EVERYBODY’S GOLF: HOT SHOTS PC Review
Summary: Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots is filled with minor annoyances and nitpicks, but is otherwise a solid if unremarkable entry into the long running franchise.
3.6
Par
Everybody’s Golf, as a franchise, has been around for a long time. First launched for the original PlayStation in 1997, it’s a series that has generally received high praise throughout the years.
Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots (presumably a nod to the North American releases originally being called Hot Shots Golf) is the latest entry, on a new generation of consoles and for the first time, on PC. All with a new developer at the helm, HYDE.
This latest iteration doesn’t differ from the previous formula all that much. One of the trademarks of Everybody’s Golf has always been its three-hit philosophy when it comes to inputs required to make a swing. The first starts to fill a power meter, the second stops it at the power level desired, and the final button press as the bar falls determines the accuracy of the hit. Too early and it has the ball veer one way, too late and it goes the other way. It’s a system that continues to work well, for the most part.
Something feels a bit off about it all this time around, though. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but the slightest inaccuracy when it comes to building your shot can have wildly varying consequences. It feels like each shot has had an element of RNG added to it, and it made the moment-to-moment gameplay far more frustrating than previous entries. I’m not amazing at golf games by any means, but I’ve always gotten on well with Everybody’s Golf, so to not really gel with it this time around is disappointing.
There’s a massive amount of variety in terms of the different modes and ways to play the game. A world tour mode that takes each of the many, many characters through a series of increasingly difficult one-on-one matches. Each is filled with conversations and short scenes between the participants. Shot and match play are staples, and there’s a huge number of tournaments and challenges available to be completed, as well as ‘wacky golf’ for interesting variations that don’t really fall into any of the above categories.
Visually, Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots isn’t an especially bad-looking game, though I wouldn’t say that it looks great either. Everything is very… flat? The massive amount of grass you’ll see on any course is just a texture, which is reasonable for the fairway or green; it’s expected to be short, but the rough and surrounding area doesn’t really have much depth to it; it’s mostly just darker with a few tufts.
Not a deal breaker by any means, but it feels like it was done to accommodate the Switch release, and nothing much was changed when bringing it to more powerful platforms. Along with this, the developers have admitted to using generative AI for tree and leaf textures, which is disappointing and a little odd considering they’re using Speedtree (the industry standard for tree generation in games) for the rest of it.
Aside from these nitpicks though; the game looks fine. It maintains the same style it’s always had. I had no performance issues to speak of the framerate stayed locked at my monitors refresh rate of 160Hz at 4K, which is to be expected on a 5090 in a game as visually simplistic as this.
The one major annoyance I had with the game was the audio. More specifically, the near constant one liners, quips and dialogue that the characters spew forth almost perpetually. Every single line had been repeated a dozen or more times in the first half an hour of play, and by the end of the first hour I was ready to commit golf club related murder.
Steam Deck
For those wondering whether Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots is playable on Deck, then I’m happy to say that it is, albeit with some caveats. I couldn’t get it to hit 60fps at any point, with the best that I could manage being around 40fps with occasional dips, which is fine if you lock the screen to that. If you can deal with a lower framerate than is perhaps ideal, then you should have a decent time with this on Steam Deck.
Final Thoughts?
Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots is fine. It’s filled with minor annoyances that on their own aren’t anything massive, but when added up, detract from the experience somewhat. With that said, it’s fine. By no means the worst golf game I’ve ever played, it’s just that it isn’t the best, either.
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