Outlaw Tennis

Perfectly struck or out of play, Arron decides...

More Images

Tennis: a sport that can be enjoyed when played, but is dull as dishwater to many of those who attempt to watch Wimbledon. When put into a game, the mere thought of it can be absolutely dreadful, and this is proven when we look back at past examples of the sub-genre. Two do however stand out. Virtua Tennis on the Dreamcast, critically acclaimed 'best tennis game, ever' and Top Spin on the Xbox which wasn't as good as Virtua Tennis, but was good enough to be ranked second by a lot of critics thanks to some impressive realism, not to mention the online play.

Anyone who has played Virtua Tennis or Top Spin then will be in for a bit of a change with Outlaw Tennis. Sure the tennis players wear skimpy stuff in the real game and in previous examples of the sub-genre, but Outlaw Tennis is in another world entirely. Women with their DD's hanging out, arses protruding like the bumpers on an Escalade, it's all "fun, fun, fun."

Starting with four default characters, Outlaw Tennis requires you to go through the tour mode completing each one of the character's tours, but these are not ordinary tours, oh no. First off, there's tennis with real rules, but also, there is tennis with outlaw rules. Unlike 'normal' tennis games, Outlaw Tennis has introduced some very nice features, all of which would no doubt increase the audience of tennis matches if implemented in 'real-life'. We don't want to go into too much detail about the 'games' available, but we'll tell you about two of them, so you get the gist.

Note: these modes are available in Exhibition mode, some are available on tour too.

'Football' (American): Although this is a real 'game', it is played in the form of tennis. Upon serving, it's your chance to gain yards to score a touchdown. Having a 'good' rally will determine how many yards you gain on the pitch (which is on-screen, to the right); the longer the rally, the more yardage gained. Unfortunately we don't know how many yards it is for a touchdown, but it is possible to gain 35 yards by hitting an Ace; serving the ball straight through for the point without your opponent returning the ball.

Unfortunately, if your opponent manages to strike the return ball, the ball is turned over and your opponent has the chance to score a touchdown, though the chances of this happening are highly slim unless the difficulty is on the highest setting; which we suggest if you're gaming for a challenge.

Pinball: If you think you're blessed good accuracy, then we suggest you try this. Scattered in the opponents half of the court are pinball bumpers; some big, some small, the smaller they are the bigger the points available, simple. When serving (to gain points), you have to make sure that after you get all the points you can, you hit the ball out to repeat the procedure, making sure the opponent/s don't get the chance to get on the other side of the court to get points from you.

Although fun, pinball does get repetitive, especially when playing doubles. Enjoyable while it lasts, but could have been that bit more special if Hypnotix had made it like a real pinball game - the tennis ball hitting multiple bumpers before been returned. Other modes available include Baseball (earn runs), Casino ($1 per return), Hot Potato (exploding tennis ball) and Ping Pong (standard tennis, but earning 1 point per winner). Most of which prove a stimulating diversion, but as time goes on, they do get repetitive. Also available is Classic: standard tennis.

Each of the modes can be played on one of four surfaces, in different locations: clay, hard court, grass and snow. Although the game intends to be unrealistic, the fact that you slide just as much on clay as you do on snow is pretty terrible. Players will be caught slipping, sliding into the umpire and more. Locations take you from Hell, to a Mad-Max style thunder-dome (known as Wimbledome), to an aircraft carrier; as well as exotic locations, with some very well-honed visuals indeed.

An Outlaw game would not be complete if it didn't have the fighting element added to it. 'Tennis + fighting = a happy gamer for 10 minutes', but thereafter, it again gets boring. To fight your opponent (whether it is to take out your anger whilst you're getting beaten, or just for fun), you can see a token in the bottom left corner - how many you have dictates the number of times you get to fight your opponent (over three-rounds), so if you have two tokens, you can battle your opponent twice, etc. Although we described this as fighting, it comes across as button-bashing of the most extreme variety. Constantly hitting Y,B,A,X will seriously cause some damage to your pad; again, it could have been a welcome inclusion by developers Hypnoptix, but a frustrates overall.

Outlaw Tennis can be taken online to create your own match and destroy real people and not computer A.I. Taking on the world with your character does prove fun, but for a limited time as it does become dull and predictable.

Visually, Outlaw Tennis comes across as a very smooth game, with 'ace' frame-rates throughout the game and solid character models too; special attention being devoted to the female chest and rear. Unfortunately the animation isn't as good as the two top tennis titles mentioned at the beginning; Virtua Tennis and Top Spin. The scenery made around the courts looks good, but is constantly re-used throughout; i.e. the crowd being identical whether your in Wimbledome or Hell.

Mouthy remarks from the players start off humorous, but again (as Outlaw Tennis has been all the way through) becomes frustrating. The commentator is hideous with the same remarks over and over, but thankfully there is the option to: a) turn him off and listen to the games music (which goes with the game, but doesn't last long) or b) put your own song tracks on. Hallelujah!

Outlaw Tennis is an entertaining game and is ideal for players who want to mess-around for an hour or two, but no more. It comes nowhere near Top Spin or Virtua Tennis, and what with the confusing control-system thrown-in, it can become annoying. The character models look very good, and the mini-games are fun for a while, but not as long as you would imagine. Chuck in the awful commentator, repetitiveness in nearly every section and sloppy controls, Outlaw Tennis is not your top tennis game, more like a double-fault than an ace, in fact.

55%

By Arron Hanley