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Outlaw Volleyball - how is it?


rustyjaw

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The line shouldn't be a problem according to the posts at Hypnotix's forums. Had a friend stop and pick up a copy at EB for me, should be here shortly.

 

 

OK.. just got it, disk has the mark but plays just fine, a friend is doing the training modes...

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I played for about 30 mins (between MM3 and SWG), and it's pretty cool. The training videos are hysterical.

 

I still haven't tried Online, but I'm still not happy with how it looks like Live play has been implemented. (2-on-2 (human) matches require that two players be on one Xbox and two on the other. WTF?)

 

We'll have to give it a whirl Thursday night and see what's what.

 

Donna's New Yawk accent is turning me on, and El Suave's package is gonna give me nightmares... :shock:

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I played this for a couple hours tonight, although I didn't go online. Apparently you can only play one on one via Live, no 4 player games unless there are 2 players on both Xboxes.

 

Gameplay seems quite good. It's reminiscent of Beach Spikers to a degree (never played DOA Volleyball). There's a bullseye that represents where the ball's going to land (and where you need to be to hit it), but there's a big difference. Once you get to the bullseye, and hit the "A" you can then use the left stick to direct where you want the ball to go, your teammate will then head for where you hit the ball and do their thing. If you've been set-up to hit the ball to the other side, you get into the bullseye and hold the "A" button, this brings up a vertical "quality" meter similar to BS. You let go of the button when it's maxed. Unlike BS it seems much easier to hit the net in this game, as far as I can tell, if your "Quality" meter is under 1/3 full the ball will hit the net (this is affected by how far away the net is too). If you weren't in the bullseye soon enough, 1/3 might be the best shot you can take. As you're getting ready to hit the ball, the left stick is used to direct the shot (like Virtua Tennis).

 

You can choose to hit the ball over the net early (i.e. without setting up your teammate) by hitting either the "X" for a quality meter-type shot, or the "B" for a dink shot.

 

Blocking is accomplished with he "Y" button. This is one area where OV seems easier than BS. In BS you needed to be carefully aligned with your opponent to block a shot, OV is a bit more forgiving.

 

My Beach Spikers experience interferes a bit with this game. BS is more forgiving about how close you are to the ball when you enter the bullseye, in OV you need to be there early, which can be frustrating because certain shots just happen too fast. However, this could be because my players aren't very skilled yet.

 

Serving is similar to BS as well. But it's also easier to serve the ball into he net, again a low serve meter means net.

 

To build up your player's skills there are "drills" (mini games) only a few of which are unlocked at first. I played through the unlocked ones, some of which are challenging. It looks like there are about 25 of them or so. I'm actually not sure how you unlock more, I need to RTFM.

 

Graphically it's a bit of a mixed bag, IMO. Compared to BS, OV is a tad drab, but the environments are more varied. BS is very stylized and candy coated, whereas OV is more gritty and realistic. Also the camera is further away most of the time in OV which makes the players seem less detailed, although up close they are actually quite detailed. And yes, they made sure that the girls' breasts bounce...

 

This is a very early impression, but I think this game is going to be a lot of fun. The control scheme is a touch more complex than BS, but not overly so. I think this will give the game a bit longer. I'm not sure how the Live aspect will pan out, it's hard to believe they couldn't make it work with 4 players from 4 different locations. But some Live play is better than none. I think one on one games will still be fun, but the lack of 2 on 2 stands out as bad design.

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I think one on one games will still be fun, but the lack of 2 on 2 stands out as bad design.

 

We all know why Outlaw Volleyball is failing on Live. Because Simon & Schuster were stupid fools. "Oh We've studied that Live market in detail" and they go in and make every single error I spelled out 12 months in advance. They have no clue how to market on Live whatsoever, and still don't.

 

It doesn't matter how many people gang up on me if you're still wrong.

 

-j

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I think one on one games will still be fun, but the lack of 2 on 2 stands out as bad design.

 

We all know why Outlaw Volleyball is failing on Live. Because Simon & Schuster were stupid fools. "Oh We've studied that Live market in detail" and they go in and make every single error I spelled out 12 months in advance. They have no clue how to market on Live whatsoever, and still don't.

 

It doesn't matter how many people gang up on me if you're still wrong.

 

-j

 

LMFAO.gifLMFAO.gif

 

Thanks, Jay, I needed a good laugh this morning :D

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Now that's interesting. I wonder if it's a conscious design decision or something to do with lag issues?

 

I read somewhere on their forum this decision was due to concerns with lag.

 

Online play is quite fun, even if my friend and I were getting shut out repeatedly by Joboo. There are some games where it pays to let the game control your partner. :)

 

One bummer with online play is much like Mech Assault, it boots you back to the main menu after each match, and once you specify the settings for a match, they cannot be adjusted without backing out of the current game.

 

I only played a bit of single player mode, but what I did play was very intuitive and enjoyable. Have to play more so i can unlock new characters and skill tests. Supposedly, there will be a new downloadable character in the next week.

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Do/can you play the Live games using your single-player character, with their attendant built-up skill sets (as in MCII), or do you choose from a bank of characters (as in MM3)? Orpheus, if I read your post correctly, it's possible to play two vs two Live games, but the CPU controls one of the players on your team, and you can play 1 player and CPU vs two players?

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You can choose to play with your single player characters if the host of the game selects that as an option.

 

Orpheus, if I read your post correctly, it's possible to play two vs two Live games, but the CPU controls one of the players on your team, and you can play 1 player and CPU vs two players?

 

You can also play 2 players vs 2 players, with the 2nd player on each xbox either as a guest or using their own live account. The limiting factor is that you can only have two xbox's connected over live.

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Dude, you're channeling J. Kli now...you ought to have that looked at.

 

In the unlikely event that you aren't already aware of this, that post is almost word-for-word one of his, copied for the purpose of parody.

 

I didn't mean any of that to be taken seriously. Those opinions, statements and/or views are someone else's and do not necessarily represent those held by me, the lcvg xbox forum, lcvg, the creators of phpBB, my ISP, or Al Gore, who invented the internet as well as the question mark.

 

-j

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In the unlikely event that you aren't already aware of this,

 

Heh, I wasn't. You have to be careful, you're not taking into account those of us who either have him on ignore or skip over his posts whenever we see them. Although I do try and read them when I need a good larf about the fallability of man ;).

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Dude, you're channeling J. Kli now...you ought to have that looked at.

 

In the unlikely event that you aren't already aware of this, that post is almost word-for-word one of his, copied for the purpose of parody.

 

I didn't mean any of that to be taken seriously. Those opinions, statements and/or views are someone else's and do not necessarily represent those held by me, the lcvg xbox forum, lcvg, the creators of phpBB, my ISP, or Al Gore, who invented the internet as well as the question mark.

 

-j

You need to clarify one part Jay:

 

...Those opinions, statements and/or views are Asshat's and do not necessarily represent those held by me...

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