I'm going to keep this short:
PSP owners, here's your next new game!
I picked this up over lunch yesterday and though I've only played a couple of rounds, I'm feeling really good about the game so far.
Normally a Tiger (or hell, even Outlaw Golf) fan on consoles, I thought I'd outgrown the three-tap power-bar golf swing found in Hot Shots. Especially since I was turned off by Toadstool Golf on Gamecube - a game that's accomplished despite its three-tap play mechanics.
Funny, then, that I had so much fun with Hot Shots on my PSP yesterday. For some reason, this control scheme just felt right and worked well on the small screen.
The first thing that impresses are the graphics. The opening screens and menus are so crisp and clean that there's no forgetting you're looking at PSP's beautiful, widescreen LCD. And the visual presentation stays impressive when you actually hit the links, too, with lush, green courses, sandtraps that look sandy, good-looking, fluid water, and (because I only played one course so far) a mountain backdrop that had me saying, "It's El Capitan from GT4!" (For the record, it's not.)
It's all undeniably cute, with superdeformed golfers and bouncy music and sound effects that HS fans have come to expect. (Good news is, I understand Clap Hanz didn't mess with the character designs very much, so the experience hopefully remains pretty true to the original Japanese release.)
The game plays fast and easy. Buttons are pretty consistent with what I remember from my last HS experience, which was probably the original game on PSone. Nice thing about this is you can move the analog nub around to shift your perspective and view other parts of the course (or sky, if you want to see a neat lens-flare effect).
What makes this game so ideal for PSP is the ability to stop after any hole, save your game, and put your system away. So when your subway finally reaches its stop, or your lunch break is interrupted by your boss who needs something NOW, you can quit your game safe in the knowledge that you can resume it later.
This is just what I needed - a fun, relaxing game that I can play in bite-sized pieces. Perfect for on the go.
PSP owners, here's your next new game!
I picked this up over lunch yesterday and though I've only played a couple of rounds, I'm feeling really good about the game so far.
Normally a Tiger (or hell, even Outlaw Golf) fan on consoles, I thought I'd outgrown the three-tap power-bar golf swing found in Hot Shots. Especially since I was turned off by Toadstool Golf on Gamecube - a game that's accomplished despite its three-tap play mechanics.
Funny, then, that I had so much fun with Hot Shots on my PSP yesterday. For some reason, this control scheme just felt right and worked well on the small screen.
The first thing that impresses are the graphics. The opening screens and menus are so crisp and clean that there's no forgetting you're looking at PSP's beautiful, widescreen LCD. And the visual presentation stays impressive when you actually hit the links, too, with lush, green courses, sandtraps that look sandy, good-looking, fluid water, and (because I only played one course so far) a mountain backdrop that had me saying, "It's El Capitan from GT4!" (For the record, it's not.)
It's all undeniably cute, with superdeformed golfers and bouncy music and sound effects that HS fans have come to expect. (Good news is, I understand Clap Hanz didn't mess with the character designs very much, so the experience hopefully remains pretty true to the original Japanese release.)
The game plays fast and easy. Buttons are pretty consistent with what I remember from my last HS experience, which was probably the original game on PSone. Nice thing about this is you can move the analog nub around to shift your perspective and view other parts of the course (or sky, if you want to see a neat lens-flare effect).
What makes this game so ideal for PSP is the ability to stop after any hole, save your game, and put your system away. So when your subway finally reaches its stop, or your lunch break is interrupted by your boss who needs something NOW, you can quit your game safe in the knowledge that you can resume it later.
This is just what I needed - a fun, relaxing game that I can play in bite-sized pieces. Perfect for on the go.
