Review: International Volleyball 2009

Some fun in volleyball games

Before International Volleyball i had my doubts again. The third time testing a sports game for a sport that doesn’t had many games. One failed (Handball Simulator 2010), one was surprisingly good (Rugby Challenge 2011). This one? It’s in the middle of those two.

Serve's up!: You can serve in three different ways in IV2009.

Again, I thought this would be a game with a lot of controller trouble, but it really isn’t. If you enter training mode as soon as you start the game, you will learn that volleyball on the computer is really easy. It’s basically four or five buttons you use a lot. Then you have your own choice what kind of shot or serve you are going to use and it really doesn’t matter if you hit the right buttons, as long as you hit one of them. The game is surprisingly fun and good for some time, but gets boring when playing long matches. Volleyball isn’t the ultimate sport to make a PC game from.

Not again: I didn't even know Luxembourg had a volleyball team.

Got this one: I got all the time in the world, piece of cake to catch this one.

That being said it simulates volleyball the way it should be done. You sometimes feel that you play volleyball for real and even if the graphics doesn’t match on the pitch, the game got some cool animations. The replay feature where you see the point ball from the net is also brilliant. The audio isn’t really so good, but I heard the crowd shouting for their national teams several times. Credits for bringing that in the game. This game surprised me a lot and is a lot of fun, but not for too long.

Failed blocking: If you don't stand right in front of the shot, you're not going to block it!

Gamescore

International Volleyball 2009 (2009)

Graphics: The graphics hasn’t been in the creators mind for one second and everything looks pretty boring. Some fine animations now and then, but it isn’t enough to bring the score upstairs. 2/10

Audio: There isn’t really much sound present, but you’ll have the basic volleyball sounds you’re problaby so familiar with. The audience was unusually loud sometimes and this made this game a lot better. Nothing is worse than playing in front of an audience that just sits there and shuts up. 4/10

Gameplay: A very fun game indeed. Full of surprises these “not so famous” sport games. Well, it’s fun for one or two matches, but then things start to get to familiar to what you just watched. No licenses of real volleyball players and every player are named from “Number One” and further. Would have been funnier if they at least used real fake names. 5/10

Controls: As mentioned, the controllers looks tricky at first eye, just like Rugby Challenge. After some practice and the gaining of skills, you will manage to get some points. Maybe not win some matches, because the game is pretty hard, even on easy. You steer all the players on your team as if they were just one and this works very well! 8/10

Overall Score: International Volleyball 2009 isn’t a big game and maybe I’m giving it some sympathy votes, but the game was actually pretty fun for a while. As this one being the only volleyball game I know of (except for blubby volley), it’s get the first place on volleyball games list hall of fame! 5/10

Review: Rugby Challenge 2011

The next great sports game!

From earlier experience i am no longer that person who jumps highest, when someone makes a sports game no one has tried before, thanks to the Handball simulator. I’ve should have done that this time, because Rugby Challenge really qualifies as a fantastic game and simulator of the Rugby Union. Let’s hope the series is going to continue in the future.

Three points!: Why walk when you can jump to glory?

Not everyone knows really what rugby is and i am one of those people, but even so, this game was a extreme pleasure playing. I have seen some Rugby matches in my life, but haven’t really paid enough attention to what’s really going on the pitch. Now I know! Rugby isn’t just about kicking and punching people to the ground, running straight forward and hoping for the best or a brainless form of a sports game. I now understand that this is an intelligent and tactical type of game, very similar to soccer.

Still big brother: England is one lenght better than Scotland in this game.

So good: The opportunity to just hug each other is there.

There is no problem if you don’t understand, because the makers of the game, from New Zealand of course (The biggest rugby nation), have made tutorial videos with rules and everything else you need to know. They have also made a pretty big tutorial to learn the game buttons and how you play. After this tutorial i went straight out in the game and had an extreme good time.

Beginner?: Learn rugby on 1-2-3!

Get away!: Sometimes, it's better just to kick the ball!

The gameplay is very good and the games you play feel very, very real. The graphic in this game is also one of the best I’ve seen in a sports game lately. Those of you who follow rugby closely, will definitely recognize the players who are in the game. The game has a lot of licensed club teams, but not so many national teams. The two of the world’s best team are anyways licensed (Australia and New Zealand), so that’s pretty good I guess. There is also a bunch of stadiums to choose from, but not all licensed here either. You can play exhibition matches, practice, World cup or play any of the in-game leagues. Those are by the way ITM Cup (New Zealand), Super Rugby (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), Aviva Premiership  (England), Top 14 (France) and Pro 12 (Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy). This game clearly did take me by surprise, because i had no expectations for this to be good at all. It was a gladly new meeting!

Only just: The touchdowns never looks the same.

Bend it like Beckham: Just what it's all about

Gamescore

Jonah Lomu’s Rugby Challenge 2011 (2011)

Graphics: Looked good from the moment i saw it. Great player models, great look-alike rating and great motion when the players are barking into each other, because that happens of course too. The stadiums in the game are also wonderful, when looking on them, for real! 9/10

Audio: It was a surprise to me that the commentaries were so good, because they are actually on level with FIFA. Not exactly, but right behind. A long way ahead of PES if i could compare to soccer games commantaries. The sound on the pitch is also good and you will get the rugby feeling any time. 8/10

Gameplay: Here, i got tired after a bit. The game is extreme fun the first hour, but so on, it slowly starts to die. It’s maybe because i don’t watch rugby a lot? After a while, i just feel like the matches are all like and i am starting to get points the same ways it did the match before. Anyways, it helps with a little break, then you can play again, so it feels fantastic. 7/10

Controls: The first time I layed my eyes on the control setup, it wasn’t happy. There is a lot of things to think of in this game and you have a lot of buttons to push. Even so, the makers have edited this pretty good in the game and the buttons you have to push during special locations, comes up under the match. After a match or two, you will get the hang of it and then it’s time to become the ultimate rugby champion.  8/10

Overall Score: One of the best sports games this year, no doubt! Came from out of nowhere and raised my rugby interest to the maximum. I’m clearly going to start to watch a lot of rugby from now on. One of the game’s strongest card’s is the graphic sequences, who is really beautiful sometimes. They also give us a lot of creative celebrations after a touchdown. This game is a must if you’re into rugby and if you’re not, you are going to be after you tried this game. 8/10