Everybody's Golf 5

Did You Know?

• The North American release replaced the panties of female players with biking shorts.
• Everybody's Golf 5 fully supported game launching in PlayStation Home, allowing users to set up multiplayer matches and launch directly from Home.
• A dedicated game space for the Everybody's Golf series existed in PlayStation Home.

Gameplay

Everybody's Golf 5 tweaked the familiar three-click swing system. Instead of relying entirely on a power gauge at the bottom of the screen, the game now asks players to watch the character's actual golf swing to set the shot's strength. Once you pick the power, the gauge vanishes, and your timing when the club meets the ball determines accuracy. The game launches with six courses, five beginner characters, five intermediate ones, five advanced players, and seven caddies. Shigeki Maruyama is the second real-life pro golfer to appear as both a playable character and a caddy. A challenge mode lets you enter tournaments against computer opponents, raising your rank and unlocking items. The visuals got a major upgrade, with almost everything looking more detailed and realistic. PlayStation Move support arrived for the Japanese version in September 2011, and English versions got it on 23 February 2012. Downloadable content added characters Alex and Gloria in May 2008, the Oceania Resort Course on 19 June 2008, Kratos from God of War on 21 August 2008, Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet in March 2009, plus Toro Inoue and the Golfasaurus-Rex course.

Reception

The game received favourable reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Chris Roper of IGN described it as a tremendously fun golf game that should appeal to both casual and hardcore golf fans, noting its arcadey approach with depth for veteran players, though he wished for more courses and lamented the lack of voice support online. Aaron Thomas of GameSpot observed that while the series had changed little over ten years, the new swing system and robust online play freshened things up enough to make it worth getting, though he felt the franchise needed more courses. Dave McCarthy of Eurogamer, reviewing the Japanese version, remarked that despite only pressing a button three times repeatedly, the game never became boring, and called it a remarkably close call for best golf game and best PS3 game. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 36 out of 40, with all four reviewers awarding a nine. Mark Salmela of 411Mania gave it 8.8 out of 10, calling it a great addition to the franchise and a solid addition to the PS3 library. Gus Mastrapa of The A.V. Club gave it a B+, stating the game appeals to the stat nerd without sucking joy out of the affair. Maxim gave it four stars out of five, noting the series' lo-fi nature received a Blu-ray makeover but still looked much like its last-gen counterparts. Jason Hill of The Sydney Morning Herald gave it four out of five, praising the accessible swing system, delightful Japanese golfers, cheerful caddies, gorgeous courses, and the chance to play at one's own pace.