REVIEW – Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2

I starting playing this game thinking I will give this game a glowing review, because I’ve played Hot Shot games in the past, and I considered myself a fan. I thoroughly enjoyed Open Tee 1, and the PS2 games also. It had a simple and easy to understand golfing system, along with interesting characters, and even online play! Whats not to like? I started up my first match, and said “Yep, this is Hot Shots alright.” I wasn’t mistaken.

Even though the last HS game I played was Open Tee, 3 years ago, when I started playing this game, I instantly went back to the time I played the first. It’s because everything in this game is exactly the same as the previous iteration. The mechanics, the menus, ect. Sure, they may be online play and new accessories, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the game still feels totally derivative. At first I was okay with this because, “Hey, this is why I like Hot Shots Golf.” What I should have said was “This was why I liked Hot Shots Golf.”

This type of gameplay was all well and good years ago, but these days it just does not cut it. Press button, waiting until it gets to the end, pressing the button again, waiting until it gets back to the beginning, and pressing the button a third time. Good? No. At first, the game was playing on my fun memories of the previous game. Don’t get me wrong, I was having fun. But after ranking up a bit, I realized something: the fun is now gone. The simplicity is is too simple and there is no strategy or skill besides putting. Timing is easy and you should be able to destroy most of you opponents until at least after the pro rank.

This game does introduce online mode, but like any almost any other PSP online game, it comes up short. No voice chat, and the fact that everyone always drops out before the end makes it an insubstantial addition. The accessories are almost always just for looks, though some give your golfer some new attributes.

If you’ve ever played Ridge Racer and then Ridge Racer 2 on PSP, then you know how developers can be lazy and can sometimes release an almost carbon-copy of the previous game. This is just like that.

This game is terribly boring. This doesn’t mean it isn’t for anyone. If you’ve never played HSG, then you should probably pick this up even if you don’t like golf. It will be fun for you. But for anyone else who has played any other game in this ageing series, then do not play this game. You will be bored out of your mind and will never want to play a golf game ever again.

~ by Patrick Nguyen on June 30, 2008.