I can remember my first time playing a golf computer game, which was one of the dozens of versions of Links Championship Golf that came out in the mid-ninety’s. At the end of the decade Tiger Woods PGA Tour came on the scene and was instantly a big hit, thus maintaining computer/console golf superiority every since. Although Tiger’s simulation style game clearly remains a staple in the golfing game industry, there have been a few arcade style golf games that have made an impact along the way, mainly Hot Shots Golf for the Playstation series. Fast forward to today, Let’s Golf for the iPhone follows in the footsteps of Hot Shots Golf.

Let’s Golf, published by Gameloft,  puts arcade style golfing at your fingertips. No, literally. Shots are setup much like one would imagine. Tapping on either side of the screen moves the trajectory path in the desired direction. The lower left section of the screen offers a menu for easily selecting the club of your choice. The upper right section of the screen offers a map of the course and allows you to zoom in for greater precision of your shot. Shots are actually performed in one of two methods, classic or advanced. Classic shots are performed in normal 3-click systems that is used by most of the popular golf games of the past, one click to start the shot, one for power, and the other for precision. The advanced shot system is perform by moving your finger backward across an on-screen arrow to pull your club back, and the moving your finger forward across that arrow to actually perform the forward swing.

Personally, I prefer the classic swing. I found the advanced swing is okay, but there is a minor learning curve. That being said, I’m a precision junky, but I do feel the advance swing can be mastered with time.

Graphics are pretty much what you would expect here, like most other games on the platform, they fall between the PSP and DSLite/DSi. The game has four anime style characters with largely over-sized heads, which are very similar to those of Hot Shots Golf. It also features 63 holes in four different locations; Fuji Beach, American Mountains, English Countryside, and Scottish Lochs.

Game modes include instant play, multiplayer, tournament, and free hole. Instant play chooses three random holes for you to dive into for a quick game, which I find convenient whenever you have five to ten quick minutes to blow. The multiplayer mode includes two multiplayer types, which are hot seat and wireless. In hot seat multiplayer, you are able to take on someone with a single device. I guess this is okay, but I would find it really annoying passing the iPhone back and forth. On the other hand wireless multiplayer allows you to join up over Wi-Fi to take on a friend over your local network. This too is okay, but I would have really liked the game to have some type of online challenge that enables you to take on people all over the world via the internet. Unfortunately, I’m finding that this is a major drawback with a lot of iPhone games. Other modes are tournament, which allows you to play a full tournament round, and free hole, which is for practice.

All in all, I would have to say this one is a keeper. The $5.99 price tag is not something that I’m happy about, but the quality is there to warrant a slightly higher price. If you love golf games, especially Hot Shots Golf, i would definitely recommend that you pick this one up. Four out of five stars!

[4/5 Stars]