Putting has always been hard for me. Whether it be putting in video games or in real life mini-golf, I always struggled to get the ball in the hole. Powerstar Golf is no different because putting is always a lot harder than striking the ball down the range as hard as you can.
My advice to any people playing this game is to listen to your caddy and look at the lines that are placed on the green. If you arrows on the lines are facing towards you, this means that the green is sloping upwards. If the arrows are travelling sideways, this means the green is sloping on an angle. You will need to direct your shot accordingly or else the ball might roll down the wrong direction!
The unique part about this game is that the golfers have special attributes that they can equip. These attributes are like special powers that can help the golfers get the ball into the hole much easier than in real-life. Some of the powers I used were a boost to make your stroke more powerful. There is also a magnetic charge that you can use while putting that attracts the ball inside the hole. You can only use these “powers” for a few times so you cannot cheat all the time. I liked the addition of these powers since it made the game more unique and fun. It’s obviously something you cannot do in real life that’s for sure…
The online features for Powerstar Golf are neat too because the game is always connected to the “cloud” in some way. Even if you are playing the game by yourself, each golf course will remind you of the best scores that other people have got. It will even show you how good your friends have done on each hole too. I loved this feature because every time you play the game, you have the motivation to better your score every time you play. There’s that incentive for you to improve on your game and it increases the game’s longevity.
Another thing I liked about the game is that it’s easy to progress through the single player campaign. You don’t always have to get third place or higher to advance to the next hole. Powerstar Golf gives you a lot of leeway because you can place in sixth position or higher and you can still advance. I found this game easier than Hot Shots Golf (Evverybody’s Golf) on the PS Vita as that games required you to become first most of the time.
If there are some flaws about Powerstar Golf, it’s that the game isn’t too fun to play on your own. The single player campaign is still fun, but it can get lonesome playing the game solo. Powerstar Golf shines more if you have some friends around or online to play with.
Another thing I would gripe about is that the game needed more characters. As I mentioned before, the characters in this game are highly unoriginal and it would have been nicer if the developer designed their own characters. It would have been better if there was an option to create your own character too.
Overall, Powerstar Golf is a fun arcade style game that slightly makes the boring sport of golf more enjoyable. The gameplay itself is easy to learn and the game is very fun to play if you have friends around. The only minor setbacks is that the graphics aren’t “next-gen” and the character design could have been better. Other than that, this is a fine little game to play if you own an Xbox One and want to play something different.
[Editor’s Note: Powerstar Golf was reviewed on the Xbox One platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
