	Outlaw Golf
	Developer: Hypnotix Publisher: TDK Release Date: Out Now Players: 1-4	Words By:
Golf games as a genre seem to have been made pretty much redundant by the advent of EA’s all-conquering PGA/Tiger Woods series, but here’s a rather good alternative to playing golf as Tiger or Mario on your Gamecube. Straightforward and easy to get into, OG’s main game or “career” mode is the ‘tour mode.’ This is the single player experience which enables you to unlock other characters, improve their stats and win superior golf clubs and balls, which allow more control, or more distance, or more spin… There are only three courses to play and one area called the Outlaw Range which offers practice sub-games where points can be won to spend on improving your chosen characters’ abilities such as distance, control, accuracy and composure. And what characters they are; Outlaw Golf’s cast is a haven of scum and villainy where dominatrix’s wield clubs like their whips and surgeons strut around in blood-soaked T shirts. Names like El Sauvé, Doctor Diggler and Mistress Suki should give you an indication of what to expect. It’s the cut scenes after finishing a hole where this lot’s personalities really shine because the girlies really are rather sexy and the guys are…. well, just annoying really. The control method is similar to Tiger Woods' as it uses either analog stick to simulate your swing. But the game stands out in two really nice ways. Firstly is the ‘composure bar’ which goes up or down depending on how good or terrible your last shot was. If you are struggling, the “sweet spot” gets smaller and can affect your next shot – limiting your recovery abilities from dodgy lies in bunkers and the rough, just like the real thing. One way to rectify this is to regain your composure by beating the living daylights out of your caddie, and this is done by indulging in a simple sub game. It’s rather satisfying venting one’s frustration in a sadistically violent and amusing cut scene, and adds a hint of resource management and tactical thinking to the play, as ‘beating tokens’ are severely limited. The second neat touch is the putting method which is a delightfully balanced mixture of difficulty and lovely physics, allied with accurate tools for determining pace and line. The overlaying grid and graphical path are always spot-on and you can use a range of camera angles to help in your determination, a useful one being the directional camera for when your golfer happens to be obscuring the line of sight. The good thing is that you only get three goes at lining up a visual path, so the further away the putt is, the more skill you need in getting your graphical aid close to the hole before it becomes just guesswork – it’s a truly brilliant method of simulating the ‘reading’ of a putt, and much more satisfying than Tiger Woods 2005’s far-too-easy approach. Outlaw simply plays a fine game of golf with that nice little mix of realism and arcade fun. The courses are colourful and well modelled, with some subtly deceptive obstacles and approaches that require more and more thought the further that you are able to hit the ball. The occasional canyon or bridge has to be avoided and because of the composure bar it can be a toss up in your mind whether to lay up on the fairway or to just leather the ball miles and stick it closer to the pin, but in the rough, thus bashing your confidence a bit. The background detail such as planes taking off and trains rolling by also add to a feeling of ‘being there’. The lack of courses is something of a problem though, as good as they are 3 is a pathetic number when EA’s game boasts what, 14, 15? -, but somehow our interest was maintained by the fact that the challenges available on each are genuinely varied, and the control system never less than rewarding. One moment you are playing skins with a buxom beauty, the next you are playing on your own against a field trying to shoot the lowest score on the board. The motivation to win new clubs and unlock other characters keeps you playing. There is scope for multiplayer too in the Exhibition mode, and anything that you unlock (including new characters) can also be used here. Perhaps the biggest gripe is that I expected a little bit more violence and quirks on the field. Wouldn’t it have been cool to be able to earn tokens to beat up or mess around with other golfers as they take their shots? That would have been really ‘hardcore’ and ‘Outlaw’. Still, in many ways Outlaw Golf does exactly what it sets out to do – one of those rare games that you can load up and simply enjoy for what it is. Uncomplicated, addictive and amusing, but also with deceptive depth. OG ain’t no Tiger Woods beater but it comfortably makes the cut.

Best Bits
- Easy to get into and addictive.
- Nice replays.
- The putting feels right.
- Beating up caddies because you hit a bad shot is good fun.

Worst Bits
- Not enough courses to play.
- It could have taken the ‘Outlaw’ concept further.
- Occasional jerky ball movement in replays.


by: Masonic Dragicoot