Game Review: Prostroke Golf (PSP)
Admittedly, I am not a big sports game fan. While I love a good round of Wii Tennis, or some Mario Golf, I am not the dude who waits in line for the next Madden title every single year. The mark of a great sports game for me is one that actually makes me want to play it. Prostroke Golf for the PSP features a fairly realistic golf experience, complete with a course editor and live commentary. It's from a small developer, which shows in its graphical capabilities, long load times and lack of polish, but I believe that it can offer true golf fans something new on the go. As long as you actually own a PSP.
Funness: Like I said, I am not a sports game fan. But when I get a sports game that I truly like, that really immerses me into the sport that I am unwilling to go outside into the burning sun for, I can play for hours and hours. Prostroke Golf for the PSP is just not a game that holds my interest. The first thing that you notice is the outrageous load times. The PSP is known for some long load times, but just opening up the main title when you first put in the disk is about 30 seconds to a minute. After you select your character (from a vast array of white guys with baseball hats) there's even more loading as you get to whatever mode you want to play. Maybe I am being unfair, but this is a handheld. In theory I am going to take this game on the bus, or maybe play it on my break at work. You can't even really get into playing until about 5 minutes after you hit the power switch on the PSP. Once you get past the load times you start to get a bit grumpy and notice that there's just not much variety when it comes to character customization. Literally it's just one white dude after another. Sure, you can change the color of his pants and hat, but there are so many games out now that allow you to customize pretty much everything, it seems silly that they didn't include an option to at the very least change your sex let alone skin color. As far as gameplay goes, it's your standard golf title. You hit a button to extend your power meter and then hit it again as the meter goes back. You've seen it in Tiger Woods, Mario, everywhere. Is there truly no way to innovate how the ball is hit in these games? Did we reach the pinnacle of golf game innovation back on the NES? The box says that they use "innovative ProStroke controls" but I'm not sure what exactly they thing they are innovating.
There is your standard career mode, tournament play, tutorials and ad-hoc multiplayer. What innovation ProStroke actually brings to the table lies in the course and tournament creator, which is actually fairly robust. You can paint green and fairway on your courses with a brush and place objects like trees, sandtraps and the hole wherever you want to. I can see a golf fan spending some time in this mode, perhaps recreating their favorite real-life courses.
Shininess: The PSP is capable of rendering far better graphics than ProStroke offers. The landscapes and courses are fairly bland and like I mentioned before, the character creation is pretty abysmal. While the graphics won't wow you, the inclusion of real audio commentary is quite neat. It feels a bit like you are playing golf in your own televised tournament. Though, if you think that is the best thing ever, you probably need to get out more. The music is unremarkable and the sound effects are appropriate. Ok? Ok.
Worthiness: I can only recommend this game if you are A. a really big golf fan and B. a PSP owner. If you are one or the other, it is most likely that you already own the pinnacle of the genre (Tiger Woods) and would just be disappointed by this game. It certainly won't sell any PSPs, and is most likely going to end up in the bargain bin fairly quickly. The fact of the matter is that the PSP is a dying system, and any games that come out that are in any way lackluster are just a waste of money and time.
Score: 1/5 Skip it!
What say you?!