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Super Swing Golf launches in the UK this Friday,
29th August, 2008, but has actually been around for quite
some time. Based on the Korean online Multi-Player title, PangYa,
Super Swing Golf is actually the sequel to Pangya! Golf
With Style, a Japanese launch title for Wii, developed by TECMO,
which took til June of 2007 to arrive in Europe. By which point,
this sequel was already heading to Japanese stores, eventually
arriving the following November. And so Super Swing Golf has
too arrived somewhat late, but considering the present state of the
Wii’s UK release list, it could be argued that Rising Star Games’
couldn’t have got the timing any better.
In contrast to the publisher’s other recent Wii release,
Baroque, Super Swing Golf is a title that’s easily
adopted by most. The Control System is easy to begin with – basic
function sees the player pointing the Wii Remote down, pulling back
to the apex of their swing and pressing the A Button to confirm the
amount of power, and while still holding the A Button making contact
with the ball. Tapping the A Button locks the Power Meter, whilst
swinging the Wii Remote adjusts speed and angle. The on-screen swing
effects coupled with the liberal use of the Wii Remote’s speaker
create a truly cathartic sensation when thwacking the ball with all
your might – as is one of the draws for real-world golfing.
More depth can be evoked from the Control System by
pressing the 1 Button and altering the point-of-impact on the ball,
or selecting one of your characters Special Shots – should you have
the required Pang Points in the Pang Combo Gauge. Pang Point are
accumulated by making good shots, and can be earned through
fulfilling certain conditions. Any Pang Points earned (including
those spent in-game) are then added to a tally and used to unlock
new items and upgrade Club Sets.
The Single-Player Campaign is called Tour Mode, and sees
the player travelling through NEW Super Mario Bros.-style
World Maps playing on various stages with different victory
conditions. The game attempts to add flavour to the proceedings with
colourful characters and a rather twisted “players from another
dimension” story that is wholly unnecessary. The Single-Player Tour
Mode features a somewhat steep learning curve for beginners, and Vs.
CPU Mode is the only other offering, but will unlikely get much
playtime.
The game plays best in Multi-Player, as should be expected, and
features a much longer lifespan than the golfing segment of
Wii Sports, perhaps even more than
Mario Kart Wii’s somewhat
undercooked offline offering. Though the Mini-Games may sound like
the usual trivial additions, they are in-fact, for the most part,
exquisitely devised additions to the formula and mostly offer more
depth than the straight-forward Match option. With the inclusion of
the items in Balloon Pop, this Mini-Game will no doubt become an
after pub favourite for groups of friends.
There are five Multi-Player Modes, the basic Stroke Play and Match
types, as well as Balloon Pop, Darts and Driving Contest. Balloon
Pop involves
 competitors playing one, three, five or nine Rounds,
each with a different Par, across one of numerous different themed
sets of Courses. Players are given the option of utilising one
special item, which can have a variety of effects, such as
artificially increasing accuracy or making opponents balloons
smaller. Darts requires players to land their ball on a target,
achieving a designated score – with special rules also coming into
play on most Courses. Driving Contest allots points for the distance
travelled, but also applies bonuses for driving through Rings
on-course. Multi-Player Stroke Play allows for CPU players to fill
any shortages in gathering four human players, as does the basic Match option. In Stroke Play, players play to see who can reach the
hole first, whilst a bad performance will eliminate a player
abruptly. In the Match option, players simply play a basic round of
golf with traditional golfing rules, with the added bonus of Special
Shots and the likes.
An interesting feature allows Save Data to be stored on the Wii
Remote’s internal memory and be taken to a Friends house, and loaded
for play in Versus Mode; allowing both players to use their own
unlocked characters and items. The game also includes a traditional
Control System, using only the Wii Remote. This set-up uses little
more than the A Button and, while being wholly comfortable, lacks
the sensation of the Motion Sensitive system; as would be expected.
The Courses themselves are pleasantly detailed. Featuring the basic
environments of ice and wind et al, plus some more imaginative
locales, a decent variety has
 been included. The characters are full
of typical Japanese wonderment, making little sense but never really
needing too. The Caddies are amongst the most bizarre of creatures
yet seen on Wii; and that takes some doing.
The game is graphically capable, but never truly pushes the console.
Higher resolution textures than the Previous-Generation are a given,
and the Draw Distance is relatively impressive, but the simple,
colourful visual style simply won’t amaze too many.
On the whole, Super Swing Golf is an impressive package with
a surprising amount of depth. The lack of an online Multi-Player
will disappoint a few, but most Wii owners would probably be
expecting this. Although the improvements over its predecessor may
be minor, with a relatively quiet release few will have played the
original Wii outing, and so Super Swing Golf will be fresh to
most. Currently competing only against Wii Sports and the
Tiger Woods franchise on Wii, there simply isn’t another Golf
game with a Multi-Player Mode as enjoyable as Super Swing Golf’s
currently available. |
