Outlaw Volleyball Remixed - PS2

For some reason sporting professionals specialising in the noble art of beach volleyball have trouble being taken seriously by the world at large. If society responds to them with the sort of prejudice usually reserved for glamour models and exotic dancers, then where does the blame lie? With the TV schedulers who persistently relegate important tournaments to the sweaty palmed small hours? With the ludicrously oily and high-five happy, homoerotic Top Gun scene? Without doubt, but equally implicated in this crisis of respect is the 2003 flurry of videogame releases. SEGA’s rather nice Beach Spikers seemed to have a prim patina of respectability. But can a game really feature exclusively bikini clad girls and protest innocence? Make no mistake, this title set out to titillate. It was upstaged, however, if not in gameplay terms, in the eye candy department, by Tecmo’s DOA Xtreme Volleyball, in which Tecmo brought the full force of their breast and thigh animation technology to bear for the first time on a sports title. Someone’s always got to push it a little further though, and in this case it was dev studio Hypnotix with their Outlaw Volleyball. Featuring girls and boys, the game simultaneously packaged the female flesh of the international circuit with the incongruous machismo of the Jerry Bruckheimer fantasy.

Featuring 16 characters, 16 detailed environments, and the same twisted humour that you’ll recognise from Outlaw Golf, Outlaw Volleyball was a riotous and irreverent take on the sport. You could even ignore the game and simply start a fight with the opposing team. Victory in the scrap was rewarded with nothing less than a freshly filled turbo meter. Supporting play for four players, the game would have been excellently suited to online play. This hasn’t escaped its creators, and to this end we have Outlaw Volleyball Remixed on PS2. Fully online enabled, this re-jig also features a new character, customisable costumes and a few single player challenges. If you think beach volleyball is all about scantily clad girls and risqué dialogue, then shame on you. But if you must know, this is the game you need.
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