Everybody’s Golf VR is the type of game that shouldn’t work as well as it does. The PS Move controllers ae archaic by modern technology standards and they have significant issues in terms of jitter, tracking consistency, and tracking coverage compared to the competition but somehow Sony and its stable of developers continue to make things work.
To be clear: Everybody’s Golf VR is not a super-accurate golf simulation. This is not a replacement for actually practicing and should not be treated as a 1:1 golfing experience — but it’s damn fun. Maybe it’s the bright, colorful visuals, cheery voice over and animations, or just the fact that it makes me feel like I’m better at golf than I really am, or maybe it’s a combination of all three that make me feel this way, but this is an excellent example of how to adapt a sports game for VR.
Everybody’s Golf VR can be played with either a single PS Move controller or the DualShock 4. When playing with Move it works a lot like you’d expect with you swinging the controller wide to hit the ball and actually having to pay attention to your wrist rotation and placement. The biggest issue was just drift with the PS Move controller, which is something that has plagued PSVR since launch.
Like I said earlier, tracking is good enough and better than it should be but is still far from ideal. A game like this would shine even more with better tracking, but it gets the job done. I found myself really getting into things after a few courses and played standing up with my body turned to the side just as I would on an actual golf course. This isn’t a sports simulation so I didn’t mind if the shot was a bit wonkier than I intended or thought it would be based on my swing. As it stands, there’s great “pass the headset” style multiplayer appeal here even if that isn’t actually supported. The lack of multiplayer in general feels like a major missed opportunity.
You don’t need a PS Move controller to play Everybody’s Golf VR though, at least not technically. Since the DualShock 4 has a light bar you can hold it and swing it like you would the PS Move but it just feels awkward and since the light bar is flat and not rounded on top the tracking is even worse. Playing with a DualShock 4 left a lot to be desired and felt like a very tacked-on feature. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to play the game this way.
Between the practice range for hitting, a practice green for putting, a handful of course (it looks like there are four from what I can see) there is a good amount of content. Each course can be mirrored to offer a different experience and there are 3 hole, 9 hole out, 9 hole in, and 18-hole variations. There is very good variety between the courses available. You can also unlock new tees, holes, clubs, and caddies as well as outfits for each caddy.
At the end of the day it just feels like there needed to be a bit more to round things out. The reception area is finely detailed and has a good county club vibe, but I was left hoping for a more robust campaign of some kind rather than single courses.
Visually it looks great. The art style lends itself very well to the PSVR and the bright colors look excellent, especially on a PS4 Pro. Replaying holes to do better is extremely addictive, especially with all of the unlocks built into the game.
Everybody’s Golf VR is a solid adaptation of the franchise for the PSVR. The gameplay is extremely fun and engaging, even if lacking in terms of accuracy a bit due to the limitations of the PSVR as a platform. I was left wanting multiplayer support and more courses to pick from, but the variety offered within each course and amount of unlockables available provides plenty of goodies for fans to dig into.
Everybody’s Golf VR releases tomorrow on PSVR for $29.99. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
