Game Review: Bump Set Spike! (Commodore 64, Entertainment USA)

Bump Set Spike!, Commodore 64, Entertainment USA - USA0110
  • 6/10
    Score - 6/10
6/10

Summary

Bump Set Spike! does attempt its best to be a volleyball game, with both the indoor version and the beach outdoors version in one game.  Despite the welcome addition of some funky Rob Hubbard music, the game can be quite difficult to master at first, with a computer opponent that is tough to beat with one or two players.  In two player competitive mode it is much better and at least both players are about equal most of the time, meaning that you can at least battle it out very closely between you.  Overall, a decent start for the Entertainment USA label.

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Bump Set Spike! (or Volleyball as it says on the title screen) is the first Entertainment USA release, with software being sourced from the USA and then distributed over in the UK.  For a number of these releases, they would be further enhanced for the Commodore 64 in the UK with the addition of music by leading musicians, and this also gave Mastertronic an opportunity to convert the game to other formats.  In this case, the game got a Spectrum and Amstrad conversion later.   Ken Grant had programmed several games already including Slapshot and Battle Through Time, and Five-a-Side Soccer would also get a MAD release.

On the Volley

The game loads up and you are presented with several options.  This includes a choice of nine difficulty levels, with three speeds and three difficulties represented for these nine.  You can choose one or two players against the computer, which is a nice touch to have a co-operative mode, and two players against each other.  You need to move up and down for the players, and left and right for the difficulty – which you can easily forget to do and press fire for the next screen.  You can select the beach or indoor court, and enter the team names too.  The computer on this version shows up as Team Commodore and is a very tough opponent.

Rallying On

When you start the game, you will serve, and holding down the fire button moves a cross on screen which determines where the ball will land.  The opponent then moves to where the cross (marked with X) is, and if in the right position, readies for the return in the direction the player is facing, so you can for example face diagonally or down if you want to do the bump set and spike moves, although the spike can be more difficult to master – being directly under the cross (X) and then pressing and releasing fire just as the ball gets to the X.  The player you are controlling is also highlighted in a darker colour in one player mode against the computer, you are on the right-hand side of the court with dark blue being the active player instead of light blue.  In two player co-op mode, you are one each colour with port 2 being the light blue player.

Each difficulty level within each speed also indicates what the computer will do.  So, on the slow speed (1-3), 1 is where the computer will pretty much return the ball straight away, 2 is where they might do the second move (a set) before returning, and 3 is the full bump set spike experience, with the computer spiking. Net fouls are also penalised in the two harder difficulty levels too.  You may find though that the slow speed is a little too slow and you are waiting round for the ball to be returned.  The upshot is though you do have more time to position your player for the return, so it is a balance between time and intricate moves.  Generally, I found level 7 (fast but easy difficulty) meant you could pop the ball over the net with the computer having no reply on return, and scoring points.  As per the rules of the time, points could only be scored on serve, so you had to break the serve first before then converting that.

On the Beach

The indoor court very much has all the razzmatazz of a high school with the crowd cheering along and the court being easily marked out.  When you go to the beach though, it feels more like a party.  The beach does seem to have grey marks on it, not sure if these were meant to represent craters in the sand or something else, and you will see birds flying past in the background as well as a boat with a water skier – a nice touch that.  Unfortunately. with the cross being the same colour as the marks, sometimes you cannot always see where the cross is if it clashes, which is a bit of a shame.  That said, it does at least give you the feel of play and like the indoor court, setting up some good moves is possible to try and score points which is a good thing.

Set for the Spike

When pausing the game with RUN/STOP, you can also change the speed of the game (F1, F3 and F5) as well as toggle between the music and sound effects (F7) should you wish to.  The option for speed change is welcomed as you may find the game too slow and at least you can change it mid-game without having to go all the way back (as F8 here quits the game too incidentally).  I certainly found that in the faster modes you could put a nice little dink over the net and the computer would not be able to get it, whereas ironically in the slow mode, the computer would get that every time and was much harder (ironically) to score any points.  Ideally the players should have had the speeds changed too but this appears not to have been implemented, which may cause frustration at being unable to beat the opponent on what may seem to be the “easiest” level.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Bump Set Spike! are average, with the depictions of the indoor and beach courts acceptable, and the beach looking much worse for wear with what the craters in the sand looking more like dog droppings.  There is some nice background animation as mentioned though.  The music is where the game really excels, and Rob Hubbard has two tunes here – one for each court, with the funky sounds really adding to the action as you enjoy it being blasted from the SID chip.  Notably there is a ghetto blaster on the outside of the beach court, and speakers in the indoor court, which adds to the feel of it being played in the background.  The sound effects are minimal, just for options selection only and if you switch them in during the game, effects for ball bounces, referee’s whistle and the birds going past on the beach.  No wonder the music was added in.

Final Thoughts

Bump Set Spike! is a reasonable attempt at bringing volleyball to the masses.  The sport was not that popular in the UK so it was a calculated risk (although the indoor version had a sizeable European following at the time) but at least with the two-player competitive mode you could have a court battle against each other to score the points needed.  The computer opponent is difficult and generally picking a faster mode with easier difficulty levels (number 7 in the options) evens things up a little.  It does require a fair amount of practice to get close to winning. As a game to play with friends in the two-player mode, that is where it comes into its own and it is well worth it for that.

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