rustyjaw Posted July 9, 2003 Report Share Posted July 9, 2003 I'm leaving work in two hours, should I buy this on the way home tonight or not?? Inquiring minds want to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Okay, I survived lunch break without getting it. Unfortunately, I didn't survive the drive home. I have it, but it's not open yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted July 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 damn...I sense that I'll be walking the extra block to hit the EB anyway...I'll look for you online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Well, I have the "straight line" thing, whatever that is. Still haven't tried it to find out whether it's a problem or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted July 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted July 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 The training videos are hysterical. They are great. My favorite line: "It's not rocket surgery!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 (2-on-2 (human) matches require that two players be on one Xbox and two on the other. WTF?) Now that's interesting. I wonder if it's a conscious design decision or something to do with lag issues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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 Thanks, Jay, I needed a good laugh this morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted July 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 they go in and make every single error I spelled out 12 months in advance. Dude, you're channeling J. Kli now...you ought to have that looked at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlot Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Well, that just confirms my feelings stated in another thread: We use words like cut-and-paste, photoshop, and asshat. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Just got back from picking up OV, probably gonna try and get in a few games online tonight if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatakinns Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 After hearing JoBoo play Orpheus and friend last night .... I wish we had the extra money to pick this up right now. That was f'ing funny to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoisonJam Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Nice review, Ed. Thanks for taking the time to write that up. I've been on the fence with this one, but your comments have me leaning towards picking it up. (Like I have time to play ANOTHER game right now...sigh...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 The copy I have here has the scratch on it that everyone is mentioning. It's really rather odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 There's a thread about the scratch here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 I'm giving in to my other half's wishes & buying this-so if there is anyone up for a game soon you know what to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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