So there is a new* game coming out to PS2 and Xbox today called Real World Golf that goes beyond the controller and lets you play golf with a simulated swing (using your own clubs, a rinky dink footlong toy club that comes with the game, or your bare hands). If your real golf swing sucks, it equates to your computerized counterpart having the same sucky swing. If you have good mechanics, so will the game.
It looks promising. From reviews (*many of the reviews come from the UK, where this game has been out since August 2005), it actually does do a good job of registering your swing with the motion-sensing “controller.” Whereas EA’s Tiger Woods Golf has arcade aspects like a power swing and button mashing, this game is being marketed as a simulator that can actually register the sensation of you opening the club face to hit a flop, and simulate that draw in-game. In short, it looks sweet.
It also looks like $70 I’d be gambling on what may be a gimmick. So if anybody else in the US went out to buy the game today, is able to try it in a store display, or if UK dopers have been playing it these past eight months, let me know how it is, please.
I’m digging up my unresponded thread, because I ended up just sucking it up and buying the game.
Played the tutorial and one round on the first course in the game, after having gone to the driving range and hitting quite a few real balls beforehand. And I have to say, the recurring mistakes I was making on the range (mostly sitting back out of my swing so that I got less power and jerking up my my swing causing me to hit the ball too high) are doing a decent job of showing up in the videogame too…
…But not as much as I would have hoped. I blame the game starting you in amateur mode, which has more forgiving sweet spots on larger clubs, not to mention the fact that with the two foot long plastic “club” that’s just meant to give you the sensation of swinging something, I can’t bounce off the astroturf (or as it would be in real life, create a huge honking divot) that throws my shot off balance. I’m guessing once I’ve unlocked the more advanced modes, it will feel more like the inconsistency of real clubs in my hands.
I have to say, the game is immersive, it’s ridiculously fun, and it’s going to be the perfect alternative to playing a round of golf on a rainy day or after dark. If only my ceiling was about a foot higher, I could play the game with a real club in my hands, and the immersion would be all the better. Oh well.
Unfortunately. It’s because you get not only the game, but the motion sensor “controller” all bundled together. And the game will ONLY work with the motion sensor controller. At present, there are no other games in the US that take advantage of the controller (though apparantly in Britain there is a fighting/boxing game by the same company that is out, and other games planned), but hopefully that’ll change. It’s really pretty clever technology.
I bought it from Best Buy because they have a 30 day price match, and I anticipate some store advertising this on a sale price some time within the next 30 days, for which I will happily take the circular into the store for $10 back or whatever. Oh, and I had a $25 Best Buy gift card burning a hole in my wallet.
I’m locking this zombie. sethness, not sure what you think you’re doing here, but please don’t go around resurrecting ancient threads in order to do it.