|
      |
          |
|
KLONOA BEACH VOLLEYBALL (PSOne) By TOM FAHEY I guess that would explain quite a lot when looking at the quality (or lack thereof) in Klonoa Beach Volleyball... This unique style of game consists of Pokemon-esque creatures playing beach volleyball (and not necessarily on the beach!) in a tournament-like fashion with weak ending sequences like those seen in the early days Street Fighter or even Mega-Man. What on earth were Namco thinking!?! It's beach volleyball, okay: A perfect opportunity to design some well toned women with their CAD programs (see DOA:BV). Instead we get weird little deformed and malnourished freaks. The character models have no arms, legs, or necks - just floaty hands and feet. Sigh... The game play is quite simple - on each side of the net, the court is split into nine sections. The ball can only land in one of these sections, and when it does, a little grid at the top of your screen, which represents the court's sections, will highlight the appropriate section of the court. If you get three sections in a row then you can perform a super shot and earn extra points. But you can win without the super shot - it's just an added bonus. You can block shots, counter them, or follow the basic protocol that would consist of volleying the ball and setting it up in a prime position so you can then unleash the fury of the try-hard Pokemon characters.
Then there's Championship mode where you take on a ladder-full of opponents. The greatest flaw in the game is that the towering ladder of opponents that stand between you and your impending ultimate glory is the grand total of five rounds. Boring!!! The graphics are slightly less than impressive, which comes as no great susprise. As said above, the character models are incredibly basic. The only body parts included in the models are the head, torso, hands and feet. And one would expect that if the models were going to be so simple, then the detail would be rather substantial. However, this is not the case. The sound is just sound. A bunch of little weird things making silly little noises and making bizarre gestures like: "I'm going to win!!" "Go team, GO!" Oh, and there is really annoying music that takes after the sonics found in Crash Team Racing. There really isn't much to Namco's new production, Klonoa Beach Volleyball. If you are a child, or you like very limited, childish games, then this is for you (Ed - speak your mind Tom!). However, I doubt too many of you fit under that category, so take my advice and steer clear of this game. Namco... you obviously have too much spare time. Do us all a favour and utilise it in the production of another Tekken.
ORIGINALITY 70%
|
Well,
I guess after Namco brought Tekken 4 to us on the PS2, they thought they
were entitled to have a rest from quality games. 
As far as game
modes go, you have the Training mode that speaks for itself, the Exhibition
mode where you can challenge the computer or a second, third or fourth
player. 
