Hitting the Links
We grab our clubs and check out the first US build of Sony's awesome golf game -- now with online impressions!
Published: February 10, 2008
It's rather impressive that Sony and Clap Hanz's Hot Shots Golf series has managed to grow the kind of legs it currently sports. Not only is the series every bit as strong as when it debuted on the original PlayStation, but in many ways the series has continually evolved -- if in smallish steps. With the PlayStation 3 version, however, the series is finally going online in a real way, and thanks to a new swing mechanic and some tweaks to the characters, this may well be the best Hot Shots yet.
It all starts by picking your initial duffer. While you're initially limited to just two choices, there's actually quite a bit of merit in sticking with your initial choice. Not only will you become more comfortable with their play style, but continually moving a single player through the various tournaments found in the game will increase their Loyalty -- one of the key new areas in Out of Bounds (the title, for those curious, comes from the fact that you can now play off of nearby courses' fairways if you're looking for a particularly sneaky shortcut). Loyalty slowly increases as you earn points throughout the normal course of playing in tournaments, and with each successive level, the skills and abilities of that player will increase.
It starts out relatively simple; the first level gives you another use of the power shot, then you're able to hit balls with more top or back spin, then you're able to hit things like spiral shots and rising and homing shots (remember that technique that would let you apply so much back spin to a ball that it would catch on fire and roll backwards? Now if you pull it off right, it'll actually home in on the cup). The more advanced shots require an absolutely perfect amount of power and a dead-on hit, but they can be incredibly rewarding.
Nowhere is this more apparent, however, than in the new swing mechanic. Yes, the old school three-tap system is still in place and is ready and waiting for old-school Hot Shots vets to work over as they please, but the new system, which relies more heavily on watching the actual animation to judge power, lets you set your strength visually, then time a second press to gauge accuracy. Notch up enough Loyalty and you'll even be able to fine tune the power of your hit at the moment you strike the ball, easing off or applying more oomph with the Circle and Triangle Buttons. By using these techniques, it's actually possible to drive the ball farther than the old method, though it takes quite a bit of finesse to really pull off.
It should be noted that for the US release of the game, Sony took the time to tweak the new swing mechanic a little. Now, a very faint outline of the final frame of the backswing animation appears, and while putting in the backswing a little ghost of the ball streaks out for the length of the swing. Neither make hitting a perfect shot anything approaching a sure thing, but they're absolutely invaluable at helping to set, say a 75% power shot -- especially because before the only indications of the power of your shot were little yellow and red flashes at about 50 and 100 percent, respectively. Putting in particular is a godsend, because you still have to read the grades of the green, but getting a general idea of how far the ball would go were there no dips, hills or slopes makes the whole process feel much more intuitive and natural.
It all starts by picking your initial duffer. While you're initially limited to just two choices, there's actually quite a bit of merit in sticking with your initial choice. Not only will you become more comfortable with their play style, but continually moving a single player through the various tournaments found in the game will increase their Loyalty -- one of the key new areas in Out of Bounds (the title, for those curious, comes from the fact that you can now play off of nearby courses' fairways if you're looking for a particularly sneaky shortcut). Loyalty slowly increases as you earn points throughout the normal course of playing in tournaments, and with each successive level, the skills and abilities of that player will increase.
It starts out relatively simple; the first level gives you another use of the power shot, then you're able to hit balls with more top or back spin, then you're able to hit things like spiral shots and rising and homing shots (remember that technique that would let you apply so much back spin to a ball that it would catch on fire and roll backwards? Now if you pull it off right, it'll actually home in on the cup). The more advanced shots require an absolutely perfect amount of power and a dead-on hit, but they can be incredibly rewarding.
Nowhere is this more apparent, however, than in the new swing mechanic. Yes, the old school three-tap system is still in place and is ready and waiting for old-school Hot Shots vets to work over as they please, but the new system, which relies more heavily on watching the actual animation to judge power, lets you set your strength visually, then time a second press to gauge accuracy. Notch up enough Loyalty and you'll even be able to fine tune the power of your hit at the moment you strike the ball, easing off or applying more oomph with the Circle and Triangle Buttons. By using these techniques, it's actually possible to drive the ball farther than the old method, though it takes quite a bit of finesse to really pull off.
It should be noted that for the US release of the game, Sony took the time to tweak the new swing mechanic a little. Now, a very faint outline of the final frame of the backswing animation appears, and while putting in the backswing a little ghost of the ball streaks out for the length of the swing. Neither make hitting a perfect shot anything approaching a sure thing, but they're absolutely invaluable at helping to set, say a 75% power shot -- especially because before the only indications of the power of your shot were little yellow and red flashes at about 50 and 100 percent, respectively. Putting in particular is a godsend, because you still have to read the grades of the green, but getting a general idea of how far the ball would go were there no dips, hills or slopes makes the whole process feel much more intuitive and natural.