move, the game also takes into account how hard you press the button to determine
the strength and accuracy of the ball. This is incredibly tricky to control, and
results in a lot of slightly screwy shots, but when you nail it just right it's
incredibly satisfying.
This goes a long way towards keeping the scores
in the game genuine. Most of the time, you'll land that perfect button press on
accident, meaning (much like real life) you got in a "lucky shot" that was more
fluke than anything else. Conversely, sometimes you'll fudge the shot without
meaning to, which may cost you, even though you technically didn't do anything
"wrong". It sounds sort of cheap, but it's actually a unique, smartly organic
way to keep the shots in check. Anyone who tries to consistently go for the perfect
button press every single time is bound to start botching it, since there's no
visual indicator to go by. Thus, players can have hot and cold streaks without
the game actually enforcing them. It's a nice way to improve on the three-click
system without giving the whole thing a major overhaul.
There's also
a "secret" option to smack the ball even further and with greater accuracy, for
those who are willing to take the risk and aren't content with merely getting
their button pressure down pat. When determining the accuracy of the ball, the
meter slides between an accurate shot in the center and a total miss off to the
sides. Land the slider in the dead zone, and you get a little animated skull to
show you screwed up as you watch your shot sail off to the wayside (and usually
into a water hazard). However, if you catch it right at the very edge, you'll
get an ultra-powerful, ultra-accurate shot that's far beyond the means of a traditional
hit. It's super-risky, super difficult, and the penalty for whiffing it is high.
Still, like those guys who will go for a forth down conversion with 12 yards to
go on their own five, I found myself aiming for the crazy shot even when it was
completely nuts to do so, and more often than not, it paid off.
For slightly
less-risky shot taking, you can also tweak how far the ball is hit by using a
button besides X for the final click. This sends the shot slightly longer or slightly
shorter, a necessary technique on the final stages. Like most everything else
in the game, it's easy to do but hard to do right, so make sure you get some practice
in on the earlier courses to get a feel for it. To the game's credit, you're eased
into these moves slowly as the courses progress. Despite the deceptive amount
of depth offered (you can also manipulate which section you hit on the ball with
the analog stick) a newcomer can still dive right in and be smacking balls across
the fairway in no time at all. Thanks to the helpful onscreen grid when taking
a shot, it's simple to gauge how far the ball will travel and what it will do
when it comes to a stop. Factors like wind are represented graphically in the
realistic swaying of the trees on the course, giving a functional bit of eye candy
the previous installments in the series lacked.
As for the rest of the
graphics, they're crisp and well-animated. The screenshots of the game don't really
do it a whole lot of justice, since you have to see it in motion to really appreciate
it. Everything is super-colorful, keeping in line with the overall feel of the
game, and the courses have a gorgeous tropical feel to them. The frame rate is
rock solid, and even when you're not doing anything, the field is alive as the
characters putz around, critters scamper back and forth on the lawn, and the trees
sway in the wind. There are also weather effects and even seasonal changes that
make slight adjustments to the courses, meaning each time you replay them there
are new things to look at. While it's not exactly the most cutting-edge game on
the market (textures, save those on the character's clothing, can be quite bland),
what's here is quite nice and it suits the game very well. No real complaints
about the graphics.
The sound in the game is a little less memorable,
but still pleasing overall. You've got traditional videogame lounge music as the
background for most courses, though you'll never really get a chance to listen
to it since the in-game sound effects are surprisingly busy. All the characters
are quite vocal, which may start to grate on the nerves after a little while.
Interestingly, there were also some changes made form the Japanese version
of the game (the game is Japanese in origin, believe it or not) in an attempt
to "Westernize" things a bit for American audiences. A few characters were redrawn,
and the vocals for others were toned down significantly to make the game feel
like an American release. That's the sort of thing I'd thought we'd finally left
behind by this point, but I guess old habits are hard to get rid of. It's not
exactly censorship, but it's also not necessary -- American gamers are all well
aware that there are videogames that come from Japan, and are perfectly willing
to accommodate some Japan-ness in their experience. Still, purist rants on my
part aside, absolutely none of this effects the gameplay or the otherwise excellent
presentation, so its not that big of a deal.
As for characters, you've
got the returning cast of Hot Shots 3 plus some new characters folded into
the mix. The real draw for me was the fact that both Jak (with Daxter as his caddy
-- awesome!) and Ratchet (with Clank as his) are unlockable. Cool bonus.
Fore also has online play, though the implementation is a little strange. Up to
50 people can compete in a tournament, where each person plays each hole simultaneously
within a certain time limit, and then scores are tallied at the end, with the
players able to chat before the commencement of the next hole. So far so good,
except for one little problem: The penalty for running out of time is automatic
disqualification from the entire tournament. Run out of time, and you're unceremoniously
booted to the lobby screen. It doesn't matter if you were in first place on the
last hole, you forfeit the tournament, which is way too steep a price for just
taking too long. I can't help but think this was some kind of programming snafu
where the developers couldn't figure out (or, more likely, weren't given enough
time to program in) a better way to enforce the time limit, so they just slapped
a draconian-but-effective timeout script in there and shipped the game anyway.
The matches are still playable, and everything else works like it should, but
that's a pretty glaring oversight.
Even so, most of the action is in
the single player game anyway, and in that regard Fore! is a solid title
and it fills its niche extremely well. Anyone can pick this game up and have a
good time, but the people who will get the most out of it are those specifically
looking for a golf game that isn't going to ask for a massive amount of devotion
to be able to get into, but at the same time offers up a substantial amount of
content. If you're in the market for a golf game but don't have a specific allegiance
to one particular brand or another, this game is the safest bet on the shelves
for a quality title you're sure to enjoy.
Overall:
8.5/10
Hot Shots Golf Fore! hits
that perfect blend of realism and fun. As far as golf games go, this is the perfect
title for newbies to the genre, while still giving the veterans a lot to play
around with. Worth buying.
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