MCT "Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds" for PlayStation 3.

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune

"Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds"
For: PlayStation 3
From: Clap Hanz/Sony
ESRB Rating: Everyone (mild suggestive themes)

We're well into year two of the PlayStation 3 party, and the familiar faces of PlayStations past are finally trickling through the door, comfort food in hand.

Arguably no game embodies that sense of warm familiarity better than "Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds," which takes what already was the girl next door of golf games and brings it to the PS3 with minimal fuss and tinkering.

Granted, "Bounds" sure looks new. The courses are fantastically beautiful, and the super-deformed golfers that have long been the series' visual hallmark are polished to the point that they almost resemble living dolls. The graphical bump makes the courses look more lifelike and the characters look more synthetic, which creates a slightly creepy dichotomy until your eyes adjust and you lose yourself in the game. Per usual, "Bounds" is cheerfully colorful, and the vibrant design makes it a showcase game in spite of the unintentional weirdness the Chucky doll effect brings forth.

In terms of gameplay, the only headline-worthy change to "Bounds" _ a new analog stick swing technique that's reminiscent of EA Sports' "Tiger Woods" games _ also happens to be entirely optional. You can play "Bounds" just as you played past "Hot Shots" games, but the swing stick method works nicely for those who take the time to learn it and have grown tired of the three-click method. (Happily, perhaps miraculously, Clap Hanz abstained from any temptation to force Sixaxis motion controls onto the process.)

As with 2004's "Hot Shots Golf Fore!" _ and pretty much any self-respecting sports game in 2008 _ "Bounds" puts a lot of focus on its online component, and with mostly satisfying results. Anyone waiting excitedly for Sony to kick off the PlayStation Home experiment can whet their appetite in "Bounds'" online lobbies, which allow your custom-designed golfer to interact with others in a miniature virtual world while enlisting in a tournament with up to 49 other golfers. (Don't worry; you can golf at your own pace while others in the tournament do the same. "Bounds" doesn't make you wait.)

Unfortunately, Sony's lax approach to console-wide online regulation results in "Bounds" not supporting the one feature _ voice chat _ that would have made it the perfect Sunday afternoon online game. As fun as it is to take on all your friends at once in a single tournament, the inability to actually speak to one another within the game means you might as well be playing strangers. Here's hoping a patch adds chat capabilities before long.