|
PS2
FIVB Volleyball World Cup
- New Import, In Stock |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCS»
The first round of the FIVB Women's World Cup 2007
kicks off on November 2, 2007 at the Tokyo
Metropolitan Gymnasium and Spike front runs the
event with their release of Volleyball World Cup:
Venus Evolution. The cost of the game stands at
JPY6800 but we would have priced it at JPY4800 to
better reflect the market reality and potential of
the product. Alas, the cost of official licensing is
dear and Spike had to recoup the bulk of their investment from
retail sales. The other source of revenue that
Spike was able to obtain was in-game advertising
from Mikasa Sports, the Japan Volleyball
Association, and Fuji Television. The FIVB World Cup
banner also rings the arena.
The Japan Women's Volleyball Team is the featured
squad in the game which means their likenesses are
recreated in the game in fairly decent fashion. We
can sort of recognize super players like
Miyuki Takahashi
and the five freshmen of the 18-player team: Akiko
Ino, Masayo Eguchi, Midori Takahashi, Shuka
Oyama and Yuki Ishikawa. Finally, coach
Shoichi Yanagimoto also appears in the game. The
international teams that made it to the World Cup
are all in attendance and players may enjoy an
Exhibition Mode, the World Cup Mode, or a World
Championship Mode.
When the ball is in play, a green spotting cursor
focuses on the ball and the time to hit is when the
green outliner touches the boundaries of the ball.
The 13 teams in the game are from an
international base including the United States,
Poland, China, Brazil, Cuba, Korea, and others. The
motions of the athletes are fairly convincing in
terms of realism and their feints, jumps, and
spiking motions are reminiscent of watching a game
on some sports channel somewhere in the world.
When the girls win, they'll cheer and hug each
other as teammates will do. Strategy and combination moves may
be set up before the game begins in an easy-to-use
template screen where the four trigger buttons on
the Dual Shock are used to trigger moves and
strategies on the play field.
Jan Code: 4940261509170
|
|
|
NCS
Game Notes
» The
title screen features two pink colored volleyball
side-by-side with the continents shown upon them.
Frankly, they're designed to look like breasts.
Nice subtle exploitation.
» An announcer performs the play by play and the
girls smack hands with each other and hold their
hands to their hearts before the game starts.
There's pomp and camera flashes from the crowd and
the cheer is audible.
» The action moves reasonably well during a match
but the frames of animation aren't the best so
that the girls occasionally look like they're
sliding across the floor instead of walking or
running. When the ball is in play, the "X" and "O"
button markers will appear near the players to
show what's available in terms of moves to the
highlighted players. The "SQUARE" and "TRIANGLE"
buttons are also used to trigger other players
when the ball is moving around the playfield to
indicate who can smack it or pop it higher. In our
opinion, the markers detract from the visuals but
they are helpful for novices to learn the timing
and plays as they are triggered by the positioning
of the ball.
» The countries and their respective teams
featured in the game are:
Japan
China
Russia
USA
Brazil
Korea
Cuba
Italy
Kenya
Poland
Netherlands
Taipei
ORG
Each team differs in their Offense, Defense,
Stamina, Footwork and Jump as denoted on a
pentagon when a particular squad's flag is
highlighted.
» Exhibition game options include 1P vs COM, 1P vs
2P, and COM vs COM - that last option is for
checking out how the COM plays and sets up the
ball.
» An Exhibition Match (First Menu Selection)
starts with two announcers emceeing the event
followed by the team players smacking hands and
holding heands to their hearts as the camera
slowly pans across the arena and the players.
After the formalities are over, the girls are
shown practicing bouncing the volleyball at each
other. The action starts with a serve and te game
is under way as the players smack, pop, and dive
for the ball with the occasional spike. After a
score, the play is shown in slow motion.
» The bottom of the screen shows the playfield
from a top-down view and the different players are
represented by blue or red dots which represents
each side. The ball is represented by a white dot
that drifts across the area.
» The default move of the players on your team -
closest to the net is to push up against it with
their arms up to block any attacks.
|
|
This document is ©NCSX 2007. All rights
reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of
this document may be made without express written
consent of National Console Support, Inc. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
