The Bottom Line: Volleyball itself is too repetitive for me to give this 4 stars, but inventive innovation pushes OV to the top of the volleyball heap. A 3.5-star rating is more accurate.
In what has become a strange trend in gaming, 2 on 2 volleyball games have come on the scene in increased numbers as of late. This, in my opinion, is an attempt to capitalize on the success of Virtua Tennis, which has to be right up there with Tecmo Bowl in terms of pick up and play sports fun. Unfortunately, the most high profile volleyball game, Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball, seemed to be more of a vacation simulator, and not even Sega, the makers of Virtua Tennis, could recreate the magic in Beach Spikers. Now we turn to the Outlaw gang from Simon and Schuster Interactive, who invaded the golf scene last year with an edgier, more mature brand of humor and some innovative game modes, but a game that ultimately fell short of such country club heavyweights as Hot Shots and Tiger. Although Outlaw Volleyball (OV) doesn't deliver a Virtua Tennis-caliber experience, the absence of greatness in the volleyball genre makes this a game worth checking out.
Playing OV was a roller coaster ride for me. At first, I was frustrated by the camera, which was either so close that it cut off the path of the ball, or so far away that by the time I picked up the path of the ball and began to move over to where it would land it was too late. I also began to develop a loathing for the "edgy" humor, which I felt was over the top and forced, especially in light of what I call "wrestling profanity", where low-level cuss words like "hell" and "damn" are inserted in places that they really don't need to be in order create a kind of "edge" that pushes the limits of PG-13 (like when the announcer says "I've never been more excited about a serve!.. and that's about how damn exciting my life is,"). After a spike in frustration (no pun intended), I exited out of a game in progress and decided to explore the main menu to see what all this game had to offer. I had already been through the tutorial, which wasn't playable for some reason and lacked a "coping with a bad camera" section, so it wasn't much help. Then, I stumbled upon the "drills" section, which offers mini-game challenges that are ripped straight from Virtua Tennis, but nonetheless helpful in honing your skills and improving the abilities of your character. Essentially, it opened my eyes to a few subtle nuances that were not covered in the tutorial, and from that point on I was a changed man.
With a renewed sense of fervor I tackled the game head on, diving right into the heart of the single player experience: tour mode. This consists of a whopping 50 challenges that allow you to unlock new threads for your character, new drills, and more venues and characters for multi-player. I slowly began to tolerate the camera, previously a roadblock on the highway to gaming bliss, and to think a bit more about positioning, which is the key to volleyball in general, but especially crucial in this game. I began to see a previously maddening panoramic camera angle as a way to put more emphasis on the strategy of position, but I also continued to extend my middle finger at a still maddening claustrophobic view that cost me many a point. Now in a relatively calmer state, I found myself chuckling at some of the announcer's quips and the various player reactions that are displayed after every single play.
I was now genuinely having fun playing Outlaw Volleyball, the tour mode offers a substantial amount of variety in terms of gameplay innovation that will make you temporarily forget that all you're doing is bumping and spiking over and over. OV has instituted a turbo button, which, when held, can speed up your player, or trigger a super serve or super spike, which are devastating when used in the right situations. The game modes, however, is where the variation is at its highest level. You can play regular volleyball with either side out (only the serving team can score points) or rally (whoever wins the volley gets a point) rules, or you can sink your teeth into Hot Potato, where a timer appears at the top of your screen, causing the ball to explode when it runs out with whichever side it happens to be on at that particular moment losing the point as their players fly across the screen. There's also the option of Time Bombs, which appear at the spot where the ball lands after a kill. Starting with the next volley, the bomb's fuse will slowly shorten and when it explodes anyone in the vicinity will be rendered unconscious for roughly 5 seconds, which is significant when you consider that there are only 2 people per team. Timed games are also available, and come with the variation of casino mode, which rewards the team that wins each point with a running pot that starts at $1 and increases the longer a volley goes. The team with the most cash when the clock runs out wins the game, so even though you're losing in terms of points, you still have a chance if you win a few long volleys.
The tour mode mixes in all of these innovations rather well, and throws in some tournaments and worthwhile unlockables for good measure. Ultimately, when the 50 events are combined with the challenging drills, you can get a substantial amount of single player time out of OV. The drills, as I said before, borrow heavily from Virtua Tennis. In one, you have to spike various targets that are scattered across the court, much like Virtua Tennis' overhead mini-game. After completing each drill, you will get 12 points to enhance your player's abilities. You can distribute these among 4 categories: offense, defense, power, and speed. Multi-player is fun too, but it takes 3 or 4 games before someone gets used to the Outlaw style of volleyball. This learning curve isn't exactly due to the fact that OV puts more emphasis on strategy than other volleyball games, but rather the camera that was obviously held back a year in middle school, and the relatively slow speed of the players, which will frustrate most gamers, like myself. Another staple of the Outlaw series is fighting; this was a pretty nice feature in Outlaw Golf, where you got to let off some steam after a few bad shots by beating up on your caddy. This was governed by timed button presses that cued preset animations, but in OV, you actually get to fight in real time, which turns out to be real time wasted.
Here's the skinny on fighting: you get a punch button, a kick button, a block button, and a special move. The fights are under a 30-second time limit and played out in 2-d form. As you can tell from the lack of variety in the controls, you don't have much to choose from, and this makes for some crappy fighting. Imagine a versus mode of the NES classic Kung Fu and you come to understand the caliber of combat you're going to get in this game. What's more, fighting doesn't really influence the outcome of the game in any way. Much like in Outlaw Golf, you have a momentum meter that changes based on your caliber of play. Unlike Outlaw Golf, however, momentum does not make your character that much better or worse. In Outlaw Golf, a low momentum meant tougher shots and bad bounces, so a good caddy beat-down meant an increase in momentum and a better chance at success. OV's momentum, on the other hand, carries the same weight as a UPN sitcom, and the beatings aren't even fun to give! Even masochists will cringe in dismay as they receive blows. Add to the fact that in my entire time in tour mode, yes all 50 events, the computer only initiated a fight one time. Or, in the world of wrestling profanity, one hell time.
Even though the wrestling profanity is there, there are some chuckles to be had. The majority of the characters are dismissible, but there are a few that truly shine. Namely, El Suave, a veteran from Outlaw Golf that is a chauvinistic ladies man. Scrummy O'Doul, an over the hill Scottish soccer-fiend, is also a hoot, uttering "I freakin' got it" in text-book Scottish form each time he pursues the ball, and performing a bicycle kick as his super-spike move. The announcer can get annoying after awhile, but even he is funny at times. The majority of character interaction comes in the form of post-volley player reactions, which are a waste for the most part, and become annoying despite the fact that they are skippable by simply pressing the A button. Too bad you have to press the A button after every single point, confirming my suspicion that Simon and Schuster released this game only as a front to increase sales at their secretly owned e-business A-buttons.com. The best part about the game is that you can turn anything off that you find annoying in the options menu.
A big part of the "Outlaw edge" is the revealing clothing and jiggly breasts. Too bad I don't want to see Scrummy O'Doul in a thong; I mean, why extend it to the guys? I can deal with no shirt, but thongs are taking it too far. As an objective reviewer, however, I should note that polished graphics and excellent lighting complement Scrummy’s butt nicely. This extends to the entire visual package, where everything looks and moves realistically. There are only 2 visual hiccups, with the most obvious being the clumpy "Dreamcast hair" that acts as a cohesive block rather than individual stands of hair. Also, longhaired characters often have their locks disappear into their back, which is inexcusable on an Xbox-exclusive title. The other hiccup is minor, but it peeved me nonetheless, yeah, I'm gonna talk about the menus. They are flat out crappy. In the background of the main menu is a grid-style pattern designed to mimic a volleyball net, but instead mimics Tron, a crappy 80's film that showcases the growing pains of CG animation.
Solid visuals are accompanied by a good showing in the audio department as well. The announcer, as I said, gets annoying, but turn him off and you get a clear path to some surprisingly good music. The soundtrack is mostly dominated by punk rock, but there are 3 or 4 rap songs that are really good. Sound effects do their job, but volleyball isn't exactly a sport that lends itself to sound effects excellence. In a weird promotional effort, a bonus CD is included in the package that contains 2 songs and a music video from the band Diffuser, whose name is prominently displayed on in-game billboards. The songs didn't tickle my fancy, but then again I'm not a big rock fan, and the fact that the music video is for one of the two songs that are included on the disc didn't make me smile either.
Overall, Outlaw Volleyball brings a lot of innovation to the table, but bad camera work spoils the fun early on. Get past this, though, and you will enjoy this game. Xbox Live connectivity is also included, so you can get some serious replay value after you've conquered the lengthy tour and drill modes. At first, Outlaw almost made me want to go see Gigli, but then it mounted a comeback and showed just how good of a volleyball game it was behind all of the edgy humor. Although the engine isn't as smooth as Beach Spikers, the game mode variety brings a better overall package to the table, especially in terms of replay value. The biggest negative on this title is the sport of volleyball itself, which is basically the same thing over and over, a fact that OV does a great job of hiding for a while. If you like volleyball games, this is a must have, to others it is a toss-up, for it will strike a chord with some but not everyone.
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