Hot Shots Golf Fore!

"Put your left hand on your right knee"

Hot Shots Golf Fore is now my favorite golf game. Three sucked the hours out of my life and now Fore will do the same. When HSGF came out it was priced at $40 and then after a few months it was moved down to $20. I was a little weary about buying it so I decided to hold out. This was around the holiday season of 2004 where PlayStation Underground sent out it's Demo Disc. Now if you got this disc you know what I'm talking about. In this disc was a bug that after playing a game with your memory card in it, it would get corrupted. So I called up Sony or whoever was running this and they said I could get a free game. And you know what I chose? Yep HSG4. It came in the mail a few weeks later and I had the time of my life.

Gameplay
After popular demand, mini golf was brought back. There are two courses where you try to get the ball into the hole in one stroke but keep it moving for as long a possible to rack up the most points. The original five courses from HSG3 are back along with seven other new courses. Not to mention once you complete birdies on most of the holes you can unlock the back tees and then the advanced courses which are extremely challenging because they don't show where your ball will land, the wind speed, and the green slopes. A few of the old characters are back along with a lot of new ones which have eight outfits each. For the new game modes, there is the new online mode which houses tourneys and other matches. The return of multi-player which you are guaranteed to have the most fun ever. Characters can now use the buttons on the controller when they aren't playing the make comments which are hilarious.

Graphics
The graphics are still the cartoony look but the environment has gotten a lot nicer look. The trees, water, sand, and grass now look a lot more realistic. If you are a fan of great graphic games then you should be wary of getting this game, by no means do I say if you don't like the graphics then you shouldn't get the game. I'm saying that these are Final Fantasy so don't expect that. But I wouldn't want these graphics to be at that level because it wouldn't match the comedy of the game.

Sound
Sound in this game is still great, there are over 20 different sayings for each character. The crowd also has some memorable sayings as well. For the environment, trees, bugs, water, and the sand all make accurate sounds as they should in real life so it sounds somewhat better. Compared to HSG3, the theme songs are much better. They have fewer movies but they have great songs on them showing some amazing shots.

Replay Value
The replay value on this game is great, you can practice you game and then try it out in the career mode where you unlock new items, go to Vs. Mode to get new characters. And when your friends come over, you can play together. But if you have a network adaptor, you can head online and enter some tournaments to see the pros at this game.

Review Wrap-Up
I'd recommend this to anyone that likes golf and has an easy sense of humor, if you are still thinking, rent this game and explore all the modes. You can find this at most stores for no more than $20. This is Golf for the People.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/05, Updated 04/22/09

Game Release: Hot Shots Golf Fore! (US, 08/17/04)