ProStroke Golf comes to the PSP to take on the dominant golf title on the
system, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. If you’re going to go up against Tiger Woods,
then you better bring your best game with you. Unfortunately ProStroke Golf
arrives with less than an “A” game. It has a few positives, but overall it’s
just not up to par.
ProStroke Golf tries to set itself apart from Tiger Woods and other golf
games by implementing a totally new swing mechanism. You still have a swing
meter that’s used to set the power and accuracy of your shot, but instead of
using the nub or face buttons you control the swing with the shoulder triggers.
Holding the right trigger starts the backswing and when the meter reaches the
desired power you release it and switch to holding the left trigger. When the
meter moves back into the sweet spot, you release the left trigger to make your
shot. It may sound tricky but it’s very easy to get used to using. So easy in
fact that within the first couple of holes I played I was able to nail the swing
each and every time with no issue. Things got a little trickier on the final
approach when less than a full swing was needed, but the game conveniently tells
you what percentage of the full swing to use and even scales the meter to make
the math easier on the player.
ProStroke Golf includes several ways to fine tune your swing, including
setting your feet position and impact point on the ball, but these do not seem
to have much of an impact on your game. If you play with your swing you may
notice that you get a slightly better shot in some situations like a lie on the
side of a slope, but you won’t be shaving strokes off of your game so it’s
hardly worth the extra effort.
The hardest part of the game is the putting, not so much because of the
controls or challenge, but more so because the grids that convey slope and break
are tough to see on the PSP’s small screen. The putting swing is easier to make
since you just need to hold the right trigger until you’re at the desired power,
but you’ll miss plenty of putts because the greens all play too fast and you
couldn’t tell that the little dots on the grid were moving in a different
direction closer to the hole.
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