E3 06: World Tour Golf Hands-On

LOS ANGELES--What's the one constant between most console golf games these days? When it comes to the swing itself--inarguably the most important aspects of a golf game--you're typically stuck behind the golfer and forced to make your swing choices based on that odd perspective. In the real game of golf, however, your perspective is obviously quite different, and the adjustments you make are all based on your first-person point of view. The upcoming World Tour Golf from Gusto Games is aiming to bring that authentic golf swing to the Xbox and PlayStation 2 this summer, and we had a chance to try it out for ourselves today.

On the surface, WTG looks like a fairly straightforward golf game. It will feature 18 courses and eight PGA Tour pros, such as Sergio Garcia (last seen as the cover boy for the old Xbox Links franchise), Colin Montgomerie, Mark O'Meara, and Ian Woosnan. The courses themselves look nice, with a good amount of grass texture variety to distinguish roughs from flat fairways and greens. In addition, the game borrows a few standard mechanics from other golf games, such as zooming to your location icon by pressing the circle button on the PS2 controller and an interactive putting grid that notes breaks and slopes on the greens.

Where WTG sets itself apart is when you hit the X button and go into the swing system itself. You're immediately taken to a top-down view of the ball, with your club of choice addressing the ball, a small window indicating the position of your feet, and the ball in the upper right portion of the screen. The basic golf swing in WTG is as straightforward as can be--a simple sweep from right to left with the right analog stick--and the developer told us that they've intentionally developed the game so that casual fans can find a good amount of success by simply lining up and swinging away. Fans who want to delve into the deeper side of the sport, however, will find a wealth of depth on hand, thanks to some interesting controls.

The first thing to keep in mind is that, while it's easy to hit a relatively good shot by simply swinging the club, the game keeps track of how straight and smooth a line you trace with the right analog stick; if you push the line either too far up or down, the ball will react. Advanced players will use the directional pad to change the position of not only the ball between their feet (to add or subtract loft form the shot), but also the front foot (either in or out) to draw or fade your shot. By using the left analog stick, you can adjust the weight you put on either of your feet while making the swing--press left to shift weight to your front foot, right to shift your weight back. Every choice you make in the game with your swing setup will affect how your ball travels in the air.

In practice, the swing in WTG is responsive and complex and definitely authentic to the real thing. A smooth swing with the right analog stick will result in a better hit ball than a herky-jerky stop-motion swing, and a handy percentage meter at the bottom of the screen will give you an idea of how hard you will strike the ball on your follow-through. Furthermore, you could easily transition between the overhead first-person view of the ball and a third-person view of the hole by pressing the X or circle button respectively. For the short game, especially on the green, we wish there was an option to easily look "up" from the ball and toward the hole, perhaps using one of the analog sticks, as the transition from first to third person can be a bit jarring. Still, we suspect that, much like the real thing, practice will make perfect.

With all of these available shot options, it's probably a good thing that the developer has made the core golf accessible to new players. The producer told us that a later build of the game will also include a tutorial to give players a breakdown on each of the adjustable swing aspects in the game, as well as dynamic caddy advice to help you make the most out of your virtual golf game.

Adding life to WTG's gameplay will be a course creator that will let you not only create new holes of your own but upload them to Xbox Live servers for your friends to download and play. We didn't get a look at the course creator, but we love the idea that it will be part of the final game. Honestly, no modern-day golf game should be without one.

World Tour Golf is looking to be a solid alternative to the Tiger Woods and Hot Shots Golf series--one that is aimed at the much more serious weekend hacker than typical golf games. The game is currently due for release in August, and we'll be bringing you more on the game in the coming months.