Ahem! - Anyway, I have to say that this game was a truly pleasant surprise. It plays a pleasingly swift, flowing and accurate game that allows for more than a few tactics and techniques. It looks fine, not quite in Xbox-only DOA Xtreme's league but this is the 3 year old PS2 after all - the mixture of female and male characters look more 'Barbie & Ken' than realistic, but they're all nicely animated. The movement is sometimes necessarily sudden, but most of the animations and the way that the players interact with the ball (and each other) look great. They dust sand off themselves, do high tens and readjust their bikini tops (well, the girls do anyway). The ball will rebound off players if they don't position themselves correctly and even bounce off the net - AI players will even get in each other's way! A rally (particularly on the higher difficulty settings) can really take some winning. SHBV plays a super game with two, three or four, but a clever AI positioning system gives you some control over the non-playable character and makes the tour mode feel like you develop a real partnership.

   

There's an excellent tutorial to teach you how to play and you win unlockable stuff like 'Bradley's Khaki Shorts' and new players as you progress. Four settings (Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert) should keep everyone happy, and there's a six-round arcade mode and fun mini games to play as well. A selection of different courts and tunes by Pink, Sum 41 and Kylie give the game some visual variety and keep things bopping along.

All in all, an excellent fun beach game that'll hopefully remind us of the summer just gone. And most importantly for this genre, it has plenty of bikini and swimsuit-clad boobs and a zoomable slo-mo replay mode too.