Sony’s entry into this potential goldmine of a market is the Minna No Golf series, which has gone from strength to strength since its debut on the PS1 in 1997, despite losing developer Camelot to Nintendo after the first edition. The much-loved series now moves onto Sony’s stylish dust magnet hoping to deliver the definitive cartoony golf experience.

Proceedings get off to a good start as the menu screens burst with energy, with option choices eliciting shrieks of approval from the on-screen women and a ridiculously catchy song playing in the background. The Minna No Golf series has always been about the charm factor and thankfully this is prevalent everywhere you look in this edition.

Most experienced Minna No Golf players will head straight to the challenge mode, which is the meat and bones of the single player experience. After selecting a tournament to enter and selecting a character from the initial meagre selection, an unfamiliar new screen appears asking which swing method is to be used. Not content with simply offering the three button press system which is at the core of almost every golf game, Minna No Golf 5 also offers a new swing method which eschews the power bar in favour of regulating how far back the character swings the club.

The results of using the new swing method are varied. The developers have seen fit to give users of this method a hitting length advantage of some ten-fifteen yards over users of the standard system. Spin is also much easier to apply using this method. However, this comes at the cost of accuracy, as it is significantly harder to judge distances between 50-100% than it is with the standard method. It is nice to see Clap Handz trying to add something new to the game without alienating the previous audience, and from online games, it seems that the spread of methods between users is pretty much even.

Apart from the new swing mechanic, almost everything else about the game remains almost identical to the previous outings. And this is no bad thing.

The charm factor is on show everywhere from the moment the ball leaves the tee and the caddy goes scampering off after it. Spectators line the outside of the course, applauding good shots, offering Japanese condolences when shots fly into the rough or the sand and trying to control their children, who run around after each other whilst play continues. Little touches to bring a smile to the face of even the most hardened are in abundance; a ladybird sat on top of the ball as it comes to a rest; an ant crawling around the inside of the hole; and swans swimming in the water hazard are just a few of the treats on offer.

In fact, wildlife plays a large part in the makeup of almost every course on the game. One can’t help but be enchanted by a large bear applauding a shot from behind the green, or a heard of elephants or giraffes drinking from a water hole on the side of the course. Love, care and attention to detail spew from every corner of Minna No Golf 5, which helps to transform a potentially mundane round of golf into an experience that can be enjoyed even by those with no interest in the sport itself. In contrast, the music treads on that very fine line between catchy and annoying. Most of time it manages to stick to catchy, but there are certainly a few courses where it is most definitely annoying and starts to grate, especially over a full 18-hole round.

Beneath of all the little extra touches that give the game the cartoony look and feel it aims for, is actually a very deep game of golf. Although it is quite possible to breeze around the course, not paying too much attention to the conditions, doing so will only ever yield a score of par or just below. It is only once players spend time taking into account the wind, the lie of the ball and the gradient of the green before making their shot that truly great scores can be accomplished, and great satisfaction can be taken in doing so.

The challenge mode uses the same tier system as before, with a certain number of tournaments needing to be cleared before a versus match opens up, leading to the next tier if successfully completed. Unfortunately, the first four or five tiers of this mode are overly easy, lulling the player into a false sense of security, which is shattered the moment they attempt to enter a tournament online. Although golf should essentially be about the player versus the course, the motivation to spend time planning shots just isn’t there until more than halfway through this mode, which for the main single player experience is a little disappointing. Once the difficulty does ramp-up it makes the game far more enjoyable.

The online mode currently offers a satisfactory experience, but will be improved once a patch is released at the end of August, allowing players to create their own tournaments for people on their friends list. As it is, online is still enjoyable if a little awkwardly set up. It is, however, the first title to allow players to access their friends list from the XMB whilst in game, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

Despite the lack of challenge provided for half of the single player game, Minna No Golf 5 excels in every other area, offering a realistic golf simulation wrapped inside a package so cute that it is impossible to resist. Don’t wait for the ‘cool’ American or the ‘not sure what it wants to be’ PAL version, hit up your local import dealer and get yourself a copy of this game now; your PlayStation 3 deserves it.