Ultimate Beach Soccer
Score: 45% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: DreamCatcher Interactive Developer: Wanadoo Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: Even for a GBA game, Ultimate Beach Soccer looks pretty bad. The players are grainy and possess nothing but jerky movements, and there is no deviation in either their looks, uniforms, or where they play. A few of the animations for when a goal is scored (either for or against) are worthy of note, but all praise for the looks of this game end right there. The music and sounds are equally as poor as the visuals. The sound of someone kicking sand is about the only thing you'll hear, apart from the occasional unconvincing cheer of the crowd. The music is far from noteworthy, but fortunately you won't be hearing much of it.
Gameplay: Ultimate Beach Soccer is one of those niche sports that can only reach mass popularity outside of the United States. Unfortunately, if this game is any indication of the quality of this venue, it's no wonder it hasn't caught on here. Ultimate Beach Soccer pits two teams against each other in a soccer style game, except there are only 5 to a side, including the goalie, and the field is all sand. Games occur in three twelve minute periods, and the average score for a game is around eleven goals, all inclusive, meaning that things are fast paced and borderline chaotic. In theory, this should be a fun sport to play, and it probably is, just not on the GBA. The only options are exhibition matches and a couple of tournaments that can't be told apart from one another. The tournaments are also single elimination, so if you lose you're out, and if you win you get to do it all over again.
Difficulty: Ultimate Beach Soccer isn't a hard game to get the hang of, but it is a little difficult to begin to appreciate it after you've done the same thing for twenty minutes straight. Winning every game is by no means an easy task, and some of the controls are a bit quirky and may begin to frustrate less dedicated players, but overall there isn't anything too difficult to be found within this game.
Game Mechanics: As the GBA has a limited amount of buttons, Ultimate Beach Soccer also carries a limited amount of controls for you to utilize in the game. Pass and shoot will be your two main weapons, and as you get better at that you can utilize the derivatives thereof, like one time shots and thru passes. Unfortunately, controlling the actual players on the pitch is almost impossible. The computer sporadically changes your control of a player when you don't have the ball, and when you do, you often lose control of it for no apparent reason. Robot dogs playing this sport would look smoother than this game does in action. For all its simplicity, Ultimate Beach Soccer ultimately fails. The only game option, which is to play a game, isn't all that good, and will leave you with a hollow feeling inside if you play for too long, the same kind of feeling you get when you watch too much spirit crushing TV. If you have any interest in the actual sport of Beach Soccer, I suggest you stay away from this game so as not to tarnish any image you may already have of it.
-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications AKA Andrew Horwitz
Sonic Advance 2 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon