The Golf Club is the only sim golf game expected to release in 2014 and it is developed by HB Studios. There will be no golfer or course licensing in the game, but The Golf Club will feature a course designer and editor, along with next-gen sharing options, as well as a unique course generator, which will create a brand new course to play on every game. For a more traditional feel, pre-existing courses will be included for players seeking a variety of challenges. The game also boasts no loading times in between holes.
The Golf Club recently was released for PC through Steam Early Access at $30 but it will be $35 after the first week. When asked about the console release date for the game, HB Studios claims "The console date will be announced very soon. We have to get in the queue at MS and Sony."
Although we are not entirely sure what the price will be yet on console, if it is the same as on steam, this game will be a great value at $35. I personally wouldn't spend 60 dollars on a game like this considering the lack of licensing and customization outside of the golf courses but for a $40 or under price-point, this game surely has potential.
The Golf Club will have full editing capabilities for courses, Tournaments and Tours. There will be stat tracking and it will keep record of personal bests of friends and rivals to beat. With notifications, challenges and social media integration and you truly have a golf club worth joining.
The game should be easy enough that anyone will be able to pick the controller up and play comfortably, the best players on the global leader boards will be those with the best feel for the different golf shots and who are able to take into account ball lie, weather and terrain conditions.
You can play as many different courses as your heart desires. You can randomly generate a course through the game with just four clicks or you can edit or create your own course however you wish. Examples of editing options are the number of holes, par distribution, fairway width, number of bunkers, green size, green slope and rough coverage. While creating a course, the editor gives you the ability to create from scratch or edit anything on the course such as terrain, move tees, move greens, move holes, delete holes, add holes, bunkers, rivers, ponds, trees, foliage, buildings, animals and other objects. The game will also ship with some pre-designed courses for all skill levels that can be played individually. These courses will also be featured in the pre-designed Tour mode that ships with the game.
The Golf Club offers local multiplayer for up to four players. Differentiate yourselves with different character models and clothing and choose between stroke play, match play or four-ball. For online multiplayer, you will be able to play on the same course as your friends via "Live Balls" or you can play against your friend's "Ghost Balls" if they have previously played that course.
Online Sharing will be a large part of this game. You will be able to work your way through the huge database of user created courses, each rated by other users to help make the decision easy to make. Once you create a course you are happy with, you can share that creation and publish it for the rest of the world to play. Each round you play on every course will be saved online, and anyone who wants to compete against those rounds will be able to. Choose from Friends Rounds, Record Rounds or Rivals Rounds (others players close to your ability) to compete against. Their ghost balls and scores will be visible throughout your round giving you the feeling of competition without losing the instantaneous game play. You will also be able to watch others play the courses you’re on live – through our ball trace system you can see other users from around the world on the course that you are playing live, even if they’re on different holes.
The Golf Club may lack pro licensing, but it still could be a fun game with good customization, minimal to no load times, and at a good price-point. The game will be taking advantage of the fact that EA Sports is taking a year off from releasing its yearly golf game. Once again, this could be a great game if it is $40 or under which I would assume it would be. Also since there is no licensing, and won't be a yearly game, it really can't become outdated. Course customization will be great as not only will you have a lot of options, it will be possible for people to create and upload courses that is similar to some of the most well known courses out there, so you will be able to play those courses anyways. I look forward to checking this game out when it finally releases for console.
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