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| GameCube Review | |||||||
I must start off this review by saying-wow! Volleyball games are usually just games that focus on the females that are on the court and not really on the sport itself. But this game is a little bit special. Not only does it have good looking ladeez on the court but also manages to be a cracker of a game aswell. Thankyou SEGA. Well the graphics are probably what will catch people out while looking at the shop shelf so lets get them out the way. The graphics in this game are very good. Crowds look half real( which is an accomplishment compared to other games) and the environments are lovely. Each course you play on has a different theme whether it be SEGA, Nintendo, Nissan or Coca cola to name a few. The sand ruffles around but only seems to animate inside the court so when the girls step out of the court, no footprints are left which looks a little strange compared to a court full of them. But enough about that. The character models are the most important part and SEGA have done a pretty good job.They are well modelled and animated thought the odd clipping can be seen when the girls hug or when they go through the line on the court. The girls look fairly life like but some of them can look barbie doll-like at times as the tend to look plastic. The sound does a fairly good job and everything you would expect to hear is here. From the grunts the girls make when the hit the ball, the sound of them spiking the ball and the cheesy American commentator are all here. The music is alright and has part beat and part rock giutar which works quite well but the music tends to get a little repetitive at times. But how the game plays is the most important thing and this is where SEGA have excelled. This is the best attempt at a volleyball game there is and the game is controlled using A, B and X. X is only used for serving but the others have main uses like recieving, setting and spiking. The camera is constantly moving to help you get a better look at what you are doing but it can be annoying at first but you get used to it. The serves and spikes have power metres that come along the side of the screen. Hitting it full power and knocking your opponent to the floor is good for a laugh and effective where as tapping B will make you hit it soft causing your opponent to get confused and miss the ball. The game is broken up into several mode including arcade, world tour, VS and training. Arcade is the standerd mode you play off with 7 other teams to be number one. This is the best place to start off when you first play. Once you've got used to how the game works, head over to the training mode to learn some more tricky skills such as blocking. World Tour is the main part of the game. You play in an 8 round tournament with a different number of matches in each depending on how well you go. Unlike arcade mode, you only control one othe people. The computer controls the other and this is the tricky bit. Your partner starts off as useless at volleyball as your great granny and miss pretty much every shot that comes to her. Because of this, you will not win a match until about round 4. As you progress throught the matches, you get points which can be put towards your partners skills such as response, serve, recieve, block and many others. How many points you get to give depends on two things - if you win or not and your teamwork. Every ten points in a game you have the option to talk to your partner. You can praise, encourage, reprimand(tell her off) or say nothing. If she has been playing well praise her because if you reprimand her if was playing well, down goes your teamwork meter(which starts on 50%). Once it is at 100%, it is best to say nothing at these points in the game incase you say the wrong thing. So while this game sounds very good, what is wrong with it? Well the main thing is that after a while, the single player mode gets rather boring. But thankfully there is a rather good multiplayer game on hand. You can play a normal match or take part in mini-games. These include-beach flags( run up and get your flag before your friends get their's) and beach bomb (different types of hits take of an amout off the counter and the one with the bomb when it blows up is well.....you get the picture). So while this game has it's little problems it is overall an enjoyable experience and is the best volleyball game money can buy. Graphics- Brilliant in places and plain nice in others. 8/10 Sound- What you'd expect but nothing to get excited about. 7/10 Gameplay- The best volleyball game ever!!! 9/10 Lifespan- Single player a bit lacking but multiplayer saves it. 7/10 Originality- It is a sport game so not it's strong point. 6/10 Overall- A cracking title let down by a few little aspects. 81% Andrew 2003-10-28 | |||||||
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