Outlaw Tennis (PlayStation 2, Xbox)

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.

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.