My first half-hour with Summer Heat Beach Volleyball (contrary to what Kylie Minogue subliminally tried to tell me via song every single time I started a match) was anything but "love at first sight." No camera angles worked well for me, and all the different-colored arrows on the court only led to confusion. And did I really need controls as complex as these for an arcade volleyball game?

Soon enough, though, something just clicked. I started to get it. The camera worked well, the arrows suddenly made sense, the controls felt natural, and I legitimately started to enjoy myself.

My A.I. counterpart and I surprisingly made quite the team, as she was every bit as capable a player as me and usually moved to the ball like she would if she were a human being. If a mistake was made, it was usually by me. I also liked hearing the players communicate in voices consistent with their nationality—subtle but nice.

Wanna know the most surprising thing about Heat? It isn't gratuitous—and we're talking the publisher of BMX XXX here. Sure, it features plenty of bikini-clad v-ballers, but that comes with the culture of the sport (besides, you've got just as many buff dudes to choose from). There are no suggestive hugs like in GameCube's Beach Spikers...and no scenes of players feeding strawberries to each other, as in Xbox's DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball. It actually focuses on solid gameplay. What a concept.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.