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Platform Filters:   All Platforms  Xbox   GameCube   PlayStation 2   PC   Game Boy Advance   Site Sections:   Updates  News   Games   Publishers   Developers   Reviews   Previews   Release Dates   Editorials   Glossary   Contact Us		Review:       8th September 2005: Outlaw Volleyball - Remixed  Beach babes and beach bums battle it out to see who can bump, set, spike and grind the best. Posted by Chris Snook - PlayStation 2,Xbox - UK and Europe Beach Volleyball. Sun, sand, beautiful babes in costumes that would be over sized if called skimpy and men who in their off hours act as body doubles for Greek Gods. A perfect world, perfect to get the Outlaw treatment in Outlaw Volleyball - Remixed. Set in the recognisable Outlaw universe with Characters including Killer Miller, Clem and introducing new ones like Trixie the college co-ed. The courts are also set in the reaches of areas seen in other Outlaw titles, fitting in seamlessly with those as you often think 'Hmm I know where that could be'. All this provides a nice element of continuity, whilst not worrying too much for those who are new to the series as a whole. As is usual we are treated to what could be called a bump and grind intro, where some of the major players are shown strutting their funky stuff and giving us a look as to what could be in store later. From there it moves on and after creating a profile it's time to start playing one of the various different types of game out there. Ranging from the Exhibition mode through to the Drills and Online if you have an adapter for broadband. Whilst the Tour mode is the one where the emphasis is places the others all have a role. Exhibition matches are where you get to hone your skills and practice what you learn in the Drills, handy little short practices where you can gain points to improve your players abilities and build your understanding of the way the game works. Not to mention unlock a couple of snackies whilst you are at it. Games can be set up with various options, number of points to win, number of sets and the like and if you find you are loosing there is in true series fashion the opportunity to engage in the noble art of battering one of your opponents into oblivion. Again it is nice to see that an online mode is included, the more games have them the more they will be used and indeed in the rankings there are over a hundred players who have been online, though the frequency of games at anyone time is variable. There are flourishes all throughout, little bits and bobs of animation that add to things. Comments by your players as they wiggle their booty when you pick them and detailed routines as they get introduced. Sneakily, if a player is selected more than once there is no second intro for them, and they get "And here is someone who needs no introduction… they already have had one." Visually, apart from the obvious attributes of many of the participants, who are up close well defined and look good in their various costumes, falls apart slightly when play begins. Swooping from a just over the shoulder view when serving through to a higher viewpoint that instantly removes you from the action the default camera option disassociates you from the action. This can be altered but none of the camera options available really please the eye, ironically the action camera, where it zooms about like a BBC weather map is the better option. Everything moves well and bounces fine but with the requirement to be practically pixel perfect in where you are standing to do anything useful and missing that point by just a fraction makes any camera view awkward and less than satisfying to use. Of the courts, the best looking one is on an aircraft carrier, there are things moving in the background, radars and the like. Others include a Jungle setting and on the Antarctic, presumable to decide who the coolest player around is. Audio wise, apart from the odd sassy comment and pithy remark the only voice heard is that of the announcer. Which whilst following the series pattern is a hindrance. Them comments fall flat, often repeat themselves, making you wonder if they just ran out of ideas. Further the delivery is flat, with none of the verve of other titles in the Outlaw series and they are often just not funny more than once. Spot sounds do their job, with sounds of the ball being bounced around and the odd grunt or exclamation from the court and the occasional cheer. The saving grace is the music, normally the style of hip-hop and cool tunes would irritate but on this occasion they were welcome, if only to ignore the banal comments for a while. How long you keep playing will depend on how persistent you are. There are gameplay flaws that fairly quickly manifest themselves and they do impact on that critical replay factor, more so when the only incentive is to see how many of the fifty different costumes you can unlock per character. Including one of the blurb selling points - the string bikini's. The controls by turns feel busy and over sensitive. Providing a clumsy system to get to grips with, you have to move to where you think the ball is going, then line up your response to it, lock it in and then execute your move, all in a few fractions of seconds, this is accentuated by the near perfect positioning required. Very quickly any sense of fun starts to evaporate as the ball thuds once more onto your side of the court, repeatedly. Seemingly with no respite other than a few lucky points. Plus the controls cannot be reassigned to a layout that makes more personal sense. After time it is possible to adapt but by then many may have decided to go play pong. The bonus fighting elements too add little, other than to make it fit the series, moves are limited and occasionally the responses are lacking in crispness of delivery they often slow the game down, bogging you into trying to cause mayhem and like the Drills, the first time they are novel after that they are take it or leave it. There is none of the expected swagger, that self-confident belief in itself that has been present in other Outlaw based games. The vivacity of delivery is lacking and there is a feeling that things have been rushed and a little unfinished. There is style, quite a lot of it but it rapidly peels away to reveal not a lot of substance beneath and whilst the eye candy is considerable it cannot sustain a game on its own. Chris Snook             Latest Images:		Review Scores:    Graphics:   Sound:   Gameplay:   Length:   Overall: Click here for our Review Score Guidelines.  Review Summary:  Disappointing return to one of the more novel series, Outlaw Volleyball - Remixed fails to deliver a killer set or spike to the opposition. Floating about with a clumsy and over-laden control system that can bewilder the user, Outlaw Volleyball is at times pretty looking with cute aspects but also lacks the swagger of the other Outlaw titles that managed to carry them over the flaws of their gameplay.  Related Games:  Outlaw Volleyball - Remixed for PlayStation 2  7  Screenshots  1  Review Click here for All Game Information.
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