Minna-no Golf Impressions

Prior to the Tokyo Game Show, we had been under the impression that the evolutionary process for mobile golf games had been essentially exhausted. No developer has really improved upon the basic, meter-based model used in almost every golf game since the dawn of creation. Minna-no Golf (known as Hot Shots Golf in the US), from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, doesn't innovate on this score--but then, it doesn't really have to. You'll be too busy watching Minna-no Golf's gorgeous, fully 3D graphics and moving camera angles to notice that it's all been done before.

Sony's Minna-no Golf demo was limited to a single playable hole and one cartoony golfer. The game's mechanics aren't anything new: You pick your club, aim, and swing using a power meter, which in this case is situated on the bottom of the screen. If you make a solid connection with the ball, you'll hear a loud pinging noise.

Minna-no Golf's most noticeable quality is its lush, almost decadent visual style. Everything is animated in 3D, which the game renders in real time with no slowdown. The course has a truly glorious range of colors. Your golfer looks like an actual, physical entity, rather than a cardboard cutout or a set of vertices. The ball, for its part, takes to the air trailing a ghostly white motion blur. The camera automatically cuts away to its landing area, using a clever three-quarters angle to encompass the surrounding terrain. Even the green gets into the act. Much like the in the console game, it features a 2D grid overlay to help you discern subtle bumps and slopes in your ball's path to the cup. Indeed, Minna-no Golf looks like it would be right at home on the PlayStation, circa 1999.

We still don't think that the swing-meter system for mobile golf games is going anywhere soon, but Minna-no Golf provides an idea of where the genre might be heading in the US--and we can't argue with the destination.

For more updates, be sure to check GameSpot's coverage of Tokyo Game Show 2004.