PLAYSTATION 2 In 'Hot Shots Golf Fore!' Sony captures essence of the game

This just might help your real golf game.
By BILL HUTCHENS
TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE
I think the sound is "thwock!" or maybe "thwack!"
It's the sound of a driver perfectly smacking a golf ball down a long fairway. It calls to mind blue sky, young trees slightly shuddering in a gentle breeze and freshly mown green grass that would make heaven's groundskeepers jealous.
I don't often hear that pleasant sound when I'm out on the course. I'm a relatively new golfer, see, and have quite a few kinks to iron out of my swing. But in my living room it's a different story, thanks to "Hot Shots Golf Fore!" for PlayStation 2. This latest volume in the series that boasts more than 7.5 million games sold brings back the cartoony big-headed golfers for even more fun on an even grander scale.
It should be called "Hot Shots Golf More!" since it offers more of everything -- more courses (15), more characters (34) and more modes of play, including a new online competition mode.
Golf atmosphere
I mention sound because it seems like Sony has captured the very essence of golf. It's obvious that the designers, Sony's Santa Monica Studio (Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, Downhill Domination), lovingly created each challenging course and infused them all with healthy doses of golf atmosphere.
There's the true-to-life physics system. Whether you put some draw, fade, topspin or backspin on the ball, it's going to fly, bounce and roll the way a real ball would on a real course. Then you have to contend with wind, bunkers and your chosen character's abilities in addition to the many kinds of lie you'll find along the length of each hole on each course.
Eventually you'll fall into a drowsy checklist rhythm as monitoring wind, selecting the appropriate club, measuring distance and setting swing power and direction before each shot becomes second nature. Then the courses get tougher, and you'll either have to snap back to attention or join the double-par club.
As in real golf, putting can markedly change from green to green and is affected by wind and rain. Fortunately, an overlay grid on each green shows both subtle and acute sloping, and your caddie usually will offer solid advice.
An even better sound
As much as I like that "thwock/thwack" sound, the plunk-plunk of the ball knocking around in the hole after a tremendous putt is even better. You'll get plenty of that in Hot Shot's mini-golf games.
These include some of the most brutal virtual putt-putt and nine-hole par-three courses ever imagined. I like the way the putt-putt courses are scored -- not by strokes but by the difficulty of the shot you take. You get only two strokes to sink a putt, and you'll earn more points if you take the roundabout path than you will if you try to shoot straight to the hole.
The nine-hole par-threes are scored like regular golf, but the holes are ridiculously daunting. Often, you'll find yourself teeing off from atop one monolith, aiming for the green on top of another.
As you play in almost any mode, you'll earn game points that allow you to purchase better equipment and golf gadgets and open locked courses and characters, including Sony videogame notables such as Jak & amp; Daxter and Ratchet & amp; Clank.
Party game
As many as four players can participate at once, adding a nice party-game element to an already comprehensive title. I think this new Hot Shots game actually is helping to improve my real game, and it's certainly something I'll cling to when the weather turns cold and I'm stuck inside for the winter.
X"Hot Shots Golf Fore!" by Sony for PlayStation 2 is rated E for everyone.