Everybody’s Golf has always given me reason to grin with its slightly off-kilter representation of the rather posh sport on which it is based, with it taking all sensibility and sand-wedging it straight into the nearest water hazard. Teeing off from the first green as a cheerleader using a stop sign as a 4-wood is the order of the day when it comes to Clap Hanz and their quirky vision of golf, so anyone who observes strict green rules and measures their plus fours precisely might want to look away for now whilst we delve into the sport’s sillier side.

As many of you have previously experienced on the PSP form of Everbody’s Golf, a game I still hold as the system’s finest launch title, the order of the day with the PS3 incarnation World Tour is to progress your way through a number of mini tournaments and challenges in the single player, the completing of which will offer you new clubs, clothes, courses and characters to take out on the links. This, the Challenge mode, is the main meat on the plate, but by no means the only offering available to players.

Making use of the online functionality of the native hardware, EG:WT also allows you to take part in some mahoosive online tournaments, or some smaller but no less captivating multiplayer rounds against seven online foes. Via a simple-yet-functional top-down old school RPG styled lobby you can potter around and sort yourself out, and with tournaments kicking off every 15 minutes you’re always going to have something to do. Those who enjoy a spot of social golf shouldn’t worry either; the game caters for offline multiplayer for four players.

Of course, the golf bit of the game that runs through the centre of all this is as enjoyable as ever, with a new swing system introduced to give players something new and fresh to get to grips with should they wish to stray from the classic power bar formula of golf games prior. The Advanced Swing system gives the player a slight silhouette of their character that they must line up with at the top of the swing, and a small circle in the middle of the screen that they must match at the bottom in order to gain power and direction.

The putting has also gone through somewhat of an overhaul, with the player being shown a small ghost trail of a ball heading toward the hole to allow them to judge pace and line better. In truth it’s a different skin on an old idea what with it still primarily being a three-click system, but nonetheless it takes a while to get used to so it presents a challenge for veterans, or at least that’s what I told myself when my first few goes ended up with me slicing shots left, right and centre like a complete duffer.

Despite my complete ineptitude to start with, I quickly began to hit my stride. Initial challenges in the Challenge mode are some smaller tournaments over 9 holes of the initial, somewhat traditional, course, and they are really rather forgiving when it comes to the opposition not taking advantage of your missed opportunities. As you progress through you begin to come across some slightly more tricky challenges with stipulations such as losing a few shots if you hit a bunker and face-offs against unlockable characters, and the difficulty curve that rises throughout all this is rather superbly judged.

As you progress, you can start to tinker around with your characters in a number of ways in order to tailor your own golfer to your liking with all sorts of silly clothing sets, new clubs and balls (oo-er) to use. Having said that, the PS3 version of the game seems to have lost the depth in customisation that the previous iterations allowed with individual pieces of clothing and hairstyles, so it’s not quite as rewarding as before. One neat idea that the series does continue to bring up is the loyalty rating, which sees stat bonuses handed to the player should he use the same character again and again. Some of the latter characters that you unlock are advanced enough that they will be better no matter how much loyalty you have with some of the earlier characters, but you can still compete rather well with the original two should you wish to progress right through with either.

Pitching and putting your way around Challenge Mode is all good, but for those who need a break or who have exhausted all the challenges on offer there’s the option to undertake a single round or tournament on any of the courses that you’ve unlocked along the way, with any of the characters you may have opened up by beating them throughout the various challenges. As mentioned before, this also allows you to take on up to three mates in a four-player multiplayer extravaganza of golf (if such a thing is possible), and the great thing is that even with just a single pad you can select to simply pass the thing around between you when it is your turn. Winner!

By far the strongest arrow in EG:WT’s quiver though, however well you’re catered for with the game modes and online options, just has to be the sheer cheery charm of it all. Hit a cracking drive and your little caddy will leg it off after it, arriving at the ball wheezing and coughing, with the crowd happily clapping your efforts. The golfers are far from the ever slick Tiger Woods and Luke Donalds of this world too, with the ladies mixing between sassiness and cuteness and the guys all displaying hilarious over-the-top machismo and quirkiness. It’s one of those games that’ll never fail to get a grin out of you, and yes – even those of you who consider yourself far too sensible for silly golf. You know who you are.

It looks utterly lovely too, with the courses stretching out in all their bizarre glory and the characters being fantastically chunky and colourful. While I am at it, you can’t help but love the course design either; each of the six on offer is unique to the next with settings such as the middle of a desert with all kinds of wildlife grazing by the side of the greens. You could argue that six courses perhaps sells the thing a little short, but in reality with course conditions changing and win swirling about you’re rarely ever going to face the same challenges in consecutive rounds anyway.

Hence, Clap Hanz have once again come up with the goods. Whilst not being an outstanding title and not really offering anything massively new other than the great online functionality, Everybody’s Golf: World Tour ticks enough boxes to still make itself a very worthwhile purchase. With a genuine sense of fun lacking from some sports titles and some of the strangest characters and locations you’ll ever see associated with the ol’ ball and stick, this is one game that you can’t help but love from tee to cup.