I can't remember the last volleyball game that hit the PlayStation in North America, and perhaps that's because there never was one. There's a reason for that. Despite the growing popularity of volleyball worldwide, particularly beach volleyball, not that many people play it. But has at least gone out on a limb and brought us a game that no one has ever made. Does that mean, just like Tony Hawk, we will have a bombardment of volleyball games thrust upon us? At least Power Spike Pro Volleyball is, at its core, a good game. It's the visuals that cause most of the problems.

If this game were on the PlayStation 2 or even the Dreamcast it would instantly be a much better game. Normally, graphics follow gameplay in our list of priorities, but better animation, better character models, a decent frame rate, and well, a lot of other things, could have made this a more complete volleyball experience.

Sep 02, 2011 JPN vs USA in a battle for 3rd place game in Power Spike Pro Beach Volleyball. Sep 01, 2011 JPN vs USA in a battle for 3rd place game in Power Spike Pro Beach Volleyball.

As it is, Power Spike is a bare-bones volleyball game with a good game concept and little else. Gameplay I played a lot of beach volleyball while growing up; I took part in a six-man high school volleyball team as an outside hitter. I still like playing volleyball but I have never had the urge to play a videogame version of the sport. Perhaps it's because I have seen so few v-ball games, and the ones I have seen are really bad. But I do know that until I was forced into writing this review, I wasn't jumping at the chance to play it. Though I tried to avoid playing it, once I got the hang of the controls, turned out to be quite entertaining.

The thing about it is that as a two-player game, the game controls are amazingly good. Volleyball is sort of simple that way -- you hit, pass, block, serve, and set. You can hit strong, technical, or normal spikes, which bring a good amount of variety to the game, and the ability to aim your shots is especially key. To do this, aim a moving cursor around the opponent's side of the court before taking the shot. If the cursor were a little less jumpy, it would be even better.

Power Spike does take a bit of practice. I spent at least a half-hour in practice and still didn't know what was going on. Not until I played an actual tournament, and read the loading screen 'tips' section, did I know what to frickin' do.

For this game to really accessible, the practice mode could have been better conceived. Lots of tips should have been given to help in the very basics, such as timing a hit, timing a pass and setting the ball to specific places. Of course, I did learn these things in the easy mode of an exhibition, but this needs serious work.

For a good example of how to train a player, developer could have played about an hour of Virtua Tennis to get a glimpse of some fantastic training minigames. I would say that biggest weakness in Power Spike's gameplay is the missing sense of timing players will feel. A lot more focus on when to set up and when to spike would really have made the 'power' part of Power Spike a lot more satisfying.

As it is, I've won a few world tours and I still don't have the spiking thing down perfectly. Having said that, Power Spike is amazingly accurate in relaying a good two-man volleyball game. The AI is smart, playing the court with a surprising amount of finesse, blocking close sets, and hitting the ball in open spots.

Also, several aspects of the defense are well set up. Once you know where to set up on defense (taking the angle when your team mate goes up to block), and you get the timing thing down, you can pick up a lot of the defense's hits, creating long, intense volleys and enduring games. Ms-7254 Motherboard Manual here. To get the best spikes and passes, a set of circles appears in the sand to indicate the perfect place to stand or jump, and it's a helpful little indicator. With Power Spike, players can play in world tournament (a multinational round-robin tournament), exhibition (a single game), or a practice game (unlimited time). Zindagi Gulzar Hai Episode 1 Utorrent here. The Create-a-player mode is modest, but it provides the chance for players to build their athletes up, and that helps create a deeper replay value. You can set a good amount of game difficulty settings, such amateur, pro or all-star, and in Create-A-Player, you set up his or her looks, playing characteristics, and the attire.