EA Sports King Of The Course Review

EA Sports King of the Course Review

EA Sports King of the Course
Grade: D
Teacher’s Comments: Not much there for golfers.

I do not normally review products I dislike, but King of the Course has drawn my ire.

Looking for a golf game to replace Tiger Woods Golf game I had on a previous phone, I was excited to see that EA Sports had released a new golf game. My excitement was misplaced, however. The new EA golf game turns out to be little more than an endless series of “closest to the pin” contests.  I’ve completed sixteen “challenges,” and there is no indication that — no matter how long I practice — I will ever be able to play a complete course. A couple of the challenges involve playing a hole, but that is it.

The challenges quickly go old: Hit an iron at the pin. Putt to the hole. Drive the ball to a random spot on the fairway. Chip the ball to a target. Hit out of a sandtrap to the green. HIt at a floawing target. At first I thought that these were instructional — an intro to the game. As I played one after another, however, I despaired of ever getting to something that felt like golf.

Another shortcoming in the game is that you don’t get to pick your clubs for the challenges. Each shot is exactly the same. Press the screen until the clubhead reaches the green marker on the backswing, then swipe up. The adjustment you make during the ball’s flight is to swipe madly left, right, back or forward, creating spin which can make the ball do things not at all connected to reality.

The game is full of video game conceits, such as flaming balls, holes that shoot fireworks when the balls drops, and plenty of seizure-inducing flashes and sparkles. I had to turn the sound off because the background effects were annoying.

As an aside, I also found it annoying that every drive was 300+ yards. If there is someone who plays this game and is then inspired to go to the course to try the real thing, they are going to be mightily disappointed.

The game has “in-app” purchases which I did not investigate. Perhaps “Play an actual course” is an in-app purchase.

On the positive side, the graphics are very smooth.

Avoid this product if you are a golfer, and over the age of thirteen.