Top 10 Golf Games
02. Powerstar Golf
Imagine a world... A world that was created by Disney. A green and freshly laundered world in which there are people who are golfers -- which is good since they are on a golf course. People created by Pixar.
Four heroes who happen to be golfers, each with their own special ability that can - in theory - make all the difference on the course. Now imagine that the game - which is called Powerstar Golf - was created as a launch title for the newest entry in Microsoft's Xbox line of video game consoles.
You with us so far? Now imagine that this game was blasted by critics. Received a Metascore of 65 from Metacritic, and with the exception of reviewers who were expert in reviewing and playing sports games and so found it awesome, gave the average reviewer pause for concern when they discovered that it did not include zombies, the Barrett .50 cal anti-material rifle, or a Hum-Vee with a Grenade Launcher in the turret.
Yes. Yes that was sarcasm. But we are still in 'imagine' mode so bear with us...Now imagine that just over a year after the game was released the wizards behind it made the base game free-to-play and free-to-download, and then split up the four major courses into separate packs, which the player had to pay for, you know, separately, but in bite-sized chunks of around $6 each?
Note that you can still buy the base game with all four of the course packs for the original $19.99 but if you buy them via the packs, you end up paying more than that - and it should be mentioned that they did release a free pack/course as well...
Okay we are done with 'imagine' mode. The first question you are no doubt asking yourself is, if even half of that is true, what the hell is that game doing as the Number 2 pick in this countdown?!
We'll tell you what. Critics can be wrong - especially when they do drive-by reviews of games that they were not going to like in the first place because golf simulation is not one of the genres that they would choose to play.
And yeah, the new pricing system which basically increased the cost of the entire game was sort of, well, not really cool, even taking that into account there are some factors we cannot ignore.
The real reason why has more to do with the fact that the critics who bashed this one very badly missed the point here - Powerstar was not created to be the typical golf sim, it was created to be a slightly over-the-top take on golf that includes a fusion of classic golf mechanics, arcade play, and character-based customization.
If it had been intended as a serious golf sim they would not have chosen the three-click power-bar system for making shots - or the single-click putting power shot scheme. Not to mention the sweet artistic presentation of emotional reactions to perfect shots - or speaking of that, the emotional reactions of really screwing up!
Those character-based factors include an avatar point-based leveling system, special abilities that require the player to both understand how they work and then utilize them in an intelligent and strategic way, and most important of all? This game is massively fun to play.
There, we said it. Massively fun. To play.
Which is why this not-strictly-speaking a standard golf game but very entertaining romp on a golf course is our pick for Numero Dos!
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