Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds is the next-gen offering of Sony’s “wacky” golf franchise. You pick from an array of Japanese super-deformed (large head for body proportion), anime-inspired golfers to shoot a few rounds. Compete online or with friends, in single-player challenges or practice to your heart’s content. The less serious take on the sport focuses less on accurate simulations and more on arcade fun.
What’s Hot
Because this is Hot Shots Golf, style and personality play just as an important role as do the gameplay mechanics. Out of Bounds uses the PS3’s power to its advantage, showing that this golf still has attitude after ten years on the fairway. The characters are given unique, cliché personalities that are taken to extremes to give players a sense of levity that never grounds the game anywhere near a serious tone. The result is an atmosphere that stays fresh once the grind of playing multiple games of golf starts to wear thin. Courses compliment the zany cast with large environments that offer plenty of details you wouldn’t see at St. Andrew’s.
Gameplay is accessible to anyone that will give this game a shot. Timed button taps to hit the ball — if you use the new shot method or the tried and true classic method — are intuitive enough to understand. The new method consists of watching your club and adjusting based on what you “see” as appropriate distance. While not a precise at the classic mode, there is something good to be said about judging the distance yourself without crunching numbers; it takes the pressure off having to perform at a perfectionist’s level.
Taking Out of Bounds online is an interesting experience. It isn’t the tournament modes or finding a single game; it is how the entire system is set up. Instead of scrolling through a list of options and finding a match, you create an online avatar and navigate a 3D room full of other avatars that represent actual people. Want a better analogy? Out of Bounds has implemented a portion of the much hyped PlayStation Home service into its online play. It explores the idea of interacting with people before you decided to knock-out 18 holes rather successfully.
Did we mention the game is a joy to play? The one-two punch of style and gameplay makes digesting multiple rounds of golf go down smoothly. Winning new equipment after winning a challenge brings you back to fill out your locker room. The arcade gameplay ensures matches start and end quickly without overstaying their welcome. Special rules like extra large cups throw wrenches in what many people would consider a “stuffy” sport. If you can play Out of Bounds without smiling at least once, there is surely something wrong with you.
What’s Not
For a golf game, Out of Bounds moves along at a quick pace but there are moments where you are jarred out of the sense of speedy play. The replay of you swing isn’t fun to watch a million times a challenge and it is only partially skipable. The only reason why you can’t skip some parts must be due to loading, but even that is suspect because the game takes time to install before playing for the first time. Because of the seams that show, Out of Bounds will look disjointed mid-stroke. As you approach the green and putt, the elevation indicators will fill up the screen with unnecessary clutter that is hard to read, confusing players, even if you try and switch camera angles.
It is easy to appreciate the consistent style if you are a fan of Eastern character design, but those with aversions to anime will have a hard time getting past the large heads and spiky hair. The unapologetic anime influence runs to the very core of Out of Bounds without reprieve. The online space even carries the theme.
With the different direction Out of Bounds took with the online system, there was much praise. By the same token, there are some faults, first being that the social aspect of chatting with others can be a large distraction from what the game is about. Players will run around and exclaim random sayings with the all-text communication in the lobby.
Final Word
Out of Bounds thrives in an abundance of style, personality and soul. The game injects a healthy dose of fun into the golf genre where it is badly needed. Enjoyable gameplay is consistent throughout the game with tiny hitches that will show the game’s seams in a few places. The online space that emulates what PlayStation Home is suspected of being is fun to play around with as it might give an insight to what to expect later. The total Out of Bounds package is one that PS3 gamers shouldn’t miss out on.
