When the Nintendo Wii was unveiled and shown to the gaming masses people were in amazement about the possibilities that the controller would provide. People said that it will revolutionize and immerse players into many different forms of gameplay. One such game that it will help fully immerse players into is golf, and the bundled-console game Wii Sports showed the possibilities. With Tiger Woods golf nowhere to be found Tecmo has released their very own golf game entitled Super Swing Golf.

Do you enjoying playing golf in a magical world full of fantasy? Well, I sure hope so because you will be playing golf in Pangya Island, which is in a different dimension from the world we are current in. The world is full of magic; for instance, instead of using electricity to light up the world, magical fireworks shimmer brightly enough to give off light. There are various fairies that fly throughout the land and have fun on this Island and take in the clear blue skies. Golf is the national pastime and you have been invited to participate with the islanders. It is up to you to show them what you “have” and prove that you are as good as they are.

Since Super Swing Golf is set in a fantasy world setting it would only make sense the various golf courses would reflect this. The colors that the developers used are very bright and colorful, and the various characters that you will see would fit perfectly on a random anime or cartoon show. The character animation is pretty spot on, especially when they are swinging their clubs to hit the ball. What I really enjoyed seeing is the details on each of the golf courses from castles, lighthouses, snow, volcanoes, and much more. These details always kept the game very interesting as you are constantly wondering what you will see next. The only thing that I found is that every so often you will face some framerate issues, which is weird since this game doesn’t really push the power of the Nintendo Wii.

Keeping you occupied for a while.

There are a couple of game modes that will keep you occupied for some time. Before you start playing any of the single-player modes you will want to check out the tutorials so you will know how to play the game. The first one is practicing with a caddie, where you can learn the swing controls (motion controlled) or button controls. When you are practicing you will get advice from a caddie. The other mode is the Free Training where you can set various factors on the course, such as the weather and the amount of holes there are. In this mode you will be able to take your time and get good at making those harder shots.

There are a few single-player modes that you can participate in and they are: Pangya=Festa, Stoke Play, and Match Play. The Pangya=Festa mode is the story mode that is different for each character. At first you will only have one tournament to play in but as you win more will be opened up. Next is Stork play where you play 18 holes against a computer player. Then there is Match Play where you play the number of holes stipulated by a tournament, and the winner is decided by each hole, the player with the most wholes wins.

Super Swing Golf also offers some multiplayer games where up to four of your friends can play in. First off you can play two of the single-player games with your friends, those modes are stroke and match play. Balloon pop is where you will try to pop as many balloons as possible that are in the golf course. The person who pops the most balloons is the winner.

There are a few more things that you will be able to do in the game. First off you can visit the shop and purchase new caddies, characters, costumes, items, and even play Spinning Dolfini here. Spinning Dolfini is a fun game that is a lottery tumbler game where you will swing the handle and press A at the right time and a capsule will pop out of Dolfini, and you will get to keep whatever you win. One last option that you will have is to visit your room. In your room you will be able to rearrange your items, change costumes in the locker room, and even check you status on how well you are playing.

He swings, he scores….kinda

One thing that the developers did that was kind is that they made their game have two different forms of gameplay. You can either swing the controller like a real golf club or press various buttons similar to how the game is played on other systems. To play with the swing controls, you will play like you would normally hit a golf ball. You will line up, move the remote back, until you get the desired amount of force, then hold the A button and swing forward keeping the remote as straight as possible otherwise you will slice the ball, just like in real golf. And just like in real golf, the game can get extremely frustrating as the controls are real fidgety, especially when you are trying to sink a putt.

Golf: fun to play but extremely boring to watch.

A really big problem with this game is the length of the rounds because they can go on for a very long time. When you are playing against some computer-controlled opponents, you can’t skip past or “fast forward” through their turn, unlike many other games that have this option. Instead you are forced to watch every single move they make, and since games have up to 18 holes, you will get bored really quickly. It is a real pain and causes the games to go way longer then you might have time for. The developers really should have put that option in for players, like me, who don’t enjoy watching ever single move of the computer AI.

Super Swing Golf is rated Everyone 10+

Gameplay: 7.2
The game is pretty fun to play, but it gets hampered by the overly hard computer AI and the fact that sometimes the controls are a little “fidgety” and really hard to master. Even though this is the case the game still remains fun to play.

Graphics: 7.1
The graphics really reflect the world that you will be playing golf in. The various courses that you will play on are very different and yet remain fun and interesting to see. The bright colors and the characters have a very nice and cartoony feel to them. The game really doesn’t push the Nintendo Wii to the limits but it gets the job done. The only problem is that you will encounter some framerate issues while playing the game, but not enough to cause to much distraction.

Sound: 6.2
It is really hard to give this portion of the game a score because there really isn’t much to the audio portion of the game. There is some nice background music but not much voice work or anything else. If anything this game suffers from a lack of audio than anything else.

Difficulty: Hard
The single-player game can be very frustrating due to the very cheap game AI.

Concept: 6.5
I really liked how Tecmo has taken the first step towards trying to make a really fun and immersive golf game. The problem is that the controls are a little too sensitive and the computer controller characters are, at times, way too challenging to play against.

Multiplayer N/A
At the time of this review I was unable to test out the multiplayer features of Super Swing Golf.

Overall: 7.1
Super Swing Golf is a decent game that could have been much better if the developers took just a little bit more time refining the controls and working on the AI to make sure it doesn’t “cheat” as much as it does. Even though this is the case with this game you will still find many hours of enjoyment.