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GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 11/30/2004
- Released on: 11/25/2004
- Originally published on GameSpot: Outlaw Golf 2 (PlayStation 2) Review
Hypnotix's Outlaw sports series, which thus far has included Outlaw Golf and Outlaw Volleyball, has labored under the notion that sports with relatively limited appeal would be more engaging if they had strippers, extreme violence, and heaping helpings of dirty humor. This formula certainly has a way of tickling some of the more base impulses, but Hypnotix has been wise enough not to rely on naughty pubescent thrills entirely, and the resulting games themselves have been pretty well crafted. Outlaw Golf 2 doesn't meddle with this overall philosophy at all. So even if bawdy caricatures of rednecks and dominatrices don't sound immediately appealing to you, Outlaw Golf 2 offers a tight, challenging game of golf with some unique gameplay ideas, and it comes at a price that makes it a terrific value.
Despite the lowest-common-denominator vibe, Outlaw Golf 2 offers some solid golf.
Outlaw Golf 2 expands on what the original Outlaw Golf offered in several significant ways. While the original Outlaw Golf featured a mere three courses, Outlaw Golf 2 bumps that number up to eight. Don't expect Pebble Beach or any PGA-caliber courses, because the most straitlaced courses are set among the freeway overpasses and industrial refineries of New Jersey or in secret nuclear testing sites. Other new course locations in the game are even more outlandish, including the mushroom-filled, psychedelic Psycho Sands course or the haunted house-inspired Spooky Hollow. Despite these bizarre locales, many of the courses themselves have pretty traditional layouts.
Outlaw Golf 2 also features a spectacular number of game types to choose from in the exhibition mode. You can choose from traditional rule sets, like stroke play, match play, skins, and best ball, but there are also more-adventurous games like baseball, where your performance is translated into baseball terms. Sinking a par scores you a base hit, a birdie gets you a double, a bogey is an out, a double bogey is a double play, and so on. Another interesting game is pick up sticks, where, when a player wins a hole, he or she can eliminate one of the clubs from another player's bag. There are 13 different rule sets in all, and though some definitely have more lasting appeal than others, they all do a great job of keeping the gameplay fresh.
Outside of the exhibition mode is the tour mode, where you pick a character and work through a series of different competitions. Winning these competitions, which can be rather challenging (since the game's artificial intelligence is no slouch), will unlock courses, club sets, and costumes. Playing through each of the character's specific tours is a must, because the exhibition mode is pretty limited otherwise.
Aside from the dramatically increased number of courses, the other big addition to Outlaw Golf 2 is online support, which allows up to four players to compete online. The online component in Outlaw Golf 2 for the PS2 isn't quite as streamlined as in its Xbox counterpart, but it works. You can tweak the rules for your game pretty extensively, and one of the features we found especially nice is the option to either make players take turns on each hole or play simultaneously.
The fundamental gameplay in Outlaw Golf 2 isn't that different from more traditional golf games, though there are a few specific details that spice things up. The game uses an analog swing mechanic that requires you to push down and up on either analog stick, though it also provides you with a power meter in the lower right-hand corner to help you gauge what you'll get from your swing. The analog swing in Outlaw Golf 2 isn't as sensitive to lateral motion as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005's analog swing, which makes it much easier to avoid hooks and slices in OG2.
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