With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, single young men have something to spend their money on besides a date — Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
In one of the more shameless attempts to attract young males’ eyes, Tecmo released Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball Jan. 22 for the Xbox. The game is merely a place for Tecmo to showcase their ability to design scantily-clad women.
“The game’s funny, but it’s sad that video game companies know to make games like these to make money from horny adolescents, or in this case, college boys,” said Alex Becnel, a studio art freshman.
Dead Or Alive began as a standard two-player fighting game on the Sony PlayStation. After two more fighting games, Tecmo decided to create a different type of game. The game features the female characters who appeared in Dead or Alive 3 and none of the men. However, instead of fighting, they play volleyball.
The game begins as Zack, the winner of Dead or Alive 3, lures all of the girl combatants to his island, telling them the next tournament will be held there. When they arrive, they discover there is no tournament and decide to have a two-week vacation instead.
Players begin by choosing their character and immediately are paired up with another girl from the game. They can choose to play volleyball, relax by the pool or talk to other girls.
The actual volleyball part of the game is a stripped down and slightly violent version of volleyball. The game is played using only two of the Xbox controller’s eight buttons, which keeps the design pretty simple and unimpressive. The game seems to do most of the work for players.
“Back when I was 10 or 12, I could get addicted to Super Spike V-ball and spend hours just playing that game, but I’d be much more interested to see scantily- clad women playing volleyball,” said Dan Day, a mass communication senior.
Volleyball is only part of the game. The game contains a slew of other features which promote one of the main themes of the game: sex appeal.
When characters are relaxing by the pool or other parts of the island, players are given control of cameras located around the character complete with zoom functions.
The game also contains a few shops where players can buy new swimsuits or other gifts for their character or one of the other girls. Each girl has specific tastes which players must pay attention to when trying to bribe them to join their team. If a girl doesn’t like the gift, she will throw it away.
The game also features a poorly-designed casino where players can gamble their winnings away and a pool game that is another way for the designers to make the girls move in interesting ways.
With plenty of swimsuits to put the characters in, from a pink nightie to a pair of jean cutoffs with strategically placed suspenders, players have some encouragement to keep playing. Players can also buy accessories for their characters like sunglasses or different colored volleyballs.
The real downfall of the game is the lack of plot. After the two-week vacation is done, there’s no real climax or ending. Players just start another two-week vacation.
“If you need to get your rocks off by watching virtual boobs on a TV screen, you’re a sad, strange, pathetic human being,” said Jennifer Bailey, a mass communication senior. “Especially because porn is free on the Internet and it’s actual people that you’re watching.”
The game also features a soundtrack including Christina Aguilera, Bob Marley and Reel Big Fish. Players can opt to use their own music by transferring to the Xbox’s internal hard drive.
The game is essentially a voyeuristic showcase with some elements of shopping, gambling and volleyball thrown in. For fans of the Dead or Alive series, it might be a fun rental, but it is a pitiful excuse for a game.