King of Clubs Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 25th March 2008

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It's not just the Golf that's crazy in this title!

King of Clubs Details:

	Sports
	PC/Nintendo Wii/PSP/Nintendo DS
	Oxygen
	Oxygen

Out Now

N/A

There’s no shortage of golf sports games concentrating on providing an accurate simulation of the sport, however when it comes to the subject of crazy golf there’s only a handful of titles around. So it’s no wonder that Oxygen choose something a little crazy for their new golf game.

King of Clubs is instantly accessible and even the most casual gamer should have no problems getting to grips with the game. You simply aim your shot, set the amount of power you want to apply via the d-pad and away you go, it’s that simple.

However don’t expect a walk in the park, the games holes are full of tricks and traps that you will have to navigate through, after all it is crazy golf and that is exactly how you could class many of the courses. Many of the holes also feature quick routes to the hole, to enable you to quickly get the upper hand over your opponent, although these routes are often highly hazardous adding to the challenge of the game.

As mentioned above, King of Clubs features plenty of content to keep you occupied, the games single player mode features career, tournament, speed golf, survival and practice modes.

In Career mode you play through each of the courses which is made up of various number of holes, the aim of the career mode is to beat the course record and earn cash that can be used to purchase news balls, putters and mulligans among other things from the club shop.

In tournament play, players have to compete against an AI controlled course pro, and obviously finish the round with a better score. AI controlled characters themselves are fairly crazy and range from a Spaceman, Caveman, an ancient Egyptian Anubis guard and a man with a bucket on his on head. Sadly it’s not just their appearance that’s a little crazy as they don’t provide the greatest challenge as they tend to take some rather peculiar shots that allow you to win a hole when you should really have lost it.

The speed golf game pits you against the clock and once again a course record. Each hole also has a time record for you to beat! In the survival mode you once again take on the course pro. This time you have to beat their score on each hole in order to progress and if you don’t its game over.

Adding to the games replay value, King of Clubs features an extensive number of multiplayer options. Players can play via an Adhoc connection or on the same PSP, with the addition of a Game Sharing option too. Multiplayer modes included in King of Clubs are versus. This is the same as tournament play featured in the single player mode except the AI controlled character is replaced by a friend. Grand Prix you play a round on a random selection of unlocked holes. Party you play any unlocked hole. The final multiplayer option is Speed Golf, which is the same as that featured in the single player mode except there obviously more then one player taking part.

King of Clubs is a fairly solid title and the only problem I encountered is the line used to aim, doesn’t always give you a clear indication of where your shot is going to go, especially if your try to bounce your ball off a wall.

Graphically King of Clubs looks ok, it isn’t one of the best looking games available for the PSP, as characters and environments are all rather bland. Characters also appear slightly jagged and whilst the holes themselves are varied you will often notice the same bland backgrounds throughout.

Sound in King of Clubs is also very repetitive, characters repeat the same phrases over and over and each hole has the same track playing over and over constantly and having to listen to it constantly rapidly becomes tiresome.

Overall King of Clubs is a simple no-nonsense game that is instantly accessible and while it won’t appeal to everyone with its crazy approach, for those looking for a casual game they won’t have to spend hours playing then it may just fit the bill.