Hot Shots Golf 2 is going to be a really good game....as far as we can tell. We received a playable demo disc of the game that only had two characters and three holes available, in just one of the modes, so this preview is based on a really limited version of the game.

Camelot's original Hot Shots game for PlayStation sold more than 1.5 million units in Japan, was a highly acclaimed big seller stateside, and its engine was used to create the extremely well-received Mario Golf game for Nintendo 64. With such a good track record, a sequel was inevitable.

Hot Shots Golf 2 uses the same engine as the original, with one major difference - the characters have undergone a change. No longer do the characters sport oversized heads that are half the size of the character's body, nor do they have that cute Japanese-style look to them. This may be due to the fact that the sequel is in the hands of a new developer - Clap Hanz. The new characters are now more naturally proportioned and have a more American look to them. Whether this will have an impact on the sales of the game are yet to be seen.

Other than that, the game still looks and plays great. There are six different modes of play available: Stroke Play, Match Play, Tournament, Vs., 9-hole Par 3, and Training. There are seven courses to open up and play on: Four Winds Country Club (CC), Blue Waters CC, Emerald Resort CC, Death Valley CC, National Greens CC, King's Gardens CC and Balata CC. This disc came with three Stroke Play holes on the Balata CC course.

Hot Shots Golf 2 is available for play with up to four players. There are 13 characters total - most of which need to be opened up by defeating them in the Vs. mode of play. There were two characters playable in this demo: a balding, rotund, funky-pants wearing, greasy Italian named Mel, and a flannel-shirt wearing, Timberland shoes-clad, backwards-hat toting WASP named Chip. There are humorous character animations. For example, Mel's toupee sometimes flips up off of his head when he hits a powerful shot, and he takes it off and throws it on the green when he has a bad hole score. Chip plays air guitar on a good hole and slams his putter into the ground on a bad hole. And if the camera angle is just right, when the ball stops and lands on the fairway, you can see an amusing bit as the character runs up to it.

Like the other games, each character has certain attributes: power, control, impact and spin. Additionally, there are icons stating whether the golfer is a low, medium or high hitter. Correcting one of the difficulties of the past games, there is a new ball/club impact meter. The meter now has three different impact areas: a perfect-hit mark, a pink area for a near perfect hit and a red area for a good but not accurate hit. This will probably make the game a bit more accessible, as it is now easier to always make good contact.

One of the new cool features is that the seasonal weather conditions can be selected, creating four different course variables for spring, summer, winter and fall. Another great feature (but not new) is the ability to see the course from nearly every conceivable angle. What's more (and new), is that you can now go to a bird's-eye viewpoint behind the golfer and actually hit from that perspective and watch the flight of the ball, as opposed to having it automatically correct to directly behind the character. And, impressively, the character's swinging animations are still visible from the lengthy distance above. Another added touch is that if a putt almost makes it in but doesn't, the next shot is a "Gimee," giving you the benefit of doubt with making the next shot.

On the graphics side, it is improved over the original game, but Mario Golf still looks better. A cool environmental feature is that when there is cloud coverage and gusty winds - say in the fall - the textures on the course are constantly changing to signify lightness and darkness. There are additional nice touches like dragonflies buzzing around, leaves falling from the trees and nice reflections on the waters, but, for the most part, it's golf-game graphics (you're not going to get any Soul Calibur effects...but wouldn't that be something to spice up a golf game). The sound effects are also standard fare, like compliments and crowd applause when making good shots. But the sounds of the weather were very realistic.

Like I said, the game runs on the original Hot Shots engine - one of the best in the industry, hence Nintendo using it. And after only a brief gameplay session with the demo disc, the game looks to be better than the recently released Dreamcast golfing game Tee-Off Golf. The game will be available March 7. We'll have a full review then.