.

Several game modes

The arcade mode is the simplest format for a quick pick-up-and-play session. You pick one of sixteen international teams, each with their own predetermined skill level. Brazil ranks the highest with an 'SS' rank, making them the team easiest to play with, while a 'B' ranked team such as Spain is much more challenging. The default score format is the same as the original arcade, starting each match with a tie at 10 points apiece (though this can be adjusted in the options screen). Winning matches moves you further along the tournament bracket, four brief matches in all. Your final opponent is known as the AM2 team, an odd pair of skilled laurel wreath-wearing American players.

Beach Spikers (GCN) - 2Mini-games

The versus mode offers a small selection of unique mini-games not seen in the original arcade. There's the normal versus mode of course where up to four human players can play.

The mini-games include the fun, though strange, Beach Flags mode, where all four players start the game lying down flat on their stomachs, face down. Once the announcer yells "Go!" all players get up and run (via button mashing) to the other end of the court (the net's been taken out) and leap to grab a flag.

Beach Countdown is just as bizarre, where you play volleyball with a classic cartoon-style bomb. The game begins with 50 points. Every time a player makes contact with the bomb, a certain amount of points (randomly selected by the game seconds earlier) is taken off. Whichever team ends up with the bomb at zero points gets blown up and loses.

Finally there's Beach P.K., a volleyball version of the penalty kick. Designed as a two-on-one matchup, you and your partner simply have to hit the ball to the other end without having the lone defender touch the ball.

Design and train your own volleyball teammate

The World Tour mode is the deepest of all the game's features. Working very much like "Virtua Fighter 4's" AI Training mode, World Tour lets you design, train, and play with a computer-controlled partner. You begin by designing your team, choosing from a wide and impressive selection of skin hues, outfits, hairstyles, and facial features. In the beginning of the tour, your partner will barely have any skills to hold her own, so it'll get frustrating at first. Each match, though, will reward you with points that you can use to improve your partner's skills.

Beach Spikers (GCN) - 3Eventually your partner will get so good that you'll start to depend on her for winning spikes. One drawback is that maxing out your character does not take a very long time. By the time you're done with one World Tour campaign, your partner will already have been maxed out, leaving your AI character with not much else to do.

Controls are solid

Every aspect of "Beach Spikers'" control handles solidly. Ninety percent of the time you will use the "A" button. The game reaches the same level of fun simplicity that made "Virtua Tennis" a classic. It's easy to handle the player movements even though the camera moves constantly.

Speaking of the camera, AM2 should be commended for creating such a well-done visual engine that constantly adjusts to give the gamer the ideal view for playing each subsequent shot.

Improved graphics

AM2 also made improvements in terms of graphics. The crowd isn't merely a 2D, 3-frame graphic, and more celebratory moves have been added to the player animations. The running animation in the Beach Flags mode could've been better though, as the players' movements look robotic. Of course the sand in the court adjusts in real time to footprints and the grains of sand are more detailed, not merely large polygons like the original arcade.

The sound is typical of other Sega Of Japan-made titles, supplying an adequate amount of grunting noises and guitar-driven "dynamic" sports highlight-film music.

Despite what some have hoped, "Beach Spikers" isn't perfect. "Beach Spikers" does feature an excellent control scheme and upgraded graphics but it still feels shallow. The AI mode definitely could have been deeper and the addition of more extra features would have been a plus. There isn't enough behind "Beach Spikers," especially when compared to Sega's previously released titles like "Virtua Tennis." While "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball" could be improved upon. it's still undoubtedly the best volleyball video game to date.