Review: Let’s Golf

Posted by Chris K on January 25th, 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: Let's Golf

When you first look at this you may think, “Wow, this looks like a Hot Shots Golf Lite.” While it does seem to borrow the best things from that franchise, Let’s Golf is a competent golf game on it own. The game has some great graphics for a minis title, it is in 3D. You get your standard hole fly-bys, the hole 9yds. Each course also has a unique song for its background music.

The game is broken up into 4 different modes. Instant Play is the best if you are on the go or just want a quick fix. It randomly selects 3 holes from any of the courses and lets you go at it. Hot Seat is where you can play against one of your pals on the same PSP. There is also Free Hole, which is pretty much just your standard practice mode. Choose any course and you can play either the front or back nine, the full course, or it can randomly pick holes. And then there is the meat of the game, the Tournament mode.

In Tournament mode you have to work your way playing through the different courses unlocking new ones along the way and even getting some items that you can give your characters to change their stats. Each course has three difficulties and you unlock the next one by completing all the events for that course. While you have to unlock the course in Tournament mode, one thing I really liked was that all the courses are unlocked everywhere else in the game. When you get into the game you will see your standard set-up. A swing meter that has 2 stages, different clubs, a wind gauge… all the things you have grown accustom to playing other games. The game does a good job of letting you know how well you are doing, each time you hit the ball correctly your clubs backswing glows yellow. There is also a voice that says, “Nice Shot!” I swear the voice for Vincent sounds like the guy that did Ash Ketchum’s voice in Pokemon.

Some things could be a little more straight forward. At times it is hard to see the slope on the putting greens and the tutorial was buried in the menus. While it doesn’t take away from the fun, some first-time players might not understand what all the elements of the HUD mean. It can be very busy at times.

Let’s Golf has all the great things you love from a simulation golf game (putting slopes, ball-spin, wind) and adds just a small touch of arcadeiness (player items). For what you are paying the amount of content and re-playability will have you coming back time and time again. And to top it all of you have some local multiplayer, you couldn’t really ask for more in a minis title. If you are a fan Hot Shots Golf, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t love Let’s Golf.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation Portable version of the game.