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One of London's top two-man volleyball teams has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime: a free trip around the world. The only catch is that they must beat the host country's top team to be allowed to progress to the next. The first contest is in London, with the Houses of Parliament in the background, and Royal Guardsmen acting as the scorers. There are eight countries to visit in all, including America, Russia, Egypt and France. Each country has different backgrounds, tougher gameplay and a hilarious intro-sequence showing the two men arriving in the country. Alternatively, two human players can battle it out in London.

The rules of volleyball are fairly simple. A point is scored by making the ball land inside your opponent's half of the court, but only if you're serving. If not, you win serve, and the opportunity to score points. Once the ball crosses over the net it can be touched only twice before being returned. To win the game you must score seven points with a lead of two points. In the computer game, there's also a time limit, indicated by a rock jingle which starts up as time is near to running out.

Actually playing the game is straightforward too. To serve you press fire, throwing the ball up, then press fire again to hit the ball. As the ball crosses the net the screen pans to follow it, and when it comes back you're automatically given control of the nearest man. Unless you're blocking a smash (or 'spike' in volleyball-ese), your first move will simply to keep the ball in the air, allowing you to manoeuvre into position to hit it back. To begin with simply keeping the ball aloft will be enough to keep you occupied, but the more the play the more moves and tactics become apparent. It's perfectly possible to aim the ball as you hit it, but getting the knack takes practice.

Brilliant! All the fun of the real thing but without the risk of sunburn and getting sand in your shorts! The basic game is simple, but hard to master, making for great addictivity. To begin with, the way the screen pans can be a bit irritating, but you soon get used to it and the competitive action in two-player mode is immense. But even in one player mode, the sheer playability and great cartoony sprites make for a highly enjoyable game. A touch pricey perhaps, but otherwise highly recommended.

Yeah, Beach Volley! Now we're talking sun, beach bombshells, and bump, set, spike - roll on the next summer! It may be a little late in the year for a summer sport but what does it matter if it's as playable as this?

The typically Gallic, slick presentation really makes the game, with a great sense of humour and cartoon characters. I found the gameplay a shade simple, with not all that many moves to hand, and there isn't that much variety despite the changing backdrops and funny intermission screens.

Still, eight levels of increasing difficulty make a good challenge with plenty of red-hot playability.

Presentation 90%
Great intro and humorous intro screens really add to the atmosphere of the game.

Graphics 85%
Excellent cartoony main sprites, but the backgrounds could've been better.

Sound 87%
Sampled speech and some good rock 'n roll tunes.

Hookability 89%
Incredible, it's just so much fun...

Lastability 84%
...a Kick Off-style tournament would've been good, but there are a lot of tough levels in one-player mode.

Overall 85%
One of the most fun sports sims around.