Imagine what Vince McMahon did to football with the XFL. Now, imagine what he could do with professional golf. Now that you have that image in your head, you have a pretty good idea of what Outlaw Golf is like. You play as one of ten clichéd golfers (surly Scotsman, vapid rich girl, dominatrix, etc.) with caddie through one of three courses in either exhibition or through tournament events. There are a wide range of gameplay options, including playing as skins, match, stroke play, best ball and others.

The basic gameplay is your standard golf game, a fine mixture of arcade and sim that makes the game fun to play while challenging in that you have to get used to golf mechanics to do well. At the tee, players must aim the swing and set top or bottom spin on the ball. You can choose to switch clubs. Once you "address" the ball, players need to pull down on the right analog stick to get the swing meter going. Once you have it at the percentage you want, push it forward to swing. Considering how accurate you move the analog stick, the shot can go forward, slice or hook. This direct connection between analog stick movement and where your shot lands places emphasis on control, which I think is a nice use of the controller. Once near the pin, the player needs to check the curves of the green before making a putt. One of the added features to the game is a Composure Meter, which increases and decreases depending on the character's play on the course. Supposedly, the meter has an effect on your character's play, but I've yet to see it actually work.

The basic course design and look is really good. Designed as a sensible mixture of "extreme" and realistic, the courses come across as standard golf courses with enough extra elements (highway overpasses, etc.) to give them personality. The textures of the greens look good and surrounding trees and bushes look well done. The character models on the other hand, look average, at best. While they're trying to convey the character's clichéd personality, the basic models look like they were built a few years ago and look very little like they were modeled after real people. The fans that litter the course look rather plain.

The audio portion of the game is nice, even if it can go tiresome after some time. The announcer's sarcastic bits are funny and add to the course. Even if you're having a hard time working through the course, you may stick it out just to hear what's next to be said. The character reactions to both good and bad shots can be funny from time to time. The problem seems to be that once you've played through a few times, you've heard the whole range of comments.

Outside of the minor aspects mentioned before, the only real drawback to this game is the fact that there only three courses. There is only so many times you can run through the same 18 holes over and over again. With a few more courses, Outlaw Golf would last most gamers a long time. With being able to play up to four players, you can always enjoy 18 holes with your friends without the green's fees.

- - Vane