Everybody's Golf (PS Vita)

Everybody’s Golf for the PlayStation Vita is the latest game in the popular Everybody’s Golf series, and was developed by Japanese developer Clap Hanz Limited. I was aware that the game sold strongly as a launch title for the Vita in Japan, so I was curious to find out how this game fared against the previous titles in the series.

The gameplay, despite lacking innovation, is as fun as ever. If you’ve ever played an Everybody’s Golf game before then you’ll know that despite the cute, colourful characters and environments, the game still manages to provide a real challenge. There are a number of different modes and challenges to play through, and new courses, skills, characters and clothing are unlocked as you progress further into the game.

Online play through the PlayStation Network adds further longevity, allowing you to play in live tournaments against up to fifty opponents.

Seasoned Everybody’s Golf fans may struggle to get value for money here, as the tired old formula could have done with a fresh lick of paint, but new players can look forward to plenty of fun with this title. The game does a great job of steadily building up the level of difficulty, so new gamers shouldn’t find this to be too frustrating an experience. The game is a great option for kids; my younger cousins particularly enjoyed playing through it.

Visually the game isn’t particularly special. While the character animations look quite nice, generally the whole experience lacks a certain amount of detail and polish that would have made better use of the new power of the PlayStation Vita hardware. If you’re looking for a game to show off the power of your new Vita to your friends then look elsewhere, as other launch titles make far greater use of the resources at their disposal.

One of the key disappointments for me was the fact that the game fails to make any real use of the Vita’s new features (such as the touchscreen), although limited motion control support allows you to change your perspective of your golfer on the screen. This is at best a gimmick though, and doesn’t really add anything of value to the gameplay.

If you’re looking for a handheld game to give you little bursts of fun, such as on your morning commute, then you could do a lot worse than Everybody’s Golf. Just don’t expect the game to blow you away.