Video Game Countdown

Features

• With a combination highly stylized graphics and realistic golf gaming will make you enjoy golf, even if you've never held a club in your life
• 15 unique charcters to choose from, including real-life player John Daly
• Funny and fantastic characters celebrate, complain, and taunt their fellow golfers on challenging photo-realistic courses
• Outstanding environmental design that you can alter -- add trees, change the time of day and more
• Several different modes of play -- Stroke, Tournament, Short Course, Vs. Mode and many more

Product Description

In Hot Shots Golf 3, you get all the fun and action of a great golf game, combined with the comedy and slapstick of a crazy video game! Earn points as you compete and trade them in for new equipment and new characters

Amazon.com Review

Hot Shots Golf 3 certainly isn't the most revolutionary addition to this popular series, but it does a good job of retaining the classic gameplay while updating the series to take advantage of the PlayStation2's more powerful hardware. The courses are beautiful, the animation is excellent as always, and the way the ball reacts to the wind, course elements, and irons and woods is realistic. When you screw up, there's never any doubt that it's your fault, not some flaw in the physics engine. Best of all, once a course is loaded, there's never any waiting around after a shot for a position update. The game is butter smooth.

Perhaps the best thing about the game is its immediate accessibility. Players of any skill level can immediately grasp (if not master) the swing meter, where one button press starts the backswing, another determines power, and a third determines accuracy. It's all about rhythm and timing, and pressing on the directional pad during the backswing lets expert players control topspin to finesse their shots, fight a strong wind, or guide the ball through some nearby trees.

As players advance through the tournament and other modes, they gain experience in addition to points for purchasing new equipment and other game enhancements. New clubs, balls, and other items significantly impact the way the game plays. New characters and courses open up as the game progresses, so there's always something new to unlock or master. If any complaint can be leveled at the game, it's that perhaps the designers didn't take the over-the-top theme far enough. Those looking for a strict simulation without the wacky characters and fancy special effects might want to look at Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002. On the other hand, that game's special effects are too sparse to attract people looking for a pure arcade experience, and the character designs are uninspired. Regardless, the game lurking underneath Hot Shots Golf 3's fantasy façade should appeal to any golf fanatic, and the varied course designs combined with plentiful equipment choices guarantee a great deal of replayability. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Once loaded, shots, replays, and course repositioning are instantaneous
• Beautiful and varied courses with especially good water effects
• Plenty of equipment, characters, and other items to unlock

Cons:

• Graphics are good, but probably don't tap the entire potential of PS2
• Could use more and better special effects to add drama to the proceedings

Amazon.com Product Description

Forget tradition, collared shirts, and stuffy resorts--now you can express yourself on the golf course without the snobby attitude. Hot Shots Golf 3 offers nonstop, fast-paced golf action, with a smart-alecky, trash-talking cast of characters. The enhanced graphics deliver vibrant golf environments complete with simulated weather conditions that affect the flight of the ball and the speed of the greens. The new Swing Meter will test your skills with a variety of interfaces depending on the lie of the ball, whether it's in the fairway, rough, tree line, dirt, or sand trap. From the morning mist through dusk, the Time of Day feature provides a realistic approximation of a full day at the golf course. There are no delays between holes, and no delay between the time you pick up the game and the moment you can start playing. However, there is still plenty of depth for golfers of any experience level. Earn Hot Shot Points for superb performances, then cash in your points for equipment and insane gadgets.

More Information

• Operating System - Playstation 2
• Studio - Sony Computer Entertainment
• Publisher - Sony Computer Entertainment
• Label - Sony Computer Entertainment
• Model - P2SNY 711719713029
• Binding - Video Game
• Legal Disclaimer - Brand new and factory sealed game! Ready to ship. All standard shipping games ship via first class mail with free tracking and insurance! Expedited items are shipped via USPS Priority Mail. All of our games, new and used are backed by a solid 90-day warranty.

Amazon Product ID: B00005UOS7