I've said this time and time again, the only sport video game that I enjoy are golf games. I love to golf in real life, but even playing 9 holes can take a few hours. All other sports that I am interested in, I would just rather go play them in real life. Basketball, baseball, racquetball and so on, but golf for me, has always translated very well to the digital medium and what normally takes four hours to play an 18-hole course in real life, takes about 45 minutes in a game. So for that reason I am usually down for reviewing a golf game and in this reviewers humble opinion, Hot Shots Golf Open Tee is still the best PSP golfing game available.

Not that others don't have other interesting features that warrant a second look. And with that, the folks at Oxygen Elite have released ProStroke Golf on the PSP, where it was played before on the original Xbox, PC and PS2, only this time some subtle changes. For one, the elimination of the first-person perspective when lining up a drive or shot is a welcomed one, ProStroke on the Xbox (I reviewed it) was a little to muddled in its controls with too much emphasis on foot positioning and nuances of your stroke. In the PSP version, the foot positioning is still there, but seemed to me that it did not make as large an impact to the overall effectiveness of your shot. It is always something you want to consider when playing on slopes and rougher terrain, but for the most part, the default foot positioning seems to get the job done. But then it begs the question, why have all these options for play if it doesn't effect the game significantly? Well the answer is it does and it doesn't. You can get away with merely going through the motions and doing alright, it's when you really start tweaking with things that you will find your score getting lower. I guess you could say this golf game is as much as you want it to be.

"If a train traveling west at 70 mph leaves Bangladesh at 3:42am,
how much does a bag of flour cost in Soldotna, Alaska?"

Now ProStroke doesn't look as bad as other PSP titles, the game has large courses and you can take a quick bird's eye view of your projected shot to get a lay of the land. An ample amount of design went into the courses to make sure you know that it isn't the same thing over and over. I had a hard time with how quick the fairways could be and how the greens felt like they were green-colored ice. The trees that line the courses look pretty cool, but in all honesty there was nothing that blew me away in terms of eye candy. This is pretty much a port of what amounted to be an average title on the other consoles. I know, that may be mean for me to say, but think of it this way, ProStroke Golf is a great alternative for those golf players who would like to try something else other then Hot Shots or Tiger Woods. If anything, I could not stand the constant mini cutscenes that happened after each shot. For example, if you hit the ball, the game switches to you walking to your ball, afterwards it switches to you kneeling down behind your ball as if to line up the shot. Then it finally comes back to you

The audio is more of the same, the developers had real pro golf commentators come in and so some voice over work. International voices like Ian Baker-Finch, Alan Green and Sam Torrance, provide some gravitas to the gaming experience, but every once in a while it seems like either the comment doesn't quite fit with the shot that was just made, or that the comment is missing that certain realism one comes to expect. The thwack of the ball and the clapping of the people are somewhat reserved, but this is the dignified sport of kings, so some reservation is almost expected.

"Where's the flag?"

Since this is a rival game to the popular Tiger Woods franchise, the developers had to go with some other pro golfers. Justin Rose, Ben Curtis and Mark O' Meara. The big name is Sergio Garcia though, as some of the other names are unrecognizable to the casual player. Essentially you create a profile using the pre-made selections for hat, shirt, body type, colors, you know, all the normal stuff. Playing against these "Pro" golfers is what you do as you try and fill your schedule by either playing in tournaments, accepting challenges from other golfers or creating challenges yourself. Invitations will arrive asking you to play in events that match your current ability, it's up to you to determine whether or not you will partake in the event. Doing so though is the only way to increase your standings and your winnings (cash).

The game features multiplayer via ad-hoc only, there appears to be no online capabilities but up to four players can play this title in the same match. No other copy of the game was received so the multiplayer portion was not tested.

Interestingly enough, there is a course creator that allows you to make your own courses for later play. It's good to have a lot of memory on your memory stick as  you can put as much or as little into designing the courses. It doesn't take too long to be up and playing on your own course, but like anything, a decent amount of effort needs to be put forth if you want to make the most enjoyable course. And to be honest, this provided me with some real enjoyment.
 

Gameplay: 6.5
I wasn't too impressed with how the game provides so many options that would effect the ball, but if you just chose to ignore them the defaults are enough to get you by. I wished there was a greater difference in the tweaking of your shot as opposed to just walking up to the ball and hitting it. A percentage meter is always there telling you how far on the power meter you should hit the ball.

Graphics: 6.7
Not too bad, but I found myself looking at other titles and thinking how much cleaner and nicer the graphics were.

Sound: 5.5
The commentators were clearly "Phoning it in" on some of the dialogue. Sometimes the phrase wouldn't quite fit the situation.

Difficulty: Medium
Chances are you will get some challenge out of this title if golf is your game of choice. Sometimes things can get pretty dicey when you start accepting invitations to those elite tournaments. Don't be surprised if you get a couple of birdies the first time you play.

Concept: 7.0
I like the thought of another golf franchise, and the developers are on to something when it comes to tweaking your shots, foot placement and such, I think things will shape up a bit better the next installment.

Overall: 6.2
Like I said before, there is room for another golf franchise, and with some of the things this game is leaning towards I think we may be on the verge of a real quality franchise, it's just not here quite yet. Here's hoping I'm right.