Consolation Prize

It’s that time of week again when new Xbox Live Arcade titles have been released for our perusal and this offering, developed by “Housemarque”, better known in my books for the superlative
Super Stardust HD on the PS3 is a welcome addition to the Arcade roster and firmly plants its putting wedge on the more humorous and casual side of Golf, akin to such games like Hot Shots Golf.

At the start of the game you can customise your golfer; choosing a gender, hairstyle, and can kit them out in a selection of clothing styles. You know that this game isn’t going to take itself too seriously when you find your cartoon-like golfing avatar can be equipped with bunny slippers, karate gloves, and even kitten ears. However, as silly as this may sound it sets the tone of the game well and guarantees that your character stands a good chance of looking at least somewhat different to your opponents.

The usual golfing mechanics are all in place, wind speed and direction, club selection, putting green gradients, and even the common slider bar approach to determine power and the accuracy of your swing. It’s all fairly intuitive and you can easily just pick up the game and begin playing without the need to read through the “how to play” section.

One element of the gameplay which is a bit more unusual is the ability to alter the trajectory of a ball while it’s in-flight. This “Focus”, as it’s called, is only available for a limited number of seconds per hole and although it won’t allow you to guide the ball like a homing missile it does allow you to tweak the ball to a more favourable position or avert complete disaster. In addition you can also use this ability on putting greens enabling you to preview the putt as-well as control the ball. Four seconds of focus time is added per hole and the meter at the top right of the screen shows the amount remaining, if it’s not used then the time is simply carried forward onto the next hole.

There are unfortunately only a couple of courses available on offer; a “Caribbean Beach Resort” and “Scottish Highland Parkland” with 18 holes a piece, but one would hope that more course packs become available in future. This game has got all the main elements you really want from a casual golf game. Its fun, colourful, very playable, and perfect if you just fancy a few quick swings with your friends.

Golf: Tee it Up is available for 800 Microsoft Points and is 144MB to download.