Overcoming Handicaps
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds may well be the best golf game ever made. Find out why inside.
Published: April 7, 2008
Though there's certainly nothing wrong with it, it certainly seems like the tried-and-true three-tap mechanic for setting a virtual golf swing is considered downright antiquated by some golf developers. It's understandable, of course; aside from perfecting reaction times, there's not exactly a solid bond between what happens on screen and how good a shot ends up when you're just tapping along a sliding meter, which is why there have been multiple attempts at trying to marry the swing animation with the actual process of hitting the ball -- often using the more natural feel of an analog stick.
Problem is, the simple three-tap method is arguably more precise than a stick that can be nudged ever so slightly during a swing, which is perhaps why long-time series developer Clap Hanz decided to go with something in between new and old. The new advanced swing mechanic still offers simple taps, but they're more in line with the rhythm of the swing animation, and when coupled with new options for fine-tuning the power of a shot at the moment of impact and the classic method for setting spin, it feels like one of the freshest additions the genre has seen in quite a while.
Nailing a perfect shot feels easier this way, and if you can pair that with the old-school method of holding one direction for the backswing and then the opposite as you swing for the ball, doing stuff like corkscrew side spins and making the ball scream up the pin before dropping into the cup isn't as difficult as it may first seem. The only catch is that it's not always easy to see how much power you're giving a shot, but switching to a side view at least gives you a more accurate guesstimate, though I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
Before I start gushing about why all this fancy-schmancy new swing stuff is so good, I should probably note that not a whole lot has changed otherwise in the Hot Shots Golf series. Yes, the visuals are noticeably improved, you can now play off adjacent courses for shortcuts, the characters are now cut and pasted straight from the Japanese game without the need for new more "Americanized" versions and there's online play, but those that played the last PS2 entry into the series aren't going to be floored by what's been tweaked here. That's a good thing, though, as the series is easily one of the most accessible and insanely additive experiences on any platform. I can't stand sports games and yet HSG manages to suck me in with each new game.
That's not to say there aren't some improvements. The Advanced Swing mechanic is obviously front and center -- so much so that there are actually courses throughout the normal Challenge Mode that require you to use it (and likewise some courses will have you stuck playing the old way), though you're almost never forced to play that course if you don't want to. This is mainly due to the way the game handles persistent rewards. Rather than offering up points earned for things like sticking to par pace, chip-in shots, birdies and holes-in-one that can be spent at a shop to give you random rewards, you're offered six cards and have to fish out your reward randomly from the lot.
At first, it felt a little forced. After all, what good are the points if they don't actually go toward something? What initially felt like a vestigial feature on par with high scores in action games finally clicked once I'd learned about the loyalty bonuses. Stick with a player long enough and rack up those points and you'll gain levels with them that unlock costumes, new equipment and more advanced swing types. Switch to a new character and you'll have to do it all over again. Save for when you move up in golfer classes, you're never really forced to stick with one player, but it certainly helps -- particularly because your loyalty transfers over to the online play.
Problem is, the simple three-tap method is arguably more precise than a stick that can be nudged ever so slightly during a swing, which is perhaps why long-time series developer Clap Hanz decided to go with something in between new and old. The new advanced swing mechanic still offers simple taps, but they're more in line with the rhythm of the swing animation, and when coupled with new options for fine-tuning the power of a shot at the moment of impact and the classic method for setting spin, it feels like one of the freshest additions the genre has seen in quite a while.
Nailing a perfect shot feels easier this way, and if you can pair that with the old-school method of holding one direction for the backswing and then the opposite as you swing for the ball, doing stuff like corkscrew side spins and making the ball scream up the pin before dropping into the cup isn't as difficult as it may first seem. The only catch is that it's not always easy to see how much power you're giving a shot, but switching to a side view at least gives you a more accurate guesstimate, though I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
Before I start gushing about why all this fancy-schmancy new swing stuff is so good, I should probably note that not a whole lot has changed otherwise in the Hot Shots Golf series. Yes, the visuals are noticeably improved, you can now play off adjacent courses for shortcuts, the characters are now cut and pasted straight from the Japanese game without the need for new more "Americanized" versions and there's online play, but those that played the last PS2 entry into the series aren't going to be floored by what's been tweaked here. That's a good thing, though, as the series is easily one of the most accessible and insanely additive experiences on any platform. I can't stand sports games and yet HSG manages to suck me in with each new game.
That's not to say there aren't some improvements. The Advanced Swing mechanic is obviously front and center -- so much so that there are actually courses throughout the normal Challenge Mode that require you to use it (and likewise some courses will have you stuck playing the old way), though you're almost never forced to play that course if you don't want to. This is mainly due to the way the game handles persistent rewards. Rather than offering up points earned for things like sticking to par pace, chip-in shots, birdies and holes-in-one that can be spent at a shop to give you random rewards, you're offered six cards and have to fish out your reward randomly from the lot.
At first, it felt a little forced. After all, what good are the points if they don't actually go toward something? What initially felt like a vestigial feature on par with high scores in action games finally clicked once I'd learned about the loyalty bonuses. Stick with a player long enough and rack up those points and you'll gain levels with them that unlock costumes, new equipment and more advanced swing types. Switch to a new character and you'll have to do it all over again. Save for when you move up in golfer classes, you're never really forced to stick with one player, but it certainly helps -- particularly because your loyalty transfers over to the online play.