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GameCube | Sports | Beach Spikers

Boxart for Beach Spikers
Beach Spikers 27 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 3.0
  • CONTROL: 3.0
  • FUN FACTOR 3.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 3.5
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.8

Review: Beach Spikers

Review by TOKYODRIFTER | 08/14/2002 | 16:56:36 PM PST

The view is great, but there?s trouble on this beach. And extra suntan lotion isn?t going to help.

Beach Spikers looks pretty, but the flawed controls prevent it from having the wide appeal a sport featuring toned female athletes in bikinis should have.

Sunny Views
Sega?s legendary AM2 development house?s first GameCube effort shows that they know a thing or two about how to make a game look really, really good. The courts are dense with details like well-populated stands and huge sponsor-themed objects, including monstrous cans of Pringles and an inflatable Sonic presiding over the action. It appears that the Dole bananas in Monkeyball were a harbinger of Sega?s mass in-game marketing to come. Somewhat stilted player animation is the only thing keeping Spikers from acing a top score in graphics.

Trouble in Paradise
The game?s audio, on the other hand, is mostly forgettable with limited and awkward commentary during matches. Then again, this is one sport where you might not be paying much attention to the announcers anyway.

You will, however, be paying attention to the unforgiving controls. Hitting the ball either on offense or defense requires your player to be standing still and directly in a designated circle to get a good touch. Anything less and you risk completely biffing it?although the skill of your player is a major factor. Maxing out your character?s skill will still not enable you to perform a diving dig to save the ball, which is ridiculous.

Net Ball!
Building up a custom team is not only the best way to get the most out of this game, but it?s really your only hope of being competitive against the top teams. Playing with four of your friends is good fun as long as they are well versed in the gameplay. Simple controls a la Virtua Tennis could have made Beach Spikers a classic, but its appeal is just relegated to those with enough patience and determination to unlock the myriad hidden bikinis.


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