DESCRIPTION

The second in the Outlaw series of over-the-top sports games, Outlaw Volleyball features two-on-two action taking place on ten different beaches. Five modes of play include Arcade, Tour, Exhibition, Tutorials, and Drills. Arcade offers a series of matches against eight increasingly difficult teams, while Tour involves traveling to all ten venues in an effort to become king of the beach. Exhibition is a single game; Tutorials helps players learn the arts of spiking, diving, and serving; and Drills is a series of mini-games that involve knocking various things over with the ball. Up to four players can compete simultaneously or online via the Xbox Live broadband service.

As in Outlaw Golf, one of the distinguishing features in Outlaw Volleyball is the ability to take out one's aggressions on other characters — this time players can whale on either one of their opponents using traditional fighting moves. The benefit to this is that players will steal composure from an opponent as well as skill points. As teams continue to perform well, their composure meter will rise, making them more difficult to beat. The opposite also applies, so players who miss volleys or spike attempts will find their team losing composure. Music also varies its tempo and tune in response to the action during the match.

Sixteen male and female characters are available to play as or against, including Summer and Harley from Outlaw Golf, each with individual attributes that improve after wins or through practicing the various drills. Each of the ten venues in Outlaw Volleyball offers animated crowds to cheer on teams, billboards with fictional advertising, and deformable sand that reacts to player movement. If a player dives for a ball, for example, the sand is designed to shift and give way to the body. Not everything is warm and sunny, however. Locales include roof tenements, prisons, sewers, jungles, and more. As a bonus, additional courts can be downloaded via Xbox Live. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide