N-Philes

Swingerz Golf

Posted by Archived.

A long time ago, two Scottish men were sitting out in their fields, and one said to the other, "I bet I could hit this wee little ball in a hole five football fields away with this metal stick." And the other one said, "I bet I can do it in less shots." And thus, the game of golf was born. I want you all to sit down and think about golf for a while. You have a golf ball, a metal stick, and a hole a third of a mile away. Your objective is to hit that ball into that hole in five shots or less. Some people, like Tiger Woods, can do it in three shots. That's absolute amazing. Sure, you may think of golf as the most boring sport around, but to me, guys like Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington are Superman. And since I absolutely suck at golf, I have to resort to videogames to make myself think I'm good at golf. If you think this sounds shallow, tell me why you play Madden.

I employed my father to help with the review. He's played golf games on virtually every system imaginable, from DOS to Windows, from Game Boy to N64. Each and every time his review comes out to one simple phrase, "This sucks." He has been hoping for many years to find a game that justifiably portrays the sport to no avail. Hopefully he would find fun in Eidos' latest offering, Swingerz Golf.

Graphics

Swingerz Golf features seven courses in all (although one's just a training course), and each of them features all four seasons. I haven't noticed a consider difference in gameplay, but it's absolutely beautiful. The camera scales around when you hit the ball, makes awesome angles, including one in the hole. It's just Fresh Games trying to add a little action to the game. But I've seen the ball fly into the screen one too many times to find it amusing anymore. Everything about the game is very realistic, except for the characters. They all look like little children. You know, big heads, disproportionate bodies, etc. It looks like the Backyard version of golf. Even so, they're not the best the Gamecube can do. In my mind, a golf game should have the most awesome of awesome graphics. It doesn't push the ‘Cube at all. There's nothing for it to push in the first place. It's just basic animations of your character hitting the ball. Resident Evil this is not. It's a small complaint, I know, but then I see Tiger Woods, where Tiger Woods looks like Tiger Woods.

Sound

The tunes have a rollicking good time feel about them, similar to Super Monkey Ball. I think they run continuously without stopping, which gives me into a revved-up mood and want to hurry up the game. Also, with each of the different seasons, there's a different song for the course. Winter has a very leisurely rhythm, whereas Spring is upbeat. It's a tiny thing, but it adds to the overall experience.

Gameplay

Almost every golf game up to now has used the tried and true, "Push A for power meter" and then "Push A again for the accuracy." The problem with this is twofold. One, it's amazingly difficult to pull off a straight, long shot with any consistency. Two, it doesn't capture the feel of golf. Some companies tried making games with a club controller that used a motion detector or something like that, but that basically just ended with a lot of broken lamps. Swingerz Golf tries to go with another idea entirely. You pull back the C-Stick (why the C-stick and not the Control Stick is beyond me) and build up your power meter (the amount of yardage you're supposed to get is listed) and then you push the stick forward real quick to make the shot. Depending on how straight you push the stick forward formulates your accuracy. I like it because it somewhat feels like you have control of the accuracy. The only problem is the C-stick likes to wobble on its own. Also, there aren't any thumb grooves on the C-stick to keep your thumb from slipping. Nevertheless, I think it's the best control scheme I've ever seen in a home golf game.

The game boasts only six courses, but believe me, that's plenty. That's actually quite a substantial amount for a golf game anyways. Each course is well thought out and although there seem to be a few repetitions in hole designs, it seems to work out in the end. There's also thing called a Power Shot, which adds a little more ummph to your shots. Consequently, it also hurts your stamina; so if you use it, use it sparingly, because your shots won't go nearly as far on the back nine. I also learned that club distances lie, and even if it claims you'll get 150 yards, you'll never get more than 140, even if you max out the power bar. Putting, well, it's easier than most games, but you'll still bank a lot of shots. Let me tell you, five-putting holes (which I've done quite a number of times) is terribly frustrating.

There are more extra features than you can stick a shake at. The main mode has about six or seven different matches for each course with varying difficulty. The more competitions you win, the more suped-up equipment you can earn. There are also Match-Play competitions, where, if you win, you unlock that new character. You only start out with two, but can get up to 14. It's all simply a trick to get people to play more, but it works. On the multiplayer side, you can play match play, stroke play, or closest to the pin. The genius of multiplayer is that you can play a four-player game with only one controller.

This game gets an N-Philes score of B+.

Swingerz Golf is in my mind, a positively great golf game. It's not without its faults though, but then again, that's the essence of golf. It's a huge game, amazingly challenging (not to the point of making you want to quit though), and all around great. It's the best golf game I've ever played, and with all the extras, I'm sure to be playing it for many months to come.

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