Surprisingly the simple answer is no. Surprising because Summer Heat is brought to us by the same team that also served up the controversial BMX XXX. But also because it concentrates more on fundamental gameplay, teamwork and a healthy dose of actual game content than just falling back on shallow sexploitation. Sure there's a little jiggle here and there but it's minimal really amongst everything else. As the only volleyball game so far released on the PS2 and at a budget price to boot, that's just what the doctor ordered as far as we're concerned. Oh and for the female gamers out there who still aren't convinced, Summer Heat actually includes male characters to choose from distinctly setting it apart from the likes of DOAX and Sega's Beach Spikers for GameCube.

So what we have here then is a slightly more in-depth volleyball game than you might have first imagined. It's quite easy to pick up and play after first learning the basic moves, all neatly presented we might add in the adequate Training mode. The action is strictly 2-on-2 and play is based mainly around serious competition in the Arcade and Summer Heat US Tour modes. More on modes later.

Continue reading...