Outlaw Golf 2 (Xbox)

If you ever played the original you’ll be well aware of the score here; take a motley crew of rednecks, strippers, wigga’s and playboys on a golfing tour that makes Adam Sandlers shenanigans in Happy Gilmore look like a well played out documentary. Outlaw Golf 2 is the closest thing to an ‘arcade’ golf simulation there is even if the words arcade and golf in combination do come across as something of an oxymoron.

Many of the original games elements have made it through to the sequel with a few subtle but important tweaks.Unlike the original games poultry three 18 hole courses, Outlaw Golf 2 (OG2) brings to the fold five all new courses and a remapping of the original games three bringing the total to 8 courses for the sequel. While the original courses are slightly altered they are easily identifiable and so nothing to dramatic, although its fair to say the team from Global Star Software have gone all out on the remaining unique courses. From the lush tropical jungles of the South America’s to the ice covered caps of the Tundra and the grand finale Psycho Sands; its designer now institutionalised since its completion. Psycho Sands presents without a doubt some of the most ingenius, jaw dropping and ‘laugh out loud’ worthy of holes to ever grace any video game. Taking cues from both historical and fictional accounts Psycho Sands presents holes only an acid tripper could envision; Alice in Wonderland, Roswell, Pirates, the beachfront landing of Soldiers during World War II, a giant Pinball machine (no joke) aswell as a host of others. Psycho Sands can only be described as the developers interpretation of a Mini-Golf course on some serious steroids.

Not to be outdone the cast of OG2 are equally larger than life. Each character portrays their own lifestyle (read: stereotype) of preference with a suitably paired caddy. All characters are immaculately rendered with little surprise the female members also sporting an array of suitably indecent outfits and antics ranging from the spoilt little rich princess to the lesbi-friendly stripper and just a little rough around the edges redneck girls. Special mention going to Suki the dominatrix and her gimp Puddin whom many will remember from the first. Equally outlandish are their male counterparts; Killer Miller and his caddy the parole officer, El Suave and his caddy that admires Suave just a little too much for comfort and little-white-boy-wannabe-big-black-rap-star Ice Trey. In all OG2 has lost a few of its original cast but gained a few in return.

All characters can have their attributes altered amd improved upon before hitting the links….and each other. The Outlaw Range offers you the oppurtunity to both level up and hone your characters chipping, putting and driving skills aswell as a few less than politically correct mini-games. Its at this point I have to be brutally honest and true to myself no matter how wrong this maybe: mere words simply cannot describe the hilarity of chipping explosive golf balls into a paddock of un-suspecting bovines. To see the ball sail calmly through the air only to land directly between a group of four or more cows sending them sprawling across the paddock with velocity is just so so wrong yet so so hilarious. Despite being unable to measure up to the hilarity of the “Cow-Boom” drill there are also a number of other socially appalling mini-games on offer.

It wouldnt be unfair to say that OG2 like the original heavily markets itself to those easily entertained by an assortment of ball and shaft gags or those that failed to mature beyond the age of 16. Despite this gimmicky premise OG2 is a surprisingly competent golf title with enough original idea’s and an overall level of technical polish that will keep players coming back well after its 15 minutes worth of laughs have expired. Aesthetically the game is exceptional; player animations have been beautifully motion captured (unlocking movies allows you to view the actors behind the outlaw golf crew side by side with their game counter parts) and the courses as weird and wacky as they are are beautifully brought to life with lush environments and an assortment of brilliant particle effects and a large draw distance.

Aurally OG2 features custom soundtracks though its worth mentioning that its own soundtrack supplied inthe most part by MTV Games are exceptional, some tracks seemingly specific to OG2 even managing to produce a level of quality they wouldnt sound out of place on any radio stations Top 50 lineup. Voice acting is equally up to par with the level of quality found in the soudntrack while the commentary provided by comedian Dave Attel, which can eventually become grating admittedly, is technically superb. All that would be for nothing if the gameplay itself wasnt up to scratch. Thankfully, like the rest of OG2 the golfing engine buried deep below the layers of comic, aesthetic and aural polish remains possibly one of the most solid of OG2 aspects. Similar to the original with only minor subtle tweaks OG2 remains not only fun but incredibly rewarding. Those who played the original will jump straight into this sequel with ease, others may need a good half hour to 45minutes to adjust; once you have however players will be consistantly firing off pars, birdies and the occasional eagles with ease. That isnt to say however that the game is easy as OG2 somehow manages to continually push even the most experienced of players.

This can be contributed to in part by the AI which consistantly manages to hover around the players ability meaning that a win is never out of reach; conversely a loss is also a leering presence until the very last ball has made its way into the cup. Also playing a part in keeping the player on edge are the variety of game rules which are applied to each individual tournament. This can come as both a positive or negative aspect of OG2’s Tournament mode. Each event throughout the tournament is played out by a series of alternate game rules meaning that finishing with the lowest score on each hole doesnt necessarily guarantee victory. Aside from the usual rule of ‘strokes’ players will spend just as much time playing on the basis of whom finishes the event with the most money, points as decided by the individual rules or even completing the course within a set time frame. In all there are a large number of different rules that can be applied to each individual Tournament as decided by the games pre-written rule sets dependant on the golfer chosen. Those after an out and out strokes tournament may find this frustrating, however OG2 is an arcade variant of the golf simulation and the wide variety of game rules do break up the gameplay keeping each tournament fresh and interesting.

Its hard to say anything overly negative about OG2 beyond stating that in the end OG2 is a golf game. If your idea of playing a round of golf is akin to going under the knife for a vasectomy than OG2 probly wont do enough to sway your decision. However as a break from the more serious efforts such a Links and EA’s Tiger Woods franchise Outlaw Golf 2 is both technically brilliant and genuinely entertaining. Many console titles currently sitting on the store shelves at $99.95 lack the level of polish and more importantly ‘fun’ factor of Outlaw Golf 2 which can be had for such a low introductory price of $39.95. Wether you plan on playing a round by yourself, over Xbox Live (yes Live is supported), with mates after a few drinks or even as a post clubbing zone out substitution (if your so inclined) then Outlaw Golf 2 comes highly recommended.

Graphics – 4/5: Well animated characters, crazy courses and great effects. Bystanders are lacking in polygons but overall its so pretty you wont care.

Sound – 4/5: Comically the lifespan will inevitably come to an end, but its brilliant while it lasts. Brilliant music for an in-game soundtrack.

Longevity – 4/5: As a single player experience, OG2 is both long and entertaining, however that can only last so long. Thankfully Xbox Live and the occasionally in-house piss up with mates should see OG2 appear in the Xbox drive for some time to come.

Overall – Incredibly solid title for such a small price, if only more developers were undermining their product this much…......

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