''Summer Heat Beach Volleyball'' is a

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released by Acclaim in 2003 for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

gaming console.

Gameplay

''Summer Heat'' follows the basic rules of the sport of beach volleyball. Two teams of two players each face off in a sectioned-off area of sand that serves as the playing area. One player serves the ball, and play begins. The objective is to land the ball on the ground within the play area of the other team's side. Players alternate hitting ("volleying") the ball, up to three volleys per turn, and the ball must travel over the net no later than the third hit. The game supports up to four players, though the use of a

multitap :''Multi-tap also refers to a text-entry system for mobile phones.'' A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be used in play, similar t ...

accessory is required for three and four player games. ''Summer Heat'' is styled similarly to other

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

-style volleyball games of the era, where there is an emphasis on the

sex appeal Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, o ...

of the

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coveri ...

-clad female characters as well as having the overall tone and atmosphere of a summer beach party.

Music

''Summer Heat's'' soundtrack features music from

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

Sum 41 Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. Originally called Kaspir, the band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason "Cone" McCas ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

Sprung Monkey Sprung Monkey is an American band that originated in San Diego, California, United States, initially active from 1991 to 2002, and again since 2005. Sprung Monkey consisted of five members, Steve Summers (vocals), Mike Summers and William Riley ...

, Freshmaka, and Suburban.

Reception

The game was released during a period where volleyball video games were experiencing a period of renewed popularity for the first time in many years, although it received considerably less hype and critical praise than its contemporaries ''

Beach Spikers ''Beach Spikers'' is a beach volleyball video game released in Japanese arcades in 2001. The game was developed in-house by Sega AM2 and published by Sega. A GameCube port, renamed ''Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball'', was released in 2002 ...

'', ''

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a beach volleyball game by Tecmo released in 2003 exclusively for the Xbox. The game was a departure from the rest of the '' Dead or Alive'' series which otherwise consisted of fighting games. It also marked the first game in the series to ...

'', and ''

Outlaw Volleyball ''Outlaw Volleyball'' is a video game based on the sport of volleyball. It was originally published for the Xbox and included a sampler CD of tunes by cover band Diffuser. It was later ported to the PlayStation 2 with two new courts and a handfu ...

''. It received "mixed" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The game was one of several poor-selling titles that would lead to Acclaim's bankruptcy in 2004.

Future

In 2006, Canadian game publisher

Throwback Entertainment Throwback Entertainment is a video game developer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History In 2006, Throwback announced the purchase of the Acclaim Entertainment library, consisting of over 190 titles such as ''Iggy's Reckin' Balls'', '' Extreme ...

acquired the

property rights The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically ...

for ''Summer Heat Beach Volleyball'' from Acclaim. Throwback had planned on developing another ''Summer Heat'' volleyball game for release on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

, but there is no word on the status of such a game. ''Summer Heat Volleyball'' is expected to keep its identity and will not be dissolved or merged.

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/ps2/summer-heat-beach-volleyball 2003 video games Acclaim Entertainment games Beach volleyball video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games featuring female protagonists Multiplayer and single-player video games