Kings of the Beach

The Good
While soccer, basketball and hockey titles are released in truckloads, volleyball games are really rare. Being someone who usually is in the mood for something different, Kings of the Beach scored its first points by virtue of being original. As the title indicates, the game is about beach volleyball instead of the regular volleyball. There are six players on a normal v-ball team; there are only two on each side during a game of beach v-ball, which enables the controls to be simple. KotB is a v-ball game with the basic bump, set, spike and block actions. Besides the keypad you use only three keys, so the game is easy to control.

KotB simulates the sport nicely and delivers some tense v-ball on your PC, with long rally’s and back & forth switching service possessions. The changing direction of the wind affects your service. The computer A.I. gets better as you progress in the tournament and you'll be up against some serious opposition when you play the final matches. The A.I. has no big flaws so there is no standard recipe with which you can win a game. The only flaw is that the computer doesn't block if you return the ball when you touch it for the second time. It seems to expect that you touch the ball three times. This does not affect the gameplay in a bad way.

Although the player sprites are a bit on the small side the graphics are O.K. The developers fully utilized the EGA color spectrum and the player animations are well done. I also liked the backgrounds. Finally the developers added some subtle finishing touches. You can knock over your opponent with a powerful smash and complain with the referee about a bad decision.

The Bad
Maybe the controls are too simple; you do not seem to be able to give any direction to the ball. The ball seems to go to a certain direction at random. Also it is hard to judge where the ball will go (when returned by the opposition), this is especially the case after your spike is deflected by a block. This makes backcourt play rather difficult. You’re advised to let your computer buddy do the backcourt play and concentrate on blocking at the net. The two player cooperative mode is thus a mission impossible. A final complaint: you need to win three consecutive matches before you receive a password.

The Bottom Line
The only playable v-ball game I know, in fact it is the only v-ball game I know besides the poor Arcade Volleyball. If you want to play a v-ball game I suggest you take this one. It’s a lot better than Arcade Volleyball .