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Simon and Shuster have enjoyed the success of Outlaw Golf for a while now, and are ready to ride the coat tails of Tecmo’s Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Does S&S’s tongue in cheek rendition of volleyball have what it takes to stand on it’s own two feet? Read on to find out.

You won’t hear many arguments saying the graphics in Outlaw Volleyball aren’t beautiful. Each of the games 16 characters are rendered with stunning detail and are all immediately identifiable on the court. The characters animate very well and the transitions in movement are fluid and seamless, making for a very life-like feel. Each of the games characters are all very unique in style and just plain fun to watch. The games various outlandish courts are also looking very sporty. You’ll find yourself playing volleyball in courts on a city rooftop, a sewer system and everywhere in between. All these areas are very detailed, complete with crowds; all which are individually rendered characters unto themselves.

Outlaw is well known for it’s comedic value from its previous installment (Outlaw Golf) and the humor makes the transition to volleyball rather well. The games announcer is energetic and full of quips and jokes, though in a somewhat limited supply. While the announcer is funny for about the first hour of play, he gets very old and repetitive shortly after. The players also have some great humorous pieces of dialogue, but they are also lacking a variety of lines. The voice acting is good. Each character has a fitting voice which helps bring them to life, but the short list of dialogue makes for a somewhat boring acoustic experience within a short time of playing the game. The games soundtrack is made up of rap, rock and punk tunes. This assortment of genres seems to work with the feel of the game. For those that don’t enjoy the default soundtrack, you’ll be happy to know that the game supports custom soundtracks.

Outlaw plays pretty smoothly; you get 2 players per team and you can control either of the two characters by pressing the L button. The gameplay is made up of basic volleys, spikes and blocks. The controls are simple and easy to get used to. Keeping with the idea of over the top volleyball, the game allows you to perform special spikes and serves, which are essentially just fancy looking, harder hits. The game has some extra features that help add to the overall experience, such as hot potato rules, which will make the ball explode at random intervals, or you can add time bombs into the foray, that will drop time bombs onto the court every time the ball hits the dirt. After every turn over or score, the game shows a ‘player reaction’, which is essentially what one of the 4 players in the match react to the last play. While these may have you chuckling the first few times, they get very repetitive due to the lack of variety in sequences. You can choose from various game modes when you turn the game on, such as single, random play, tour, or live play.

Single game will allow you to just play one straight up game of volleyball. Random play will throw you into a game with random characters. Live play allows you to take your game online and play against live opponents to test your skills. Tour, which is the games main mode, has you completing a lengthy assortment of matches to bring your team to top standings. Some of the matches have special stimulations, such as, for example: you must win by a lead of 2 points, or the hot potato feature may be included. Basically, Outlaw Volleyball is the same game, no matter which way you play it, but the lack of content becomes apparent very quickly. It is fun for a while, like any game, but the repetitive nature of this game will rear it’s head at you soon enough and spit it’s venom in your eye, leaving you blind and grasping for something with a little more depth. Another annoying issue that you’ll run into is unforgivable lengthy load times. You may find yourself sitting around for nearly 3 minutes at times waiting for the game to load a match. This is unnecessary and could have without a doubt been avoided with a little more development time. The character selection is also rather slow on the ball, as it makes short pauses when selecting characters, which makes for a rather lagging experience, and cuts up the otherwise fast gameplay of the volleyball matches.

Outlaw Volleyball is fun for a short time and funny for even less. The game presents its over the top humor well, but it doesn’t have enough variety to keep you coming back. The game has plenty of unlockables and great graphics, but that’s not enough to forgive repetitive gameplay, boring jokes, and unjustifiable load times. Considering the limited choices players have for volleyball games on Xbox, Outlaw isn’t a bad choice, but hopefully some better choices will come along in the future.