by:	January 01, 2005

Outlaw Golf was one of the titles that originally you could only buy on Xbox. What differentiated it from other game titles is its “extreme persona”. Later develop Hypnotix released two other titles, add-on pack for Outlaw Golf, and Outlaw Volleyball. The line of Outlaw titles is basically what happens when you take professional wrestling, toilet humor, and obscure sports and roll them all into one. Outlaw Golf 2 isn’t necessarily a huge leap from Outlaw Golf, the graphics for the most part are the same, all the clichéd players are there, humor, and the solid gameplay that will convince golf game players, and the uninitiated to check this title out.

I will be honest with you—I’m not one for golf games, and I won’t claim to know everything about golf, so jaded golf experts can go ahead and turn away from this review if you’d like. However for the rest of us, at its core, Outlaw Golf 2 is a really great experience. Outlaw Golf 2 has a variety of options and game types that will keep you playing for days on end. The Outlaw Tour, the main portion of the single player part of the title starts off with a modest enough course. The course looks a lot like prestigious PGA courses except with overpasses, and a city in the background. This is the tamest of course as you unlock six others after winning the first, taking places in various bizarre locales. These include the desert, in the snow, a haunted house, and even outer space. These courses however may be very colorful in looks, aren’t going to be like Put Put like you expect, but still normal without the window dressing. When choosing your character, they are measured by control, distance, accuracy, composure, putting, and how well they fight. Then from there you get deeper into options with choosing their looks, clubs, and balls. As you progress in the title you can unlock more of all of these things. The game is fairly easy to get the hang of, but if you are in trouble there are some instruction movies to help you out. As you go up to swing, the game chooses the best club for the shot, but if you think you have a better idea you can of course pick another one. You choose clubs with the directional pad, and with the B button can see the predicted trajectory of were the ball would drop. That doesn’t necessarily mean the ball lands there, as you still have to worry about what side of a slope the ball rolls down. When you hit the ball with a powerful club, you get a huge streak of light behind it and an explosive noise that is a nice touch to the title.

To hit the ball is pretty easy, although at first if you aren’t into golf titles, it can be confusing. You first press A to activate your swing gauge, then pull back on either analog stick to pull up your swing and once the power is to the correct area on the gauge, press forward to swing. It usually works full proof; unless you the player were to press off to the right or left a little too much then the ball goes flying into the wrong direction. The most interesting part about getting the ball in the hole is actually when you are near the green, or just a few yards from putting it in. When you put it, you have a reticule that you must target around. It isn’t as easy as aiming the reticule right on the hole either. The ball will usually have some sort of curve to it, so you have to guess were it will go then press X to see the line of trajectory for the ball. You can see the line three times while on one swing. If you mess up even in the slightest bit, direction, or how powerful your swing you will miss what seems to be an easy put. The putting can be so challenging, that even the games superb computer opponents will miss.

Another interesting aspect of Outlaw Golf 2 is the composure meter. If you swing a good ball, get the ball in the hole on birdie, or even knock out an audience member with your ball then your composure goes up, the better you play. If you keep messing up though, your composure goes down and your game does as well. If this happens, you can even out the badness and beat up your caddy—or go for a ride in a golf cart and complete a challenge. This is one of the stranger elements of Outlaw Golf 2 and for the most part it is implemented pretty well.