It comes as no surprise that an MMO about golf (of all things) would come out of Korea.  Theirs is a culture untethered to the notion that MMOs need to fall into some classic RPG category.  And honestly, golf, being a non team-based competitive sport, appears perfectly suited to the MMO setting.  I still firmly believe this despite having played Shot Online, a game that somehow managed to remove almost every trace of fun there is to find in golf.

You got your RPG in my Golf Sim

If you’ve played Hot Shots or Mario Golf, you’ll already be comfortable with how Shot Online works.  The game mixes traditional golf with some basic RPG elements by letting your character gain experience as you play rounds of golf.  Since it’s an MMO, in addition to playing golf, your character can wander around a town square and talk with other characters, purchase new equipment and items, and enter special tournaments.

The experience you gain can be spent increasing various attributes that in turn improve how well your character connects with the ball.  Items are purchased with NG (the in-game currency) that you accumulate by playing well on the links.  Topping all of this off is the fact that Shot Online is free to play.  Just download the game from their website and you’re off. So why the low score?  Well, the golf game itself is a pretty average affair and the massively multiplayer component has some glaring issues.

A Links to the Past

Playing golf in Shot Online is a fairly ho-hum experience.  The game uses a standard three-click shot meter.  The physics appears mostly accurate, but setting up your shots can occasionally be cumbersome.  For example, off the tee you’ll be using your 3 Wood.  Once you’re on the fairway, the 3 Wood becomes a total liability, but Shot Online doesn’t automatically switch you to a different club, it keeps the 3 Wood selected.  It’s entirely possible to royally screw up your next shot simply because you forgot to switch clubs.  If this feature was intended to reflect realism, it would have been better to de-select all clubs after each shot, and require the player to pick his club each time.

Problems continue once you’re on the green. Putting has been made too difficult because the shot meter does not indicate the probable distance of a given putt.  There no way of knowing how far a 90% or a 40% powered putt will go.

Finally, the game just doesn’t look that great.  The graphics on the links are very dated and because there isn’t really any shading to the courses, it’s hard to gauge how your ball will bounce when it hits the ground.  Predictably, character design consists of stock anime-style people.

Juicing Your Character

Despite being free, OnNet has included a means of siphoning cash from the hardcore players.  While many items can be bought right in the game using your game-earned NG, the best items and coolest clothing options are only available from the Shot Online website.  Players can opt to buy these things with real money (PayPal and major credit cards are accepted).  If you “purchased” the boxed copy in a store, it comes with a coupon to buy items on the website.

For the dedicated Shot Online player, it appears these items are almost mandatory because the high-end equipment gives your character a major stat boost.  Is this a valid revenue model?  Perhaps, but we feel that creating an unleveled playing field of people who buy what amounts to pre-leveled characters versus people who don’t really defeats the purpose of competitive online play.

A Long Walk Ruined

We also encountered an interesting issue with golfing with multiple players.  Playing through 18 holes takes way too long.  It’s long enough when you’re just playing solo (close to an hour if you factor in how sucky you’re going to be a putting).  Because you have to wait while everyone takes a turn, you’ll spend too much time doing absolutely nothing during these multiplayer rounds.

Take a Mulligan

Because of all this, Shot Online is really hard to recommend.  There are clearly people out there who find the game fine just the way it is.  Shot Online appears to have a dedicated international player-base.  Well, good for them.  If it’s all the same to you, we here at X-Play will just go back to slaying Orcs with our Dwarven Paladin.

Article by: Greg Bemis
Video produced by: Michael Leffler