Review: Everybody’s Golf

 

Sony has many franchises under their belt, and if you’re familiar with Hot Shots Golf, this is something you’ll be interested in reading. I’ve spent the better part of this week playing Everybody’s Golf, and I’m simply impressed how much fun this is. Celebrating 20 years of golf, Sony is embracing the series with a name change to better reflect what the series is known as in Japan and Europe, and a new game.

I’ve played a few golf games over the years, most recently I played is Golden Tee, a staple of many bars across the world, and a game that is still to this day, fun to play with friends. The arcade golf game has been around for some time and has been on every PlayStation platform since its inception.

Clap Hanz’s Everybody’s Golf is many things, it’s undeniably a charming game, that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, and you’ll learn to enjoy Everybody’s Golf much more. This really is a game for everyone to play, and it’s good that it was developed this way.

If there was ever a time to become a professional golfer, Everybody’s Golf is a good way to go, starting out on Golf Island, you’re asked to become the best golfer around by beating opponents and rising through the ranks by participating in tournaments and improving your skills. You can create your golfer with an expansive character creator and from there, you can really hone in on your appearance.

https://youtu.be/jbv5qnspMQg

I was wary of how easy it would pick this game up and play, I am happy to confirm that this is a very welcoming title to everyone, this includes members of my family who don’t play games at all, and not long after introducing them to the game were they playing somewhat confidently. The opening course, Eagle City, is a perfect place to hone your skills and practice.

As you play, your clubs will level up and provide bonuses, each set of clubs has its own pros and cons and one of the best ways to discover your go to set of clubs is to practice with each set to get an idea of how they handle on the course.

Tournaments are fun, and as you complete them, you can earn experience as well as new items for your avatar to look chic in. There are fun little things like finding your rival appear to challenge you to a one-on-one match golf game, with varying rules that can swing in which way.

A first for the series, Everybody’s Golf offers a robust and plentiful online experience, you can ride around on golf carts, socialize with other players, even fish if you so wish. Online courses allow for upwards of 50 people to participate, however, you can also go at them alone, I advise against this as it lonely and seeing others around you brings out the full experience of this title.

Online wasn’t available for most during their reviews, I was lucky enough to play online just as the game launched, and I really enjoyed it. You get standard Open Course, as well as Turf Wars, a mode that pits two teams against each other, dividing them up into teams of either red or blue with the simple goal of playing on whatever course you want within the time limit. Points earned during this will accumulate to the team’s score and whatever team has the most points wins that holes.

There is one caveat, to unlock new courses, you need to grind through to unlock the five courses available, this, in turn, puts a lock on content until you can satisfy the requirements to play on all the courses.

PlayStation 4 Pro owners will be pleased to see that Everybody’s Golf has baked in settings that cater to the beefed-up PlayStation 4. You can choose between either 4K or 60 fps, as well as whether you want to use HDR. Both look great, and offer their own benefits, it’s good to see that the upgraded console get some love for those who have one and with few titles to take advantage of the added power.

Everybody’s Golf really is for everyone. There is a highly enjoyable experience to be had mastering the courses, finding treasure, catching fish, and interacting with other players. Visually, this is a beautiful game and mechanically, Everybody’s Golf is perfect for anyone who wants to play golf. There’s a light, colorful golf game here that is fun to play and hard to put down.