You're not done with the gift giving once you get a partner. You'll
need to keep your partner happy (indicated by the number of musical notes
floating above her head) or risk losing her to another woman. So part of
your daily routine will include shopping for gifts for your partner and for at
least one other woman in case your partner leaves you.
This "dating simulator" aspect of the game is a bit odd, to say the least,
but there are plenty of teenaged boys who will probably enjoy watching bubbly
bikini-clad ladies exchanging gifts and jumping with glee because they got a new
frying pan. Unless you fall into that category, though, this bizarre
ritual will grow tiresome once you figure out what each woman wants ... and
which one will throw an expensive diamond into the trash. When your
swimsuit and accessory gifts are appreciated, the recipient will wear them the
next day out on the island. Since you can wear any swimsuit or accessory
in your collection as well, the game has a "paper doll" aspect to it. In
fact, if it were not for the gambling and the persuasive sexual undertones to
the game, it would have made a great game for younger girls in their Barbie
years.
Another activity on the island is girl watching, er, watching yourself.
If you take your gal to the island's pool or an unoccupied beach, you can watch
a short sequence of her frolicking, dancing, or some other type of lounging or
bouncing activity. While the sequences are random, you do have some
control over the camera. You'd think that a game that so prominently
showcases its women would give you complete camera freedom, but that's not the
case. The camera pans and changes angles on its own, and your control is
limited to zooming the camera and switching the camera between a couple of
angles. You can move it slightly, but the movement is really just a way to
stop the camera from panning. What's more, the zoom control is basically a crotch
and breast cam. This probably suits a good portion of the target
demographic, but if you're a legs man or want to check out the accessories your
gal is wearing you are out of luck.
 |
| Volleyball is a tiring sport. |
While relaxing poolside you can play a pool-hopping mini game. Floats
are placed across the pool, spaced at two different sized intervals, and the
goal is to make it across the pool as quickly as possible. The faster you
make it across, the more money you earn. Light taps of the buttons result
in short jumps, and presses in long ones. The problem is that the game is
not consistent in its interpretation of taps and presses. Sometimes the
game is easy and at others frustratingly difficult. In fact, sometimes in
the middle of play you'll go from finding it impossible to make short hops to
not being able to make a long jump to save your life. The mini game is
included as a way to make money when you find yourself partnerless, and as
practice for button pushing while playing volleyball. Oh, and of course to
watch your woman jump. However, due to the fickle controls and low
payouts, odds are you won't be playing the pool-hopping game much.
Another way to earn some extra scratch is to head to the casino. In the
casino you can play slots, roulette, blackjack, and poker. Roulette is the
only game you can play with the other women, but they only appear as static portraits
at the bottom of the screen as their bets materialize on the table.
Roulette plays by the standard rules, complete with the long odds.
Blackjack is just you against the dealer, but you can look at the gals in their
swimsuits on the card faces. The rules are pretty liberal, including
surrender and doubling down on any two cards. Poker plays like video
poker, but requires three of a kind to win instead of the standard jacks or
better. There are eight slot machines, each one themed after one of the
island's women. The odds are long, there's only a single pay line, and
some combinations will actually take additional money out of your pocket.
Play at your own risk. If you're looking for a gambling sim, there are
certainly deeper ones out there than this. But then again you're probably not
interested in this game for the casino gambling.
Now we finally get to the volleyball, which is supposed to be the heart of
the game, right? Right? The volleyball games are controlled with two
buttons: one to serve, spike, and block, and the other to set. The left
stick moves you around the court and can be used to adjust the direction of your
hits, but the latter seems to work more with sets than with spikes and serves.
You can use the right stick to position your partner, but it works out better
just to hang back a bit and let her automatically patrol the net.
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