Fine, I’ll admit it. I was addicted to Candy Crush. Don’t judge me. Since Candy Crush, many developers have tried to replicate the success as Candy Crush continues to be one of the top downloaded and top grossing games on both Android and iOS. Now it appears that everyone’s favorite publisher, EA, is trying to get it on the action. But this time, it’s not your generic match-three game. Instead, it’s golf, coming in the form of “PGA Tour: King of the Course Golf.”
Now it’s probably hard to imagine how a golf sim is anything like Candy Crush. Well first off, it’s not a sim. No, this is masterly crafted arcade game, perfect for the short bursts mobile gamers like to sink their teeth into. Here’s the run down.
King of the Course starts you off with a simple enough challenge to get you used to the controls. Hold down on the bottom part of the screen to begin your backswing, then slide your finger forward in a straight line to produce your front swing. Easy enough. You also have controls for adding spin to the ball when it hits the ground and adding slice or fade to the shot while it’s in the air.
The game consists of challenges. You beat one, you move on to the next. Sound familiar? For each shot or challenge, you acquire a certain amount of points depending on how well your shot was. For example, a mode you will see quite often in the game is the bullseye challenge. Players must hit their ball to a specific point on the fairway. The closer the ball rolls to the center of the bullseye, the more points you earn. Typically for these challenges, players will have 3 or 5 balls to acquire the point total necessary to completing the challenge. At the end of the challenge, the sum of all your rounds are added together and you are awarded between 0 to 3 stars for completing it.
Here’s where the Candy Crush element of the game really kicks in. Earn zero stars and you lose the challenge and lose one of your five starting balls (lives). If you lose all five balls, you must wait until your balls are recovered to continue playing, unless of course you are willing to pay real money to regenerate them. It takes 25 minutes for each ball to be recovered, meaning if you lose all your lives, it takes 2 hour and 5 minutes for all of them. Do you see it now?
The one element that is unique to this style of game is the level progression system. Players will be able to increase their players stats (consisting of accuracy, power, putting and spin) to improve their player’s total chances of completing challenges. Kind of like King of the Course’s console counterpart “PGA Tour.” The kicker here, though, is that this is yet another place where players can be coerced into spending more of their hard earned cash. Improving your player’s statistics is done spending the in game currency, but challenges that reward you with that currency are very few and far between. So if you are the type of person who really digs maxing out your character in Skyrim, get ready to shell out some money.
Overall the game is pretty fun. The controls are easy and they just make sense. Some of the challenges can be exhaustively difficult, just like in Candy Crush. However, if you are a golf fan, this is one of the best experiences you can get on the mobile platform. Check it out for yourself on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. The game is free to download, but be warned, it’s very easy to spend a lot of money. Use at your own risk!
