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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outlaw or Tiger Woods? Hmmm...., 11 Jan 2003
Let me tell you what this game is not. It is not a serious golf sim that a group of Alan Partridge clones might sit down and really concentrate on. I don't mean to imply that the golf engine in the game is poor. In fact it is really rather good. The ball physics seemed quite realistic to a fairly useless non-virtual golfer such as myself. This game is a comedy golf sim by choice rather than by default. It's all about approach here and the chosen approach is not only to provide a realistic golf sim in a rich graphical environment but also to make you laugh! The game starts with a basic on screen tutorial of all the controls, the narration to which is in parts hilarious (though probably unsuitable for children under ?10 years owing to a scattering of explitives) and includes one of the worst faked scottish accents I have ever heard. The advantage is that the manual to the game remains safely untouched when you find yourself on the first tee limbering up to play. The choice of golfing characters include a wannabe rapper from Beverley Hills (!) and a lap dancer. All the characters have a considerably varied range of their own good shot/bad shot reactions - although again the lap dancer's reactions, although hilarious for adults, may be deemed unsuitable by some parents. The course digitisations are quite excellent with lush trees swaying in the evening breeze and rippling lakes to calm the tee-off nerves. The crowd move around well and react brilliantly including, laughing irritatingly at awful shots. But Outlaw golf goes one further and has huge low flying 747s, cars whistling by on nearby roads and flocks of extremely well digitised birds flying the sunny skies on some fo the holes. It all makes for a rich digital environment with some near photo-realism moments on some of the stroke replays. Overall quite excellent. However, just a few minor points. The golfers are not especially well digitised (not as good as Tiger Woods) but make up for it by the wide variety of hilarious antics before and after shots. Also there are occasional glitches in the course fly-bys - but nothing that a glass of wine wouldn't cure. There are two notably novel twists to this golf sim. The first is the in game commentary. The American commentators go for humour over accuracy and it works very well, "Now that was the shot that put the P in P### poor!". The speech repertoire seems wide and varied although, as ever, some phrases get repeated after a few rounds. Parents beware though, a light scattering of explitives again appear. The second twist in this game is a peppering of ultra-violence. Yes, the games slips into Tekken meets Arnold Palmer at least twice per round. To improve your concentration it is neceassary to beat up the caddy. Funny, slick and extremely well digitised! Must try that for real one day. The holes are again rich and varied from the sublime to the ridiculous. Beautiful serene par fives await with a view from the hillside course over a hazy valley - quite stunning. Alternatively nuclear power stations provide a rather less aesthetically pleasing back drop that doesn't go unnoticed by the wit of the commentators. So overall, what do I think of Outlaw Golf? Well I'm old enough to remember the ZX80 and Space Invaders (If you are under 21, please don't stop reading at this point as I have tried to keep it real in the subsequent years(!)) and I can say that this is the funniest (video!) game I have ever played in company and has inspired me on to write my first Amamzon review. If you want a serious sim to tax your playing skills go to Tiger country but if you want a good laugh with a few friends and a bottle of wine, Outlaw will satisfy on all fronts.
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