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Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (PlayStation 3)

Reviewed by: kess Has Written 15 Reviews
Reviewed on: 13-Jan-2009

Description

Let me start this review by saying that I am in no way a golf fan. I have never been able to stomach playing or watching the sport, and was never able to get a handle on any of the Tiger Woods video games. I did, however, receive a copy of Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds when I traded for my PS3 this past summer. While waiting for some new titles for my new system, I decided to bite the bullet and at least try the game before total disregarding it. I am glad I did because I ultimately discovered an arcady, pick up and play, and amazingly fun game.

One of the strongest points of Hot Shots Golf: OOB lies within the game play. The single player aspect features three aspects: challenge mode, stroke mode, and training. Challenge modes presents a player with a series of increasingly difficult tournaments. Each tournament won rewards players with new clubs, golf courses, caddies, or playable characters. To keep things fresh, tournaments are played on a cycle of different courses and also feature varying rules or event modifiers. Stroke mode gives you the ability to play a single round of golf. Players can use this mode to practice courses and shoot for new low scores. Training mode is simply training to help hone your performance.

Apparently one of the biggest additions to this version of Hot Shots Golf is the addition of an advanced shot control style. Using this system, players can mimic a golf swing more realistically by using the analog stick on the controller as opposed to simply pushing buttons. I'll admit that it does feel a lot more natural, but I had trouble executing the same quality of shots as when I used the traditional shot style. This is probably my golf weakness showing through here, and I honestly did not put that much effort into mastering the advanced shots. Players familiar with the Tiger Woods series will likely experience better results.

Online play is not nearly as rewarding as the single player aspect. When you first enter the online arena, you will be thrown into a series of lobbies where you can mingle with other players and find matches or tournaments you may want to enter. It doesn't appear that the game supports voice chat, as everyone communicates through simple text chat. The game play experience was a total miss for me, as I was continually matched against players who were much, much better than I was. The games also featured a timer for each hole played, and I found myself often running out of time before I was able to finish the hole. Online play could be fun if playing with friends, but is probably best avoided unless you are quite good at the game.

If game play is one of the strongest points of this game, the graphics are definitely the best feature of Hot Shots Golf: OOB. The graphics are crisp, clean, colorful, and absolutely beautiful in high definition. The characters are wonderfully detailed, but yet still maintain a cartoonish look. The courses, weather effects, and grass effects are all well presented too. I really can't even begin to express in words how amazed I was by all aspects of the graphics within this game. It is definitely a must play title for graphic whore PS3 owners.

The sounds of the game are not nearly as impressive as the graphics. The actual golf sounds like swings, club strikes, and cup noise are all well done. My problems with the sound comes from the golfers and caddies. All of the characters have their own set of sayings, but these quickly get old after playing the game for awhile. This is best remedied by rotating between different characters and caddies, but this will also hinder you from truly mastering any certain character.

Hot Shots Golf: OOB is definitely a great title for all PS3 gamers. It features a lengthy challenge mode, quick round play within the stroke play option, and endless competition through the online component. The graphics are absolutely beautiful and the game also has tons of unlockable content to keep players coming back. Whether you're a fan of golf games or not, Hot Shots Golf: OOB is absolutely a game worth checking out.