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The PSP's second golf offering, how does it stack up?
May 6, 2005 | 7:27 PM PSTby: Sud Koushik
After the recent release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, comes Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee. The quality we’ve come to expect from Hot Shots Golf on a console has been brought over to the handheld version and implemented stylishly. Tiger Woods proved to be quite an entertaining PSP Golf game, and since it was the first golf game to appear on the PSP, it set the standards for all future golf games to come. Hot Shots Golf does a good job of taking what Tiger Woods started, and running with it, making it the must have PSP golf title.
Gameplay
The game features a variety of different game modes. The modes are Stroke Play, Match Play, Tournament, Training, and Putting Challenge. The mode that is featured on most golf games, Stroke Play lets you play on any courses you have unlocked. The game also features half a dozen original courses, along with new golfers you can unlock. The way you unlock new courses and golfers is through the Challenge Mode. This mode permits you to play golf throughout a typical season. During the season you even accessories to specially customize your golfer with. This customization is pretty detailed and can get as in-depth as the outfit the golfer sports, and the hairstyle he or she wears. Upgrading your golf club and getting new balls are also an available and important aspect of the game.
Hot Shots Golf has a total of ten golfers, and six courses. That may not seem like a lot, which is true, it isn’t but at the rate in which you unlock new courses and golfers, you will be glad there aren’t more golfers and courses. I put a decent 10 hours into the game and only came out with five golfers and three courses. Hopefully that gives you a good perspective of how hard it is to unlock extras. The game substitutes the awarding of courses with random things like accessories for your golfer. Often times I found myself playing and after winning I expected something like a new golfer, but instead was awarded with an item I could use for my current golfers. Why do I feel like I am playing for hours and gaining completely useless stuff? Given how long it takes to achieve what you really want, Hot Shots Golf will have you playing for a while, but also have your patience tested.
Gamers who have played previous games in the series will become used to Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee easily. To send the ball flying, it is as easy as tapping the button three times. If you want to add an additional spin to the ball, you can press the D-Pad while swinging. To add more power into your hits, you can tap the square button. To judge this you can look at the meter below. This does give you more power but it balances out by making your point of impact a challenge to hit. The Power shots aren’t unlimited though, so use them wisely, these can quickly change the pace of a game and can take you from a par to a birdie. For all the novice players you have the option to set the shot to “Auto”. This allows the computer to handle the impact.
One of the most challenging aspects of the game is Putting. Anyone can drive the ball, and get it to the green, but where it gets really tough is finishing it off with a well placed putt. When you putt, the green will display an overlaying grid that has dots moving at different speed. The speed of the dot conveys the difficulty level of the slope. Some long range putts can prove to be even more hard then close range putts. This is due to the slope elevation, and the problem is that the dots may not allows show up and display the intensity of the slope accurately. This is one problem that plagues Hot Shots Golf. Many of the problems can be solved once you become aquatinted to the slope and its terrain.
The game also supports Ad-hoc wireless multiplayer up to eight players. One problem with PGA Tour was the occasional disconnections and slowdowns during wireless play, this problem is not apparent in Hot Shots at all. Definitely worth a sigh of relief. Now when actually playing the game you can be a complete annoyance to your competitors. By pressing buttons you can try and disturb the concentration of your opponent. If you’ve ever seen a live golf game then you’ll witness the tension of the golfers. This is all accurately redone on Hot Shots Golf. While playing multiplayer I was nervous when putting because of my friends all slamming buttons to mess my focus. Unfortunately there is no online mode for Hot Shots Golf on the PSP. It sure would have been nice to see, but this is something to work on for the next version.
The game does suffer from load times, which is sadly the same problem PGA Tour had. Load times aren’t something people have become accustomed to in a handheld game, so it may be a bit of a nuisance. It takes nearly half a minute for the game to start up, a few seconds of loading through the navigation and around 25 seconds of loading before you can start playing on the course. Although I guess this is the price to pay for the pretty visuals and seamless animation.
Visuals and Audio
Hot Shots Golf packs in some impressive graphics. The game, like its predecessors, has a cartoonish design with unique and creative characters. The environments are packed with mountains, lacks and rich green grass. Many of the Japanese version’s visuals have been transferred to the North American version. Which is to say, a good thing. The game has a lot of detail and best of all is only enhanced by fluid character motion and no slowdowns. The widescreen of the PSP allows you to view the entire scope of the course without any major adjusting of the camera angle. The graphics are bright and filled with colors. Even the menu screen looks like it had some time spent on it. The Audio is decent, nothing spectacular. A few sound effects like the running of water, and the wind blowing are there, but its not like its anything you haven’t already heard. The crowd sounds generic and the swinging of the club just like before. There is some commentary, mostly from your caddies who aren’t even visible. Just like other games, the commentary is repetitive and will get tiresome quickly. The music isn’t anything great either. I tend to run my own songs from a CD player and have my PSP’s sound turned down. Hey, anything to save that battery life...right?
Overall
Hot Shots Golf is a great golf game. The visuals are nice and charming and the gameplay is like an addictive drug. Although it takes a while to unlock everything you want, it still proves to be an entertaining game. The multiplayer mode also adds some depth into the game. It may have taken a while for the game to release, but it was well worth the wait. Definitely a clap of congratulations to the developer, Clap Hanz.
Gameplay
The game features a variety of different game modes. The modes are Stroke Play, Match Play, Tournament, Training, and Putting Challenge. The mode that is featured on most golf games, Stroke Play lets you play on any courses you have unlocked. The game also features half a dozen original courses, along with new golfers you can unlock. The way you unlock new courses and golfers is through the Challenge Mode. This mode permits you to play golf throughout a typical season. During the season you even accessories to specially customize your golfer with. This customization is pretty detailed and can get as in-depth as the outfit the golfer sports, and the hairstyle he or she wears. Upgrading your golf club and getting new balls are also an available and important aspect of the game.
Hot Shots Golf has a total of ten golfers, and six courses. That may not seem like a lot, which is true, it isn’t but at the rate in which you unlock new courses and golfers, you will be glad there aren’t more golfers and courses. I put a decent 10 hours into the game and only came out with five golfers and three courses. Hopefully that gives you a good perspective of how hard it is to unlock extras. The game substitutes the awarding of courses with random things like accessories for your golfer. Often times I found myself playing and after winning I expected something like a new golfer, but instead was awarded with an item I could use for my current golfers. Why do I feel like I am playing for hours and gaining completely useless stuff? Given how long it takes to achieve what you really want, Hot Shots Golf will have you playing for a while, but also have your patience tested.
Gamers who have played previous games in the series will become used to Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee easily. To send the ball flying, it is as easy as tapping the button three times. If you want to add an additional spin to the ball, you can press the D-Pad while swinging. To add more power into your hits, you can tap the square button. To judge this you can look at the meter below. This does give you more power but it balances out by making your point of impact a challenge to hit. The Power shots aren’t unlimited though, so use them wisely, these can quickly change the pace of a game and can take you from a par to a birdie. For all the novice players you have the option to set the shot to “Auto”. This allows the computer to handle the impact.
One of the most challenging aspects of the game is Putting. Anyone can drive the ball, and get it to the green, but where it gets really tough is finishing it off with a well placed putt. When you putt, the green will display an overlaying grid that has dots moving at different speed. The speed of the dot conveys the difficulty level of the slope. Some long range putts can prove to be even more hard then close range putts. This is due to the slope elevation, and the problem is that the dots may not allows show up and display the intensity of the slope accurately. This is one problem that plagues Hot Shots Golf. Many of the problems can be solved once you become aquatinted to the slope and its terrain.
The game also supports Ad-hoc wireless multiplayer up to eight players. One problem with PGA Tour was the occasional disconnections and slowdowns during wireless play, this problem is not apparent in Hot Shots at all. Definitely worth a sigh of relief. Now when actually playing the game you can be a complete annoyance to your competitors. By pressing buttons you can try and disturb the concentration of your opponent. If you’ve ever seen a live golf game then you’ll witness the tension of the golfers. This is all accurately redone on Hot Shots Golf. While playing multiplayer I was nervous when putting because of my friends all slamming buttons to mess my focus. Unfortunately there is no online mode for Hot Shots Golf on the PSP. It sure would have been nice to see, but this is something to work on for the next version.
The game does suffer from load times, which is sadly the same problem PGA Tour had. Load times aren’t something people have become accustomed to in a handheld game, so it may be a bit of a nuisance. It takes nearly half a minute for the game to start up, a few seconds of loading through the navigation and around 25 seconds of loading before you can start playing on the course. Although I guess this is the price to pay for the pretty visuals and seamless animation.
Visuals and Audio
Hot Shots Golf packs in some impressive graphics. The game, like its predecessors, has a cartoonish design with unique and creative characters. The environments are packed with mountains, lacks and rich green grass. Many of the Japanese version’s visuals have been transferred to the North American version. Which is to say, a good thing. The game has a lot of detail and best of all is only enhanced by fluid character motion and no slowdowns. The widescreen of the PSP allows you to view the entire scope of the course without any major adjusting of the camera angle. The graphics are bright and filled with colors. Even the menu screen looks like it had some time spent on it. The Audio is decent, nothing spectacular. A few sound effects like the running of water, and the wind blowing are there, but its not like its anything you haven’t already heard. The crowd sounds generic and the swinging of the club just like before. There is some commentary, mostly from your caddies who aren’t even visible. Just like other games, the commentary is repetitive and will get tiresome quickly. The music isn’t anything great either. I tend to run my own songs from a CD player and have my PSP’s sound turned down. Hey, anything to save that battery life...right?
Overall
Hot Shots Golf is a great golf game. The visuals are nice and charming and the gameplay is like an addictive drug. Although it takes a while to unlock everything you want, it still proves to be an entertaining game. The multiplayer mode also adds some depth into the game. It may have taken a while for the game to release, but it was well worth the wait. Definitely a clap of congratulations to the developer, Clap Hanz.
February 8, 2010
