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Outlaw Tennis

(2005, Video Games - Sports, Rated M, Play it on: PlayStation 2, Xbox)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 17, age appropriate for kids over 17; suggested age 17.
  • Is it any good?

    1.0
  • Common Sense says

    Bawdy humor + tedious gameplay = double fault.

Why We Rated This not for kids

The good stuff

  • Educational value:

    Not an issue.
 

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Trades very heavily on racial and ethnic stereotypes. Female characters are drunk, oversexualized, or both.
  • Violence:

    Lame fighting feature offers the tamest of slapdowns, but one cut scene references a famous torture scene from the movie Reservoir Dogs.
  • Sex:

    Exaggerated, jiggling anatomy (on both men and women), references to lap dances, and racy commentary are all naughty -- but the game really crosses the line when a drunken woman propositions a ball boy between points.
  • Language:

    Harsher obscenities are bleeped out, but some playground-level vulgarities make it into the game.
  • Consumerism:

    This is part of a series than includes Outlaw versions of other sports (like volleyball).
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Various players enjoy a mid-game cocktail, and one indulges in binge drinking with a beer keg and a bottle of bourbon.
 

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Outlaw Tennis was written by Aaron Lazenby

Parents need to know that this game has references to lap dances, a female character who propositions a ball boy, wanton boozing, and uninspired vulgarities. Male characters are either anatomically grotesque or wildly violent. Female characters are drunk, overly sexualized, or both. All flesh jiggles with abandon, on-court fighting is rewarded, one cut scene implies torture ... on the whole, the game is an adolescent celebration of bad behavior.

Families Can Talk About

Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
  • Families can talk about why all of this rudeness is supposed to add up to good fun. Is there something inherently pleasurable about deflating a polite, country club sport like tennis? Is the game trying to undermine the sport's elitist qualities or is it just looking for a quick, lewd laugh? This is part of a series: Why do Outlaw games keep getting made?
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More on Outlaw Tennis

What’s the Story?

OUTLAW TENNIS marks the series' latest foray into "polite" sports, having previously unleashed raunchy humor and bad behavior to golf and volleyball. Players control tennis troublemakers on their quest for, well, nothing. There is no point to the game but participating in a seemingly never-ending series of matches to unlock new characters.

These new characters allow you to play another seemingly never-ending series of matches to unlock another character. Sixteen different characters give players lots of opportunities to explore the game's bad taste. The controls are easy to pick up: Four buttons deliver four kinds of shots, with a turbo and spin modifier to add some flair.

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Is It Any Good?

The idea has potential: A contingent of criminals, lowlifes, and freaks tears up the country club in an attempt to critique a well-mannered sport. Too bad the game matches uninspired, lewd humor with tedious gameplay for an experience that fails on almost every count. Whether you control the well-endowed Don Juan, the part-time stripper, the alcoholic groupie, or the Brooklyn-bred goodfella you'll have to endure a long line of lewd jokes based on racial stereotypes, binge drinking, loose sexuality, torture, and crime.

Jokes are delivered through cut scenes after each point is scored, interrupting the flow of the game -- the very thing that makes Outlaw Tennis different becomes frustrating and boring. Despite attempts to liven the actual tennis with creative changes to the rules, this gets old really fast. With flat graphics, a clunky game engine, and animations that get reused in montages, cut scenes, etc., and you have a real loser of a tennis game.

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Publisher’s Details

Released on 07/29/2005, price $19.99, not online enabled
ESRB rating: M

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Adult Reviewer
    Lives in California
    I rate this title iffy for age 17 and give it 1.0

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