Kevin C. Wong

Apple Arcade - Easy Come Easy Golf (2021) [+]

Easy Come Easy Golf is a golf game from ClapHanz.

As a golf game it's fairly traditional. There are different 9-hole courses (all original so no recreating real-world courses). Standard fairway, rough, bunkers, water, green. There is wind and rain. In making a shot you choose a club, adjust left or right, then either triple tap (start meter, stop at correct shot strength, then stop at correct left or right though you might want to hook or slice the shot) or do a slide down and flick up touch UI which I found difficult.

Crowd cheers or gasps. You have a caddy giving you encouragements. The courses get progressively tougher.

The strength of the game is you have a stable of characters. The 9-hole game is actually teams of 9 players and each player plays one hole. Each character has three different stats (distance, control, putting), a favorite club and a favorite disadvantage (e.g. maybe they're better getting out of a bunker than usual). Characters gain experience and level up and you collect more character as you go along.

Each character is quite distinct and has a range of costumes you can collect (and each costume also has different colors you can collect) -- and by collect means you play against that character in one of three challenges (distance, closest to hole, or match play which could go 9 holes). Character behavior -- when they make a shot, when a good or bad shot lands, when they make birdie, par, or bogey -- can change depending on their costume which is nice variety. Also costumes and colors are important because they increase the maximum level that character can achieve.

There is also online play. A weekly tournament where you can keep trying and submit your best score. You can create a room and invite your friends to play, or play on the same device. You can also play random people.

Main game play is Tour Mode where you play courses for stars, have a stage boss (which becomes a new character in your team), and unlock harder courses. Two other game modes: Survival where you keep going trying to make the shot count for each hole; Score Attack where you play 9 holes with one character.

Overall a fun game that plays like a real computer golf game with fun characters.