Outlaw Golf 2 – XB – Review

There is a common trend in
sports games now days and many different developers are doing it. The new
“concept” is to take an ordinary sport and make it as extreme as possible. First
there was Outlaw Golf, NBA Street, then NFL Street, Outlaw Volleyball, and many
more. The idea is to do things that you normally wouldn’t see in an average
game, such as major hits, strippers, and drinking alcohol during the course of
the game. The developers of Outlaw Golf are back at it again in their sequel
that tries to “one up” its competitors in the extreme area. Does it work out?
Read on to find out!

There are plenty of different modes for this game that will keep players
entertained for some time. The modes are: Outlaw Range, Exhibition, Tour, and
Xbox Live Online. Outlaw Range is where you can practice all of the skills
necessary to play and beat your opponents. Exhibition is where you can play a
quick game, but to help deepen this mode, you can play with different settings
and styles of play that help keep this game from getting repetitive. Tour is the
real meat behind this game. In this mode you can unlock new courses, clubs,
outfits and many other things. This is where you will find out if you are the
greatest golfer around or just another “wanna be.”

Do a little dance…..

One of the best things
about Outlaw Golf 2 is the controls; it is so easy to use and so simple in
premise. All you have to do is pull back the analog stick then push it forward.
Even though this sounds extremely easy it can be just as tricky as real golf. If
you move your analog stick even slightly to the left of right you will come up
with a major slice which will put the ball no where close to where you want to
be.

A really interesting area of this game is the composure meter, and this affects
your game more than you will realize. The more that you screw up shots the worse
that your character will play, and the worse they play the more shots you will
mess up. When all hope seems to be lost, if you shoot a few good shots or take
out frustration on your caddie, your composure improve and you will start
playing better once more.

The graphics for this game are a mixed bag, while they do look better than the
first game; they don’t look as good as other golfing games that have already
been released this year. The character models are highly detailed, especially
the women in their scantily clad clothes. All of the animations for the
characters look really great. From the way that they hold the clubs to the way
they swing and follow through looks very realistic. The way that they move looks
very reminiscent of a real golf player.

Got to love playing in the snow.

Now it is time to move to
the not so good section of the graphics which is the spectators on the golf
course watching your every moment and the actual courses you play on. The NPC’s
that watch your every move look really shoddy in comparison to the main
characters. Of course this is to be somewhat expected, as spectators in sports
games never look that great, but in this game they look partially bad. The golf
courses are not “bad” per say, but they could look a lot better. The texture use
is nice but it lacks the polish that other games have.

One thing that really got annoying is the long commentary before each shot that
was made. At first it provides some interesting tidbits about the course or
other things that you might want to know. The thing about this is that by the
fourth hole, you will be skipping it just to get to play the actual game. It is
a shame that the developers made this feel like a chore to listen to, since it
is interesting but they should have shortened it up or only done it every few
holes.

Silence is needed while I make this putt.

The voice acting for this
game is also pretty top notch. The commentary’s voice is soothing and something
real nice and tranquil you might hear at a golf game. The characters have voices
that fir their personality. The music used for the game fits the personality of
it as well, nice and quirky. The sound effects are nice, from hitting other
people to smashing bottles of booze.

Outlaw Golf 2 includes something that people would have loved the first one to
have: Xbox Live functionality. That’s right boys and girls, this time you will
be able to take the rude and crude humor of your favorite golfing team online
and play against people from around the world. First of all this game supports
extra content, so if you see any new content on it you will be able to download
it and play with it. The game modes are for two to four players, and you can
either play at the same time or the old fashion way it is up to you. Players can
play a quick match, optimatch, or play in a tournament. There are plenty of
modes that will keep players entertained for hours on end.

Outlaw Golf 2 is rated M for mature for Crude Humor, Language, Sexual Themes,
and Violence.

Gameplay: 8.0
The controls for playing this game is really easy to use and works
really well. The only thing is if you just slightly move the stick to the left
or right during a swing it could cause havoc on your shot just like real life.

Graphics: 7.5
The graphics for Outlaw Golf 2 are pretty nice. The character models look
good and are nicely detailed. The animations for all of the characters are
smooth; from them swinging the golf clubs to throwing a tempter tantrum on the
course.

Sound: 7.3
The
commentary by Dave Attell is very nice sounding and funny. The music is good as
well, or if you don’t like it you can always play your own customized
soundtracks.

Difficulty: Medium
Once you figure out the controls the game becomes pretty easy. The
thing that will kill you is that stupid slice or hook when you take a shot.

Concept: 7.8
Just look at it, this game is a kin to Happy Gilmore on steroids,
everything that you aren’t suppose to do in golf, happens. Things such as
drinking booze on the field, hitting your caddies, and many other things. The
problem with this game is it has “a been there done that” feeling since the
first game came out. In other words the “shock value” of Outlaw Golf 2 isn’t
nearly as high as when the first game came out.

Multiplayer: 8.1
This game does support Xbox Live and it is always fun to play against
other people then with the computer AI. Best of all you can play a game
simultaneously so you will never have to wait for the other player to line up
his shot and take it. This really speeds up the flow of the game, and makes it
more enjoyable for everyone.

Overall: 7.9
Do you like games that are brand new and are marketed to gamers on a
tight budget? What about games that feature scantily dressed girls? How about
good gameplay mechanics and a solid online mode? If you answered yes to any or
all of these questions then Outlaw Golf 2 is a game that you should consider
picking up.