Go Go Golf

The Good
I played this game on my pc using the PCSX2 emulator, v1.2.1. I played four full single player games, one in stroke play mode, one in match play mode, two and a half in tour mode as well as a couple of practice games, all against computer opponents and the game played flawlessly. There's a lot to like about this game so I'm going to break it down into a couple of short sentences about each aspect.

Artwork: The player's movements are smooth and well animated as is the scenery. There's nothing superfluous about the game, there's the occasional boat in the water beside some of the beach courses but that's about it. There's no hot air balloons, no cars driving along the roads besides the course, no animals in the undergrowth, just what's needed for the game. As matches, particularly when playing a tour, progress the sky darkens and games can be concluded on floodlit greens but there are no crowd scenes with 2D people, no banners and no flags. The result is a game that, despite being described as an arcade style golf game, feels 'clean' and devoid of gimmickry.

Design: The game is very easy to play, the single button design is simple use but tough to master. It's different to the power bar style that's common in PC games and it works very well, (perhaps too well - see below).
The other aspect of design that is worthy of note are the golf courses themselves. They are good without being flashy and too 'arcadey'. Sure there are some holes that end on greens that are on an island where there's no obvious bridge but that's OK 'coz it's a game after all.

Sound: The in-game music sounds quite good to start with but after a while it becomes OK. Personally I don't associate rock music with a game of golf and turned off the sound completely, there's no option to turn off just the music, so that I could concentrate better. There is a little voice acting in this game, the players sort of grunt as they take their shots and there are snatches of in-game commentary.

Gameplay: At first I missed the familiar 'Do you want to take that shot again' option along with the option to play a short game of just nine holes but these were quickly forgotten as I played the game. Everything just worked, nothing was complicated, the camera zoomed in on the ball in flight and pulled back to show where it landed, it tracked puts from the moment the ball was struck right to the hole. There were a few places where the camera angle lost the ball behind the scenery but these were few and far between.

The Bad
Perversely for me the game's best feature, it's single button design, is also its downfall. While playing a match the player has to wait for their computer opponent to play their strokes and this cannot be skipped. Playing a single hole takes around three to four minutes with the player making four to five shots. A round of golf can literally be played with one hand, each shot required one button press to select the shot, one on the backswing and another at the point of impact. This means that the player is making just twelve button pushes in three minutes with the game handling the shot planning, club selection, changing the camera angles, player stance and everything else. Ultimately it's not enough.

The in-game cannot be turned off without losing the ambient sounds, commentary, and player sounds.

The single player game cannot be hurried. The player must wait for their computer opponent to make their shot and the game tracks these shots just the same way that it tracks the player's shot which means that half the time the player is a spectator not an actual player

The Bottom Line
This game fits the classic description of being "easy to play and hard to master". It's a well put together product that doesn't really have enough gameplay in it to make me want to invest the time it will take to play through a full tour