Consolation Prize

Whilst agonisingly waiting to get hold of my copy of GTA IV earlier this week I thought I’d check out what the PSN store had to offer. There were a couple of PSP demo’s which I wanted to try out, namely Patapon and God of War: Chains Of Olympus but I thought I’d give the Everybody’s Golf: World Tour demo a whirl.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty it’s worth mentioning that this title is also known under a couple of different names. In Japan it’s known as Everybody’s Golf 5 and if you’re reading this on the other side of the pond from the UK it’s Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds.

Although initial impressions suggest this is going to be a lightweight golf game with its large headed cartoon-esque characters once you’re actually in the game it becomes apparent that there’s a serious golf engine running behind the scenes.

The demo allows you to pick from a couple of characters, either “Jasmine” or “Felipe”, each with their own set of stats such as power, control, and spin and once chosen the character can be customised using the limited number of outfits and club types available. It’s apparent that more outfits, clubs and ball types will be selectable in the full retail game but the few on offer here provide an adequate taster of things to come.

There are two different shot control methods available in the game, the use of which really just depends on personal preference, but both felt intuitive to use and I had no qualms using either. The “traditional shot” method uses the more common slider bar approach to represent the power and slice of the swing. Whilst the new “advanced shot” method requires you to watch the actual swing of the character, selecting “X” at the desired point of the back-swing to set the power and then once again on the return swing at the right time as a circle around the ball contracts. The smaller the circle when “X” is pressed the straighter the ball will fly. Although in reality both control methods are very similar, of the two methods I preferred the “advanced shot” method as it just seemed more natural to watch the characters swing rather than a power meter.

Everybody’s Golf: World Tour looks good, it’s not going to set the world on fire but the demo “Highland C.C.” course looks great and the two playable characters were both appealing. The game also sounds pretty decent and I found the light hearted comments uttered by characters when you miss a putt or slice the ball quite amusing.

I’m not usually into golf games, mainly being a genre I’ll play at a friends house rather than purchase myself, but I enjoyed Everybody’s Golf: World Tour and had a few rounds of the random three holes the demo affords you. It’s certainly entertaining and on the strength of this demo it’s a game I’ll consider buying in the future.