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While not exactly a headlining event, the Hot Shots Golf series has found itself a mainstay in the PlayStation family library over the years, combining an elegantly simple play system that is accessible to both casual and hardcore golf fans. Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds, the newest addition to the PlayStation franchise, brings with it all of the offbeat quirkiness of the past games while injecting some subtle new spins to the formula.

Tee Time

First and foremost, the biggest change in Out of Bounds is the new advanced hitting system. While Hot Shots vets can still choose the three-click power bar system, the new method of pitch and putt is a welcome advancement to the series gameplay. Pressing X to engage the backswing starts the character animation; the next step is timing the next button press to coincide with a transparent “ghost” club that represents 100% power. Finally, a collapsing circle appears on the screen for the downswing. When that circle focuses to a point on the ball, a final button press will get you 100% accuracy. The system may seem tough to handle at first, about an hour of practice will reveal that not only is this advanced swing mode much more accurate and easier to control. Besides that, it’s also immensely satisfying.

Like the Hot Shots before it, Out of Bounds contains a multitude of characters that you can unlock, each with their own strength and weakness attributes. By taking these characters through the tournament mode, you will further unlock new outfits, clubs, and balls, which in turn will boost stats for overpowering the competition. Additionally, playing with a specific character will raise their loyalty, a form of affection towards you (the disembodied golfing god) that will allow that character to perform special, arcade-like maneuvers on the course such as pin-homing shots and super spin. Part of the charm of Hot Shots has always been the attachment to a particular character, their play style, and the building of their attributes to compete in harder tournaments. Out of Bounds delivers that exact same addictive quality found throughout the series.

Chipped Shots

Graphically speaking, the game is serviceable, if not altogether impressive. The backgrounds and courses look very nice, but a lot of the grass and vegetation textures leave something to be desired. Perhaps the area with the least amount of improvement has been achieved is in the character models, who are still creepy big-headed anime kids wearing strange (and sometimes provocative) clothes. While each character is supposed to hail from a different part of the world (i.e., Bjorn from Scandinavia); their voice samples are both annoying and repetitive.

There is a nice variety to the actual courses themselves, from the windswept greens of Japan to the more tropical introductory course. The hole design is top-notch, with some truly devious dog-legs and bunker layouts to test the uninitiated. All of this great design, however, highlights the fact that there is no course editor, which would have really put Out of Bounds over the top.

That brings up the next point: the distinct lack of modes. Hot Shots isn’t trying to be Tiger Woods in any sense of the word, but it would have been nice to have other play modes besides tournament, stroke, and match play. Some sort of skins game or more uncommon golf rule sets would have been welcome, because you’ll be seeing a lot of the same holes over and over in tournament mode via stroke play in order to unlock more courses and characters.

On the online side of things, Hot Shots is a ton of fun. After creating a profile avatar and outfitting him or her with goofy gear, you can join a clubhouse lobby of up to 30 people for some Mii-like mayhem. From the lobby, you can then join a round on the links. Each game can have up to eight players, and every player golfs in real-time. This keeps the round moving at a nice pace without downtime, but it also lets you see the characters you’re competing against as they swing their way towards the cup. It can be a bit distracting when you’re trying to putt from 30 yards and an errant chip from another player comes bounding across your screen, but the online mode is fun and well-designed. The only fault is lack of voice chat and very limited text communication, but since you’ll be golfing much more than you’ll be waiting, it’s not too big of a deal.

Watch the Birdie

Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds is being released at a perfect time in the year, before the PS3’s heavy hitters during a relative lull. The game is solid, if a bit short on content, but it’s more fun than it’s ever been. The online and local multiplayer modes are as tense and exciting as ever, ensuring that you could play Out of Bounds until the holidays, if not beyond.

Review by: Justin Fassino