I played about an hour of the 360 version, and I was just bored and frustrated. I think that the premise is hilarious in a Refuge In Audacity sort of way, and I think that there could be a good game made using it, but they'd have to rebuild gameplay from the ground up. Like put in "adventure modes" harkening back to classic Legend Of Zelda or Rastan type platformer (with BIKINIS) gameplay with appropriately silly pallette swaps.
It's a pity that they have to beat around the bush (ahem) regarding the Girls Love, Dating Sim, and Gratuitous Nudity aspects, but really, American culture has enough problems with video games that we probably don't need that trouble yet. Let the first H-games be based on romance novels marketed to women, then, once Pandoras Box has been opened, maybe American gaming culture will be ready for an Extreme Beach Volleyball-type game that truly lives up to its Fanservicey potential.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary Gygax
To me, the biggest problem with the game has been that it's too girly for a male audience (the music is young teens pop, the whole dating sim angle) and too sexist for a female audience. Even if the game itself was bad it would be nice to be able to point out it's good bits. For it to some way alienate everyone, that's just stupid. To me it might work as a very guilty pleasure or if you're a big fan of the series and that's about it.
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Xtreme 2/Paradise Review
The whole Dead or Alive: Volleyball series has been continuously presented as one of the worst things ever made. They're little more than mountains of disgusting fan service, tied together with a microfiber-thin story and with no actual game to be found. Their mere existence demeans the equally fanservicey, but still awesome fighting series, and they should be stricken from this earth with fire and salt.
And then I picked up this unholy abomination for two bucks, just to finally see for myself. And after a couple hours, it struck me. The game isn't all that good... but it's not fucking terrible, either.
Granted, most of the criticism is perfectly valid. The plot is unspeakably stupid, especially compared to the "great for a fighting game" story from the main games. Everything pretty much exists just to excuse a bunch of martial artists running around an island for two weeks in the smallest bikinis ever imagined. And yet, it works. Really, there's not much to complain about technically. The graphics aren't that impressive, but then again, it's a first-generation 360 game. The controls are responsive, and some of the games are actually not that bad. (Except for that "flag race" game. It can go to hell.) I actually love the volleyball here; it's basic, but still a lot of fun.
As I mentioned, there's not a whole lot to the game. The premise is spread pretty thin to accommodate the fourteen game days. The developers tried to compensate by making you grind for just about everything. It's over 500,000 points. Want to give your partner a new swimsuit? You have to grind up your relationship values to a relentless degree, and even then, it's almost pure luck if she'll accept.
I also rented the PSP port, Paradise, just to see the difference. A lot of features and items were removed, but the things that remained were improved significantly. In particular, most of the grinding was eliminated; it's now far easier to get credits and unlock features. The new character, Rio, doesn't particularly fit the motif, but then again, it's just fanservice.
Once again, these are not great games, but they're not horrible. They're decent time wasters, and for what they are, actually pretty fun at times. If you can get past the blatant eye candy, grab a copy for next to nothing and give it a try.