GOLF WITH YOUR FRIENDS PUBLISHERS TRIAL

There’s obviously local multiplayer too, but it has its own flaws. By and large, playing online is great fun, even if the chat option is limited there are 16 preset things to say, most of which are pretty mild like “oops” and “come on”. This is something of a godsend it not only keeps online matches within that rough 30-minute duration, but it also adds to the anarchic feel when you see other players’ balls flying all over the place – especially in the more difficult holes where there are plenty of opportunities to mess up and put your ball out-of-bounds. Turning it into an egg, a cube or a bauble can have a huge difference on the way it rolls, and while it can be frustrating at times the fact that everyone has the same shape ball means everyone’s struggling together, which makes it a good laugh.Īll these options can be taken online, where everyone plays their shots at the same time. You can choose whether you can collide with opponents’ balls, change the gravity, decide how bouncy the ground is or even choose what size and shape the ball is. Hockey is arguably more fun than playing with normal holes because your target is much bigger, allowing for some impressive long-range shots if you’re lucky enough to have the goalie in the opposite corner.Įach of these five modes has even deeper customisation options, allowing you to tweak all manner of bits and pieces. Naturally, the aim is to score to clear the hole. Hockey, on the other hand, is far more entertaining this time the hole’s been replaced with an ice hockey goal with a cutout of a goalie randomly sliding left and right to defend it. This can be extremely tricky because you can’t set the jump height, leading to many a frustrating moment. Dunk replaces each hole with a basketball net and makes you jump the ball into the net before you can clear it. Classic goes without saying, while Explore and Party are variations on it the former turns off time and shot limits while the latter adds quirks like spin, power-ups and the ability to make your ball jump.ĭunk and Hockey, meanwhile, mix things up with varied results. Most notably, there are five main game modes: Classic, Dunk, Hockey, Explore and Party. The level of customisation is impressive, for example, with a huge array of options that go beyond simply choosing your course and the number of players. That’s not to say Golf With Your Friends has nothing going for it, of course: it absolutely does.

Again, though, given that this is designed primarily as a multiplayer game – up to 12 players can take part – the complicated, maze-like nature of some holes means that players with experience will have a clear advantage there’s no real ‘great leveller’ here that gives everyone an equal chance of victory, something all of the best party games possess. Eventually, after playing courses a number of times, you’ll remember where the best routes are for each hole and will end up with a better score as a result.

GOLF WITH YOUR FRIENDS PUBLISHERS TRIAL

Some of the later holes in each course are pretty convoluted and require a fair amount of trial and error before you eventually realise where you’re supposed to go. This extends to playing the game as a whole, really. All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game).Once you get used to it it’s fine, but considering this is a game with a heavy multiplayer focus, it’s not unrealistic to suggest that confusion can break out among some less-experienced players. In some modes, the left stick also applies spin to the ball, which can initially cause some problems your power is shown as a horizontal gauge on the bottom of the screen so your instinct will be to move the stick left and right to set your power – but that sets the spin instead. The shot process can take a little getting used to: you aim with the right stick, choose your power in advance by moving the left stick up and down, then press A to hit the ball. Each has its own charm and its own lovely little details, but if we had one criticism it’s that each course only has a single music track that plays on a loop, which can eventually get to you considering it takes roughly half an hour to get through all 18 holes.

There’s also one based on Worms, because of course there is. Each course has a theme, from sensible ones like a forest and a desert to slightly more off-the-wall offerings like a space station, a volcano and a world made out of sweets. The game contains 11 courses at launch, each with 18 holes, giving nearly 200 holes in total (a twelfth course based on Team17’s prison breakout sim The Escapists is coming soon). Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Golf with your friends publishers