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dbarry_22's Video Game Reviews (221)

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Demon's Souls 3.5/5
Metroid Dread 4.5/5
Returnal 4/5
Dead Cells 4.5/5
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 4/5
Bloodstained: Ritual of... 4.5/5
Bloodstained: Ritual of... 4.5/5
Red Dead Redemption 2 4.5/5
Blaster Master Zero II 3.5/5
The Legend of Zelda: Li... 5/5
The Legend of Zelda: Li... 5/5
Golf Story 4/5
Tetris 99 3.5/5
Red Dead Redemption 4/5
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes... 4.5/5
Mega Man 11 4/5
Octopath Traveler 4.5/5
The Legend of Zelda: Sp... 3.5/5
Bloodstained: Curse of ... 4/5
Everybody's Golf 3.5/5
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 4.5/5
Super Mario Galaxy 2 4.5/5
Castlevania: Portrait o... 4/5
Final Fantasy X / X-2 H... 4.5/5
Final Fantasy X / X-2 H... 4.5/5

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Everybody's Golf   PlayStation 4 

Fun Golf Limited By A Lack of Depth    3.5/5 stars

Everybody's Golf at its core has solid golf mechanics which makes playing a round a lot of fun but lacks the depth to really make it a must play when it comes to golf games.

This game is actually a sequel to the Hot Shots games of previous Playstation systems. Why Sony changed the name in the west is unknown but it's worth noting it now matches the name of the series in Japan. This one was the first in the series that I played but I came in having played all the Mario Golf and a few Tiger Woods golf games.

The mechanics of playing golf is probably what's best about this game. I assume it's been fined tuned over the years and by now it works really well. For those who have played golf games on video game systems the setup is common. You start your swing by pressing 'X', then hit it again on the power meter to your desired strength, then hit it one last time as close as possible to the original starting point for control. By holding a direction on the D-pad you can put spin on the ball, and later in the game you learn more advanced combo presses with allows you to put even more spin on the ball. The physics of the ball traveling through the courses is for the most spot on as well. The slope of which you're standing affects the trajectory and how the ball lays on the ground changes how much control you have of power like if it's in the fairway, rough or bunkers.

When you start the game, you get to create a character and you have an almost unlimited amount of options when it comes to gear to put on them. They are really proud of this because it goes only up from there. As you play you open up even more outfits and the store continues to add options. Every character you talk to you can copy that outfit for yourself as well by spending gold coins you accrue as you go. Personally I've never been that crazy about outfits and changing them all the time so I felt this was a bit of a waste of time by the developers.

This game has a bit of a RPG feel to it. You have to level up your character by playing tournaments and gaining experience. Not only that, but every time you hit a shot you can gain experience on each of your clubs. If you hit a full power shot, you gain experience to level up that clubs power. Hit a shot close to the pin and the control goes up. Put backspin on the ball and hit it on the green the backspin increases and so on. By the time I finished playing this game I failed to fully upgrade any of my clubs except my putter but I did get them pretty high. There is a max level for all clubs and all settings.

You also can unlock different clubs and balls as you go as well. This might help with additional power or controlling spin better. It's a nice addition but I felt like the options were limited on the club selection. At the end of the game you gain access to custom clubs that you can level up what you want. But, that takes a lot of time and effort unless you want to spend useless real money to skip that part.

Unfortunately with this the game starts to feel like a grind. I felt like the time it took to gain enough experience to move on and open up a new course took way too long. And, you're forced to do this as well. When you start the game you only have access to one course so if you want to have options with multiplayer, you better go through the single player campaign. I basically won every single tournament I entered and it still took a long time. It was a good thing I enjoyed playing the golf overall.

There are a total of 5 courses you can unlock. There are actually more courses you can buy through DLC but at $5 or more for a single course I did not go down that route. The 5 courses each have it's own feel which was nice. There's a generic course, a forest course, a beach course, a mountain course, and a classic European style links course. The early courses are quite easy and the later ones add some challenge.

When you enter a tournament or a match play contest with an AI there are settings for each course. How much wind, whether is morning, noon or evening are obvious things that change. But, this game also has settings on the cup the ball goes into. There's the normal cup, but also a teeny cup, mega cup, and tornado cup. The can dramatically change how easy it is to putt and chip which can alter your score greatly. Sometimes it was nice selecting a tourney with a tornado cup knowing the putting would be pretty easy. Also, sometimes rules are implemented as well, like hitting it in a bunker is an additional stroke penalty.

As you go through the single player campaign you will occasionally encounter an AI to play. Whether it's match play or stroke play is pretty much random. Each AI has their own little story but after a while I stopped reading them because I really didn't care. Generally speaking the computer players aren't very good. They make at minimum a few major mistakes each round which allows to win with ease if you play really well. Even the hard computer players will make these mistakes, although they sometimes make up for it with ridiculous shots you'd never be able to pull off.

There's an online open course as well. Basically this means you can go to any course and roam around and play any hole you want. This does not require Playstation Plus while other online features do require it. This is nice in the sense you can practice holes individually if you want to but in general I didn't use this much. You can drive around on a cart in this mode too but I just found that as unnecessary.

Finally, you can fish in this game. Why? I don't know. To me golfing an fishing are two very different things. You can go to a few designated fishing holes on each course in the online open course and you can catch a wide variety of fish. If I were you I'd stay away from it unless you want the trophy and even then I'd wait till you finish the game so you can have the best bait to use. Personally I would have rather had a mini-golf mode or other golfing type mini-games to increase the games content on that end.

That's really where this game lacks. You basically play tournaments and that's it. The size of the cup changes and maybe there's a rule about hitting trees or bunkers but it's really at the core the same every time you play. Mario Golf has done a much better job of adding different types of play while you golf and provides a much wider experience on the course.

I had a good amount of fun playing this game but I'm kind of a sucker for golf games like these. I ended up getting the platinum trophy for this actually. But, unless you are someone like me you may not want to take this on. The game has too much DLC and micro-transactions for my liking. I did get this on sale for $20 so you can get a deal on this but remember if you want all the courses you'll have to spend more.

3.5/5

 

 


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