Clap Hanz is a studio carefully linked with PlayStation, producing vastly common titles Everybody’s Golf / Hot Shots Golf throughout a number of generations (over the course of 20 years+). Recently it loosened up its swing and went one other means, nonetheless, releasing Clap Hanz Golf on Apple Arcade. It’s that title which is now on Switch as Easy Come Easy Golf; yep, model identification with this developer can get a bit muddled.

For people who by no means jumped into the PlayStation video games, this can be a welcome likelihood to expertise the studio’s mix of easygoing visuals, cartoonish caricatures and decidedly addictive golf. It’s a refined spherical for certain, and due to these good machine origins it helps a number of methods to play — you’ll be able to go for touchscreen swipe controls in transportable mode, whereas on a controller you’ll be able to utilise stick swings or the extra traditional three-button press. All are definitely useful, however this reviewer is a boomer that insists golf video games be performed with the three-tap meter, and it really works properly right here.

The twist on this recreation is that you simply’re constructing a crew of golfers, comprised of some notably quirky characters, they usually tackle one gap every in a 9-hole spherical. You begin off with a small group and non permanent ‘mini’ gamers, so the principle goal is to leap into ‘Tour’ mode to improve your rank, unlock extra characters and stage up your crew. It’s a hefty marketing campaign (of kinds), with the development to unlock extra programs and characters — whereas levelling up these you could have — being very gradual; you will must settle in for an extended haul. It has a little bit of a cell really feel (like challenges that cycle every day) however is not compromised by microtransaction design, fortunately, and the problem is mild early on as you study the sport.

The crew you unlock and stage up may be taken into another areas, too, resembling ‘World Tournament’ and ‘Online Matches’. World Tournament provides time-limited challenges to tackle as you attempt to get to the highest of the web leaderboard. Online Matches can both be performed towards randoms, or you’ll be able to arrange / be a part of password-protected rooms, which is nice for taking up pals.

We had been capable of bounce right into a random match good and shortly, the place one participant was a veteran with a high-ranked golfer however one other was solely simply beginning out. The character ranges make an enormous distinction in efficiency, so there may be mismatches nevertheless it’s very informal and relaxed throughout just a few holes. You can share supportive emotes which helped make it an enthralling expertise; if you wish to take the sport critically on-line, it’s good to deal with the Tournament as an alternative.

Pleasingly, the sport is loaded with different modes too. ‘Bring a Club’ / ‘Pass a Club’ are two native multiplayer choices that let you share a system and controller or to play towards another person within the room with their very own copy. You can select from all characters and programs in these modes, too, which is a pleasant contact contemplating how lengthy it takes to unlock every little thing naturally by means of the Tour. Beyond that, there are problem modes referred to as ‘Survival’ and ‘Score Attack’; these are good wrinkles and are excellent for some pick-up-and-play. Add to that unlockables, enjoyable variations in course circumstances, together with customisation choices for the many characters, and there is plenty of good content material.

The gameplay can also be slightly good, most significantly. Courses are fairly life like in strategy, so do not count on the form of quirks you get in Mario Golf: Super Rush, however they’re attention-grabbing and more and more difficult. There are plenty of them and as you study the mechanics and grasp new methods, you will discover programs to really put you to the take a look at. At occasions a few of the ball physics may be barely quirky, however when you dial into the sport it looks like an ideal little spherical of golf. There’s a pleasant steadiness at play too — it may be an informal recreation for brief and occasional bursts, or you will get caught in and discover totally different methods throughout the hefty Tour mode.

Performance is maybe the one space with some negatives. It’s competent, however the recreation’s engine is clearly suited to succesful Apple units., because it struggles a little bit on Switch — even making the timings on swings a tiny bit laggy. We finally adjusted to it, however you are a 30fps expertise with occasional dips. If you attempt to skip too many animations or rush by means of the sport it may possibly chug, too, and the sport did crash on one event. To be clear, Easy Come Easy Golf performs simply high quality total, and visually it is very respectable, nevertheless it’s only a smidge under the perfect stage of optimisation. The sound finally grates a little bit too, in fact, with the unimaginative, cheery music getting previous slightly quick. That stated, this recreation is excellent for relaxed transportable play with the TV or music on within the background.

Conclusion

Easy Come Easy Golf is, all taken into consideration, very straightforward to suggest for followers of golf video games, and an ideal Nintendo debut for the Everybody’s Golf collection. It’s gratifying and polished golf with some enjoyable twists whereas providing an enormous quantity of content material to unlock and stable multiplayer choices. Even with minor efficiency hitches and a few iffy audio, we discovered ourselves having loads of enjoyable and stored coming again for just a few additional holes. It’s definitely underneath par, in a great way.