Reviewed: July 29, 2008
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Housemarque

Released: July 9, 2008
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2

6
6
5
6
6.1

Supported Features:

The first thing that will cross the minds of anyone who has ever played a PS2, PSP, or PS3 is that this game looks remarkably like Hot Shots Golf, both in overall theme and character style. But that is where the similarities end. Golf: Tee It Up! is a fairly shallow experience that seldom feels like a golf game at all. Sure, you are using clubs to smack a white ball around 36 holes but everything you have ever learned about golf, either in real life or in video games gets tossed aside so the designers can force their wacky arcade brand of gameplay into the mix.

Your limitations continue as you head to the golf course of your choice…both of them. That’s right, only two courses; one in a tropical Caribbean setting and the other in the woodsy Scottish highlands. Coming to grips with the limited character creation and course options is a bit easier when you factor in that you are only spending 800 points for this game, whereas most games of this caliber run 1,200 points. Hopefully, more courses will become available soon because it won’t take you long to master the 36 holes provided.

As far as fundamental gameplay, Tee It Up plays much like every other golf game in the history of golf games, at least until they all started going to those analog swing styles. Here, we have the simple 3-tap system, once to start the swing meter, once to set the power, and a third tap to set the accuracy of the stroke. You can also tap B to engage a boost power. This increases the potential shot distance as well as the speed of the swing meter and it causes the power meter to shake, making an accurate shot nearly impossible.

Where Golf: Tee It Up fails is in its scale. You can smack the ball and the distance counter says it went 250yds, but visually it looks like a 70ft chip shot. You never get the feel of any true distance in the game, which ultimately makes the entire experience feel like mini-golf with fairways and hazards. The physics are also horrible. Sand will stop the ball instantly, even when you roll onto it, and the leather-like surface of the fairway doesn’t allow for any realistic roll after the initial impact.

To further enhance the wacky arcade style of gameplay is the game’s main hook, the Focus feature whereby you can steer the ball while in flight or rolling on the ground. You are given 4 seconds of focus time per hole and any unused time carries over to the next hole. If you don’t like the direction your ball has taken you can simply steer it in a new direction until the timer reaches zero. While you can’t make up for huge errors you can easily curve a bad chip shot into the hole or steer around a rock or tree. You can also use your Focus time to preview a putt. This must be how Jedi’s play golf.

Naturally, this Focus ability is going to generate some totally unrealistic scores (like 54 under par for 18 holes). In some awkward attempt to balance your godlike gameplay abilities the designers have created some insane holes; some that actually have a PAR 6 attached to them. Other holes are so difficult the fairway is merely patches of grass in a massive expanse of rough – almost in the same ratio as sand traps to fairway in a real golf course. You also find that patches of fairway are often stretched so far apart you cannot even reach them with your best club and a perfect stroke.

I found the entire experience extremely unrealistic and frustrating for about the first day of play, but then I changed my mindset and told myself this was merely an arcade game using golf as a loose core concept, and then it became a lot more fun…even more so when I headed online to start playing in some random foursomes. Online, you can play stroke, cup, or match play in versus mode or team up for two-on-two. I was hoping for a “best ball” style of play in the team mode but it is merely the best score gets posted to the card. You can choose to play 9 holes, a full 18, or have the game randomly select a few holes for a very quick match. Sadly, if even one person drops out of the game, either purposely or a dropped connection, the game is over. I had about 25% of my online games end this way. Obviously, this makes 18-hole matches a risky endeavor.

You can also enjoy four-player local matches. The menu system makes it easy to create a character or choose an existing one, then choose from stroke, cup, or match player in either versus or team play. You can even have multiple players on one system play online.

There is a scoring system in place that keeps track of how well you are playing. If you hit good or great shots this score advances. If you end up in a trap or in the rough you lose everything you have earned for that hole up to that point. The bonus points for each hole are tallied between holes for the final match total. This score is used to determine the winner if a tie occurs. It’s also a great way to track how skillfully you have been playing.

Even though there are only two 18-hole courses the designers did a good job of mixing up the details to create some unique holes. The Caribbean course is easily my favorite, with cool skies, deep blue water, and lush tropical greenery. It’s like being on vacation. The Parkland course is more of a skill course with twisty fairways and plenty of trees and traps to lower your score.

My biggest complaint with the entire game is the texture detail, especially for the grass. There is simply no texture other than this green leather-like surface for the fairways. There is no dimension to the tall grass or even the sand. You can land the perfect drive in the middle of the fairway and not only does it smack the grass with a leather-like thud, it rolls like it’s on sticky leather. The lack of any grass texture is only emphasized by the highly detailed blades of grass you see in the load screens.

There are some nice environmental effects like wind, birds, and even some ocean noise on the Caribbean course. It’s just a very bland soundscape limited by the nature of the game and the course designs. There is no speech from either the characters or any type of announcer. The game does support voice chat but nobody seems to talk much while playing.

There really isn’t any established end to this game. Obviously, once you beat par on both courses you’ll hopefully want to improve your score and possibly work your way up the online leaderboards. You can also go online for ranked and unranked matches, but with only two courses you will likely master this game or get bored with it in less than a week and probably won’t come back until more content is available.

Personally, I would have rather paid 1,200 points for 3 or 4 courses upfront. There just isn’t enough content here, even for 800 points. For the same money you could get 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventure which also comes with 36 holes that are far more entertaining than these, and a course editor so you can make more.