Summer Heat Beach Volleyball

Summer is here and the beaches are overcrowded with sun worshipers and those athletic souls that appreciate those beachside sports like beach volleyball and admiring the year’s latest swimwear fashions (come on, you know who you are).  Thanks to the success of DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the Xbox, Acclaim is taking a stab at bringing a beach volleyball title to the PS2.  Summer Heat Beach Volleyball serves up some intense volleyball action with plenty of bikini-clad eye candy, but is this one fun enough to put the ladies of DOA to shame?  Grab a lounge chair and let’s talk beach volleyball.

Aside from the obvious display of sexy bodies on the beach, Summer Heat’s main attraction is two-on-two beach volleyball.  While the DOA volleyball game featured friendly matches, this one is centered on serious competition where winners advance to finals earning names for themselves in the beach volleyball circuit (talk about sucking the life out of a party atmosphere).  Still, the game doesn’t stay serious for very long, which you will clearly see by all the interesting rewards you can unlock.  Anything from new swimsuits to sunglasses can be available to you quite early in the game (you get to unlock quite a few in the Tutorial).

Summer Heat has quite a number of game modes: Arcade, Exhibition, Summer Heat US Tour and Mini Games.  Arcade mode takes you through a series of matches while Exhibition and Mini Games is designed for some multiplayer fun (anywhere from two to four players can play).  Summer Heat US Tour takes you through an intense tour with a partner of your choosing and has you winning extras that become available to you in your Beach House.

There are fourteen playable characters (both female and male) plus seven extra characters you can unlock later in the game.  Each character brings his or her own strengths and weaknesses to the table and shows it out on the court.  The controls are fairly simple to jump into without little trouble--although it’s wise to take a little stroll through the tutorial--and gamers will find the game moves along smoothly.  Thankfully the game keeps things simple and blocking and passing are performed on the fly.  There are three types of attacks and three kinds of serves so finding your best moves is not hard to do. 

The game’s biggest problem, though, is that the computer-controlled partner suffers from poor AI.  In fact, you will be astounded (and frustrated) by the complete incompetence of your partner.  Much of the confusion falls on your partner’s inability to determine who is a lot closer to the incoming ball.  Sometimes it feels as if you’re the only one doing all the work, although sometimes your partner might surprise you with powerful spikes or quick passes that set you up for your own powerful spikes.  Still, having to deal with an unintelligent partner becomes way too wearisome to ignore.

Where the game excels, though, is its multiplayer option.  Playing with a friend (or four friends with the Multitap) corrects the poor partner AI and allows gamers to work with each another rather against each another.  The Mini Games mode also offers fresh new challenges aside from the usual Exhibition games and adds interesting little games such as Nerd Smash or Ice Court. 

Visually, Summer Heat doesn’t rise above the reigning Xbox beach volleyball title but it does have it fair share of alluring ladies (plus a few attractive guys for us ladies) and exotic locales.  The only visible problem, though, is that each character aren’t detailed enough to appear realistic.  Their plastic-like sheen makes them look like living, breathing dolls.  To make matters worse, the environments--although exotic--look really plain and the camera angle doesn’t often offer the best angles.   Still, the character movements are wonderfully realistic and the way they kick up sand looks real enough.

There are a few tunes here by major recording artists that range from Pink’s “Get The Party Started” to Sum 41’s “Fat Lip.”  Oddly enough, though, the game seems to favor one particular track by Kylie Minogue to the point that it will have gamers changing it in the middle of a match.  During much of the game, you will find that there is very little interaction between players beyond the occasional “I got it!”  There’s also an announcer who does a dull job of presenting each character--thankfully he just comments on the highlights rather than throughout the entire match.  In short, this could have been handled a lot better.

Summer Heat Beach Volleyball has a slew of small surprises, but ultimately it misses on what counts the most--the volleyball action.  Aside from the poor visuals and sound, the unreliable AI partners make for a frustrating time on the virtual beach but that isn’t to say that the game is completely without its charms.  If you’re looking for a somewhat decent beach volleyball game on the PS2, this is priced just right for a game that plays a lot better with a group of friends. 

Gameplay: 6.0
Control-wise, Summer Heat is easy to get into and you’ll find that serving and spiking are just as easy.  Thankfully the only thing you have to worry about in this front is accuracy.  The game also focuses on teamwork--which is a great idea since it makes the game far more involving--but your computer-controlled partner just isn’t intelligent enough to make simple decisions.  Yet what is more frustrating is fact that while your partner makes errors galore, your opponents hardly make any.  Go figure.

Graphics: 6.5
Unfortunately, even with all the attractive characters on the screen at once, the game’s overall graphics are far from dazzling.  To begin with, the player models have an odd doll-like appearance that makes the game look as if you’re playing a game featuring Barbie and friends.  While they move realistically and can be dressed up anyway you want (hey, just like Barbie), the character’s skins and expressionless facial features are not at all very flattering.

There are several different beachside locations, many of which look really great.  Yet the game lacks details, especially when the camera is panning through the spectators and nearby buildings.  It would have been neat if there was more interaction with the beach or at least some animated cut scenes showing much more of it.  

Sound: 6.0
Sound-wise, Summer Heat misses the mark when it comes to ambiance sound and play-by-play announcing. You’ll hear the crowd’s cheer when their favorite team scores and a few boos when the opposing team scores--but nothing else.  The announcer pretty much calls out the names of the players and offers some brief scoring details but that’s about it.  There are some grunts and a few repetitive phrases each character makes throughout the game.

You’ll also find a small collection of tunes from artists such as Sum 41, Sprung Monkey or Pink.  While the tunes aren’t that bad, the game seems to continuously loop one particular song more than the others.  The game also features some great Dolby Surround sound support for those who have a good sound system hooked up to their television.

Difficulty: Medium
While the game moves along smoothly, the game’s main flaw falls on the computer-controlled opponents and partner.  Expect to be annoyed by the fact that your partner can’t make quick and rational decisions on the court or decide what part of the area is his or hers.  The opponents, on the other hand, seldom make mistakes.  This not only makes things really challenging even on the easiest difficulty setting.

Concept: 7.8
Summer Heat certainly piles on the extras, most particularly when it comes to game modes and locked secrets.  Many of the little goodies scattered throughout the game come in the form of swimwear and accessories that change the appearance of your favorite character.  As for the game modes, the mini games are filled with original multiplayer fun.  Like the hotel in DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Summer Heat added a Beach House complete with a fully functional radio as well as a television screen to watch the music videos of the artists found in the soundtrack.

Multiplayer: 7.5
This is actually the case where the game is far more enjoyable when playing with friends than on your own.  While you can play a two-player match, the game allows you to play with four friends (using the PS2 Multitap, of course) at the same time.  Since this is a two-on-two game, the four-player game is just more entertaining since there are plenty of characters to choose from in the long line up.  There is also a Mini Games mode that has three different mini games.   There is Nerd Smash (sort of like whack-a-mole only with scrawny fellas), Ice Court (where the court is made of ice so spiking the ball hard can cause the ice to break right from under your opponent’s feet) and Beach Bowls (a game similar to Britain's bocce).

Overall: 7.0
Not as fun or as sexy as it should have been, Summer Heat Beach Volleyball has its moments of addictive diversion but its faults keep the game from being a true volleyball game.  Still, while the graphics aren’t stellar or the sound something to marvel, this game adds plenty of extras gamers and their friends can enjoy but for a short while.