Everybody’s Golf: Review

Golf simulator series Everybody’s Golf (in the USA – Hot Shots Golf) this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Launched it Camelot Software Planning, then switched to Mario Tennis And Mario Golf, and from the second part I took the initiative Clap Hanz. Virtual golf has never left the PlayStation, having appeared on all home and portable consoles, and the new release marks its debut on PS4. Clap Hanz And Sony organized it magnificently and on a grand scale, adjusting both the visual appearance and the gameplay.

In the green meadows of Japan

Clap Hanz develops E.G not according to model E.A FIFA — only one or two games appear on each platform, which is why noticeable changes are associated. In the first E.G there were big-headed dummies (what can you do – features of Japanese design!), in the second – much more realistic, the fourth offered online multiplayer and mini-golf as side entertainment, and so on. Everybody’s Golf, unlike some of its predecessors, it was not prepared in a hurry for the start of sales of the console, and therefore it has something to excite the audience.

In the Russian Federation, EG was previously produced by the SoftClub company, so there is nothing to be surprised by the Russian-language localization – in our country the series is also appreciated and loved.

I’ll briefly tell you about the rules of golf for those who are unfamiliar with the gentleman’s sport. There are 9 or 18 holes scattered across the long field, to each of which you need to bring the ball. The “arenas” are replete with obstacles – areas with manically evenly cut grass frame or cross ponds, sand bunkers and groves of lush vegetation. Usually the projectile is brought to the “green” (a cozy lawn with a flag and a hole) in three to five strokes. The winner is the one who made fewer swings of the club or scored more points for successful actions.

Everybody’s Golf allows you to create your own athlete, meticulously selecting the chin, hairstyle, eye shape, etc., with an eye on dozens of options. The same applies to clothes – you will probably be stuck in your wardrobe for a long time. On the one hand, a nice option – Sony emphasized this in the trailers, for example by demonstrating in the frame Shuheya Yoshida (Shuhei Yoshida, President SIE Worldwide Studios) and its computer double. On the other hand, the character designs are reminiscent of the Nintendo Mii; I don’t rule out that such avatars might frighten some people, and they have trouble with facial expressions.

However, let me give up https://www.trsports.co.uk/serie-a-betting-predictions.html on the facial animation – after all, the fonts here are multi-colored and the mood is cloudless. The fields themselves are huge open spaces, well detailed, each with a twist. I especially liked the area on the coast: sun loungers with canopies, neat benches and bridges, sleepy fuss of reflections and shadows, plank piers, yachts peacefully dozing on the water… Someone is already nostalgic for their vacation?

The gameplay is also a combination of contrasts: at first glance, it’s arcade-style, accessible and entertaining, but in reality it’s serious fun for fans of sports simulators. Hitting the ball follows the old three-click rule: swing, determine power and accuracy. Using the familiar grid marking the expected location of the hit, it is easy to understand the steepness of the slope and the direction of grass growth. Also important is the strength/direction of the wind and weather conditions (this is how the rain will charge!). The selection of a club and a projectile depends on the type of surface – sand and thickets, of course, require a special approach.

Everybody’s Golf accurately imitates golf, judging by sports broadcasts and films like The Legend of Bagger Vans (2000). You gradually learn new techniques – how to throw the ball higher, ensuring a long fall, how to arc around annoying trees, how to get the hang of hitting a putter (a special club for the green) accurately… In addition, the developers allow you to get used to it by practicing with large holes and holes with a miniature tornado that sucks in everything that flies past, before moving on to traditional miniature slots in the ground. In the first hours you just want to bend the naughty “stick” out of anger, but later you get used to it, gaining more elements of control over the athlete.

Each of the golfer’s tools is “pumped up” separately – if you want, you can repurpose a club designed for aimed shots into a “driver” (the one with which the ball is put into play). Having excelled in tournaments, the hero acquires a crowd of spectators and improved equipment, defeating “bosses” in matches with changing rules – their animation and clothing. Crowded championships, alas, after a dozen or so hours become predictable and routine, but the local pros are the right competitors, you won’t get bored with them.

Do not think that the entire career ladder is in Everybody’s Golf reduced to the pursuit of fields, techniques and junk. The monotony is brightened up by Professor Koenji’s quizzes (learn the terminology if you want to get hold of additional camera angles), exploring the island on a tiny map (how else? Representing an Olympic sprint on foot is a tiring task) and fishing. I’m not kidding – in a golf game you have to worry about equipment and bait!

Everybody’s Golf not rich in modes, but I returned to it day after day. Not only driven by the editorial assignment, of course, but crossing clubs turned out to be more interesting than shooting at Agents of Mayhem, work as an enthusiastic painter in Splatoon 2 and throw the hooligans into Yakuza: Kiwami. In a simple gameplay formula, there are a lot of pitfalls – you just got up to throwing a projectile three hundred yards onto a seemingly safe piece of soil, and along the way it got caught on a branch, rolled along the roof crowning the spectator stands, and fell into the bushes… Physics has a way of throwing out surprises.

The picture is complemented by the bustle online. The cards opened in the “single” serve as hubs – people pick up the generously scattered bonuses and enter their names into the record tables, struggling on one hole or completing a series. Everyone is allowed into asynchronous competitions, which is why newcomers who have just installed the game and barely unpacked their inventory have no chance of a decent position. The most popular mode is where two teams fight – no longer at their own pace, but dealing with the holes against the clock. In general, get ready to get stuck deep in the local sand for more than one evening.

As in real golf, aerobatics from the category of “hitting the bull’s eye from the starting pad” are extremely rare (I had a “hall-in-van” happen once) – Everybody’s Golf doesn’t rely on luck at all. You will understand this, if not immediately, then from the third field, complicated by elevation changes and other relief vagaries. As paradoxical as it may sound, the phrase “no place for old men” is an accurate description of the game from Clap Hanz And Sony.

Pros: successful innovations (large-scale character editor and vast fields); intelligible mechanics – you feel like a real golfer, albeit a virtual one; beaches and palm trees look like something from a postcard; soothing soundtrack.

Cons: scanty facial expressions of the characters; the content is given out in a restrained, portioned manner (you have to work a lot to unlock the same fishing!), which is why sometimes you run from flag to flag without sports passion; unbalanced online multiplayer.