Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball

Added August 11th, 2003 by EminaZ

Introduction:

Team Ninja’s was anticipating the result of their highly acclaimed fighting game, Dead or Alive 3. After all, it was to launch on a system by a new comer to the console business. It was a gamble that Team Ninja and Tecmo decided to take, surely; their gamble paid off. Dead Or Alive 3 became the fastest game of the series and reached more then a million of customers. Directly as a result of the gamble comes Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, this game is more like a “thank you” to all those who purchased Dead or Alive 3. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball features the cute girls from Dead or Alive 3 in outfits that fit the beach style. All wearing swimming suits and have their suntan lotion ready.

Gameplay:

When you first begin the game, you are prompted with two menus, “Go to Zack Island” and “Exhibition”. If you choose to go the island, then a CGI movie will be played to explain how Zack, a character from Team Ninja’s own Dead or Alive 3, got the money to buy this lovely island and how he tricked the lovely girls to come to his island. Then you will be to subjected to choose any of the beautiful ladies of Dead or Alive 3 fame, plus a new lady that most likely will show an appearance in the Dead or Alive fighting game series. Her name is Lisa and she is a friend of Tina. All of the friendships and rivalry that took place in the series of Dead or Alive are still intact. It is harder to become a partner with a girl who absolutes hates you, and easier to become a partner if a certain girl likes you.

This game is a 2-on-2 volleyball game, and it is 2 players only. You could not play with a friend of yours on the same team. It is simply never going to happen. Instead, you are accompanied by an AI character. Each character also has their strength and weaknesses. Some are awesome servers, some are good with defence, some love to spike.

There are also hundreds of items that you could buy and collect. The majority being swimming suits. There are swimming suits to fit everybody’s taste. Whether you like a one piece swimming suit or a two piece swimming, weather you like pink or black – it is all in there. But all cost a ridicules amount of money, even though you could do multiple things to earn money. The easiest way is actually playing the game, every time you win a volleyball match you will be given some money, and the less your opponents score, the more money you will be given. You could also play the hopping game which you could access from the poolside menu. The object of this game is too make your way across the pool by jumping on some pillow-like things without falling in the water. The faster and smoother you go across, the more money you will be given. At night times, you could even go to a casino where you could play the slot machines, poker, blackjack, and some more games.

You could also buy suntan lotions, sunglasses, and even make gifts for other characters so they could like you and even consider joining you. If they like the gift, they will give you one back, if they hate it, it will be thrown out, or they could just keep it if their views of you don’t change.

While there is much to do, most of the stuff is simply not needed and doesn’t require your interaction. You could watch the girls walk along side of the beach, take a rest, stretch and even practice their fighting skills, but you won’t have any control over it.

The biggest let down about the gameplay is how you finish the game after 14 days. Why must the island explode after 14 days?

Graphics:

When it comes to graphics, Team Ninja is almost unmatched in terms of detail and just plain beauty. If it is a Team Ninja game, you are guaranteed that the graphics will be superb. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is not an exception to this rule. In fact, Team Ninja sets a new standard for themselves to beat in a future game (Ninja Gaiden).

Almost no one dared to complain about the graphics of Dead or Alive 3, which is exactly the case with this game. Team Ninja, somehow, managed to upgrade the Dead or Alive 3 character models to a new extant. Now, the girls are prettier then they ever had been. These graphics could only be pulled on the Xbox hardware.

The girls are very well animated, so well, in fact, that they actually seem like they have their own emotions. Everything is very well done and polished in terms of graphics. The graphics are simply amazing and breathtaking.

Audio:

This game, thankfully, supports custom soundtracks, which means you could use the music you have ripped into your hard drive to replace that of the game. Which is a very good thing if you are not a fan of Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls, B*witched, and other artists.

There are a lot of moaning and groaning-like sound effects from these girls. Stuff like “OHHH” and “AHH” are very common and somewhat strange, in this case. All of these girls speak Japanese, regardless if they are from France, America, or any other nation. It simply doesn’t matter! Characters like Tina, an American character, speak some English with a big accent. It make you wonder if she is even American.

Regardless, the sound is okay. You have the ability to choose your own music which we all love.

Controls:

Team Ninja made this game so simply and beautiful to use, that anybody could pick it up and play. You simply have two buttons to perform actions with while playing the volleyball section of the game. The “B” button and “A” button. If you press the “B” button you will pass the ball to your partner, which will in turn, hit the ball back to you so you could spike it. Every now and then, if the occasion fits, your partner will spike the ball; but she will probably pass it to you.

Now your partner is an AI controlled character. In most games, this means that you won’t have any control over that character, but not in this game. You could use the right thumb stick to actually move that character as well, but you can’t hit the ball – that’s the AI’s job.

The control is simple, and user-friendly.

Replay:

While Team Ninja certainly tried to make this game a nice party game, it simply isn’t. Sure, you will have the urge to play it every now and then – when in a trance of boredom, perhaps. But after 10 hours of playing this game, you will feel like you had enough. Black Jack, Poker, Roulette, and the Slot Machines aren’t going to hold you over for much.

And while there are various characters to play with, underneath the looks and the background history, they are all the same. Sure, one has stronger server and another is a good with defence; a skilled player won’t truly care.

There are some great stuff in there, that you could watch once or twice, for example, videos given to you from Zack that shows you some history about the Dead or Alive series, and one even shows a preview of Team Ninja’s Xbox game “Ninja Gaiden”, sadly the preview has been on the internet along time before the arrival of this game.

What is interesting though, is how this game and Dead or Alive 3 share a relation ship! If you want to get some easy money in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball then play survival mode in Dead or Alive 3 and try to rank high with any of the ladies. Then play that lady in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Summary:

This game is a must for all fans of the Dead or Alive series and collectors of that series. But it is simply lack in gameplay and replay value. If you wanted a game that would last you a week or two, then this isn’t your game. There is little to do, and nothing to unlock. Very sad, yet very true.