Next-Gen Reviews

If you leap back into a game after a disconnection, you're often two (or more) shots behind where you were before the disconnection, which, when you've just pulled off a meticulous long shot, is deeply annoying. Whenever you try to switch modes, the main menu also tends to freeze with a small wifi symbol beavering away on the bottom right hand corner of the screen. This issue, currently, demands a system reboot far more often than it doesn't.

 

So while The Golf Club has had (and continues to be having) an extremely sketchy launch, when (if?) the kinks have all been ironed out, a mildly appealing, unusual and potentially divisive videogame will remain. In brief, all of the stabilisers that are traditionally given to you in golf games, have been removed. The bracing power gauge from Everybody's Golf isn't here; nor is the helpful dial menu from Mario Golf: World Tour. Needless to say this is a much more realistic game than either of those two broadly goofy endeavours, but the gameplay isn't quite refined enough to be rewarding regularly enough.

 

Play basically involves judging how much of a difference there is between, say, an 80% swing and a 70% swing on the right thumbstick. And because you have to judge that - and 'that' involves a couple of millimetres' worth of difference on the thumbstick - during an input window that lasts between one and three seconds, your decision can't really be all that considered: because there is no visual feedback whatsoever. It's a daunting system that you admittedly DO pick up very slowly, but this is clearly a game made for players who are eager (and prepared) to jump into it for the long haul.

 

It IS truly exciting when you nail a perfect swing, but without several hours' worth of practice it only ever feels like approximately 50% luck, and that doesn't make for an especially compelling experience if you're a casual player in any way, shape or form. But then that comes with the territory: this is a simulation more than anything else. And for that crowd, this is a far from awful option… especially when you bear in mind that there just aren't any alternatives available at the moment on PS4 and Xbox One. Everybody's Golf may be on the way to the former console, but there are a few months left to wait for that, at least.

 

Multiplayer works either locally or asynchronously, which to be frank is the best way to do multiplayer in a golf game. It has to be stressed that the presentation throughout is not good at all; there is consistent screen tearing on PS4, and the level of detail in all aspects of the courses (and the avatars, for that matter) is very, very low. Although this IS a budget release, its utter scrappiness gives it the air of something that just isn't worth the sub-£30 price point that's currently being charged for it. However, it does seem churlish to attack a small game made by a small studio for not looking like the latest Tiger Woods bonanza.

 

There's a highly efficient course building tool too, which is intuitive and very easy to use; think of the brilliant track builder from the original Modnation Racers on PS3 and you're roughly on the right track. It's a real pleasure to toy around with all of the tools, publishing courses is a doddle, and the savvy rating systems means that rubbish - and silly doodles made by players chasing achievements / trophies - are filtered out. However, when you DO put the hours in and graft to build a great environment, there isn't any way to promote it. It just sits there, waiting to be discovered. Hopefully some kind of promotion system gets implemented at some point.

 

The disconcerting commentary is worth a mention too. A slightly robotic Canadian man talks to you as if he's both your caddy (and a friend of yours) and a commentator working for a low-rung TV station. The result is truly bizarre, as the man will groan like he's been stabbed when you miss a putt, sounds like he's reeling off dry statistics for a TV audience the next, before mocking you for fluffing a long shot the next. His audio also sounds like it was recorded inside a closet, which does nothing to alleviate the weirdness factor.

 

On the one hand: if you have an old console, pick up any old iteration of Tiger Woods to get your golfing fix on the cheap, or better yet buy Everybody's Golf or Mario Golf: World Tour if you have a Vita or a 3DS. On the other hand: this isn't really comparable with those two games (at all) if only because it doesn't do everything for you like they do. The Golf Club is a no-nonsense, visually (and technically) modest game aimed squarely at devout golfing enthusiasts. It's no masterpiece, but if you're willing to put the time and the effort in, it's t difficult to suspect that it'll prove to be solidly good at the very least. And potentially way, way better than that, given time.

 

 

6/10