I bought this game on a whim since it seem rather enticing since it has Bandai Namco in it, and I immediately fell in love the experience since I was like playing the MMO pangya fantasy golf or the dead mobile game Eagle fantasy golf with this one, which made me quite happy seeing as both are dead games, giving a positive review after getting my first eagle.



On to Topic:
Seems like I am a bit late to this but Everybody's Golf series was already old to the point 1997 known in NA as Hot shots golf, and this makes me quite sad knowing such a good series I have never even known, apparently this series was mostly found on Sony platform probably why I didn't know about it since I mostly played on Nintendo ones.

Back to topic, this game is EVERYBODY'S GOLF HOT SHOTS is actually the first stand alone title parting from its predecessors being a non-Sony platform but published by Bandai Namco, also the eight installment through out its entire series, apparently this installment is a step down due to having no character creator than the previous one, I kind of want a character to create as well but I won't pursue it much since I'll treat this one like the Pangya PSP one.

The PC aka Steam port, quite good actually with no stutters and the graphics at max doesn't slow down, not to mention the sound doesn't feel stutter so its all positive on the experience, Controller support goes well with my 8BitDo Ultimate 2 and changing mid match to use a keyboard and mouse seems fluid.

The game experience, from the initial version only two playable characters only and you unlock them as you play but from the version I played you start with four, so I can't say how others felt in the initial one, but as for character unlocking its lock behind mostly in challenge mode and story mode so its a long grind, not to mention this game has a level system which is disguise as Loyalty, the more you use the character the more things they can do, from super backspin shots to even unlocking more power shots.

If you played Pangya PSP its probably the most similar experience, you play challenge mode, do a 9/18 hole tournament, win and unlock stuff. but in this game you need to grind not for loyalty but for food since you need to eat them to increase your character stats, and if your planning on using other characters you need to grind them again.

The golf experience, there are actually three modes of control in this game, First is the Traditional control which is the same control as Pangya where you get a gauge at the bottom and tap three times to time your shots, Second is the Gauge control where you get a circular over your character and you gauge the timing shots this control is similar to Eagle, and lastly is the Advanced control where you control your shots from a circle timing and impact timing most similar to this is probably the PGA games.

Main Key-points :
The good points.
+A good anime style golf game good for being cozy.
+Good animation from flexing swings, initial poses and the best part the golf ball animations.
+Has a story mode for each character.
+Game has many characters(from previous games and new ones.)
+Has a shop system that lets you buy clubs, balls, costumes, food, etc.
+There's a tutorial but you can still be bad at it.
The bad points.
-Beginners struggle to compete on courses(Par 5 having a 800+yards and your club only has 180 XD),
-In order to have stable stats a big grind is needed.
-Costumes comes in one piece not per piece.
-Characters especially the ones that are good are lock behind grinding even caddies included.

Last note : I didn't expect the game to be quite a good one, probably won't regret buying this since I can play leisurely and have fun doing the story mode to learn more about this series, though I might need to put effort in playing if I want to hit some Albatross and HIO but since I already have experience in playing golf games like Pangya and Eagle then it will be good.

P.S Get it on sale or Wishlist it to add to one of the many impulse buys, its a cozy game worth playing.
Not for everyone who wants all actions.

An insult to long-time fans and yet another half-baked product.

I am a long-time fan of the series, and this is the final straw. I'm not spending another cent on it, after shelling out hundreds of euros on games and collections across both consoles and PC.

We are dealing with the usual title rushed out the door in a hurry, essentially an open construction site disguised as a finished game. We pay with clean, immediate money at full price only to act as unpaid beta testers. The game arrived full of bugs, with months of delay for the necessary fixes, and an online player base that now counts barely a handful of people on the servers because the community is rightfully tired of being taken for ride.

They copied the entire previous system (courses, characters) without an ounce of soul, dragging things out with half an hour of credits for a team of lazy beginners. Releasing new courses or substantial content over a year later is completely out of the question; active support has been cut down to the bare minimum, clearly aiming only for a quick cash grab off our nostalgia.

Enough is enough. If this is the standard of today's video game industry — made of crazy prices, incomplete products, and zero respect for the buyer — my support for this system ends right here. Totally not recommended.

Great game, usually play on steamdeck no issues