Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 was the long-awaited follow-up to Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, surprisingly dropping “volleyball” from the title entirely. I suspect the developers realized most fans saw volleyball as more of a minor side activity than the actual draw of the game, so renaming the sequel accordingly made sense. I’d been a big fan of the original Xbox title, so naturally I was eager to pick up the Xbox 360 sequel, especially with the noticeable boost in graphics and hardware power, not that the original looked bad by any means.
Like its predecessor and much of the franchise, the main appeal here remains the attractive cast of women. Just like before, you can pick your favorite Dead or Alive character and watch her strut around in tiny bikinis. Thanks to the improved visuals on the 360, everyone looks considerably better than they did on the original Xbox.
The story mode didn’t leave much of an impression on me this time around. Zack, the series’ recurring character tied to the island setting, returns with a new love interest and plenty of over-the-top, chaotic energy. If he isn’t a deliberate parody of Dennis Rodman, I’d honestly be surprised.
That said, the story doesn’t add much substance overall, since nearly every character from the original game returns, with only one true newcomer, Kokoro, who had actually debuted in Dead or Alive 4 the year prior. Personally, Christie, Kasumi, and Lisa were my top three favorites, though honestly, picking favorites is tough since the whole cast looks fantastic. I made sure to dress all of them in bikinis, including a few genuinely scandalous choices.
Just like the first game, volleyball returns largely unchanged. It seems the developers didn’t take the earlier criticism to heart, since the core volleyball gameplay remains functional but unremarkable. It’s never frustrating, but it’s never particularly engaging either. It plays like a simple novelty, entertaining briefly before the appeal wears thin. Really, the main incentive to keep playing is unlocking new bikini options for the cast, including some fairly revealing choices.
There are also a handful of additional minigames, including one involving jet skis, if I recall correctly, but they all suffer from the same issue: they’re fun in short bursts but repetitive and tedious over extended play. The real motivation to keep grinding is simply earning currency to buy more outfits. If memory serves, the casino from the original also returned here, and that’s honestly where I spent a fair amount of my time.
In some respects, I actually prefer this sequel over the original Xtreme Beach Volleyball, though in other ways, the original still holds a special place for me. I think part of that comes down to the original simply being first, paired with the fact that I was admittedly much lonelier back then. I honestly can’t remember exactly what I paid for the 360 version, but I don’t think it was full retail price. I probably grabbed it at a decent discount from GameStop, and I felt it was worth every penny regardless. I was genuinely surprised to later learn that a third entry eventually released, though it stayed exclusive to Asian markets despite technically being region-free. By that point, I wasn’t particularly motivated to track down an import copy, though it’s still a little puzzling that Tecmo developed that game and then essentially abandoned a massive potential market for it.