When it comes to Golf, I always lean towards the less serious side of the sport. I’m talking Crazy Golf and making it much more fun than driving the ball over a vast landscape. There is always room in the genre for this kind of game and I haven’t played many in recent years other than the excellent Golf With Friends and more recently Walkabout Golf on Meta Quest 3. Unfortunately where I live, in the dark depths of Cornwall there isn’t much opportunity to carry out some real-life versions of Crazy Golf, so I have to resort to video games instead. House Of Golf 2 recently launched on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S amongst other platforms and it is fantastic fun both alone and with friends.
What’s The Crack?
House Of Golf 2 is a simple premise that is accessible to even the most casual players. However, it does have its challenges along its stretch of over 100 holes across courses. Unfortunately, there is a lack of online multiplayer play with friends, but there are live tournaments and leaderboards. So whilst you’ll feel like you’re playing alone, you still have the competition element there. If you love conquering online leaderboards and going for high scores, then you won’t miss out. My six-year-old son wanted a crack and we had great fun on this after playing Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports and enjoying the golf there, I introduced him to this.
He much preferred the wackier element of how Crazy Golf works and found it hilarious that toys were moving and knocking the ball off course and elements like mechanical toy cranes were clutching the ball along with cannons and suchlike. Local multiplayer is present if you’re looking for something fun, and lightly competitive and with the amount of content on offer, it’ll never become stale for those short causal sessions with family.
Visuals & Audio
Perhaps the strongest point of House Of Golf 2 is how the design team have put the courses together. It has a Micro Machines vibe to it in the fact that obstacles are items from the home. Moving toys, paint tins, ornaments and more fill each hole with different ways to play your shots. Sometimes the route to the hole wasn’t always clear but part of me enjoyed figuring this out for myself. The game performance on Xbox Series X was buttery smooth with pretty much a locked 60fps throughout my time with it. Lighting effects and shadows were also really noticeable and presented well.
When it comes to the audio, it has a relaxing soundtrack that blends in with the game quite nicely. Aside from this taking shots and putting the ball into the hole sounds as you’d expect with some jingles, fireworks and celebration when you achieve your goals. Unlocking cosmetic items such as different ball designs allows for a different aesthetic when progressing further through the game. Menus are clean, concise and easy to read and understand with online leaderboards for the best scores across holes.
Final Thoughts
House Of Golf 2 is a well-crafted title which I had a great time with and whilst I did find it immensely challenging in parts, this drove me to like it even more. If you’re like me and get frustrated at your talents but are determined to succeed, then it is one of those experiences where practice makes perfect. There is a plethora of courses that are wonderfully designed to get hands-on with over 100 holes to attempt.
If you’re the type of gamer who is constantly looking for titles to play that you can pass the controller around the room and involve friends and family from the comfort of your home, then this is absolutely for you. For the lone players out there though, there is plenty of room for addictive gameplay with chasing those all-important leaderboard scores and gaining all the cosmetic unlockables throughout. As Golf games go, this is easily up there with some of the best.
Overall
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75%
Summary
Pros
- All courses have so much attention to detail and are intriguing to look at
- Great golfing mechanics
- Local multiplayer provides options to play with friends and family at home
Cons
- Could be a steep learning curve for younger players
- Some routes across courses take a couple of attempts to understand
- Lacking online multiplayer