Throughout the holiday season, Wii Sports acted as an ambassador for gaming. Jaded old gamers were introduced to something truly innovative for the first time in years, and in many cases friends and family who would normally never pick up a controller found themselves fighting for one instead. That little collection of bowling and golf minigames brought people into our hobby and sold consoles for Nintendo. Wii Sports' take on golf was a great appetizer, but what will gamers find for the main course? Many will pick up the first thing on the menu, Tecmo's Super Swing Golf. Those who do will find a game that is frustrating, but still shows enough moments of brilliance to keep everyone around for the next course.

At first glance, our imaginary gamer upgrading from Wii Sports will find plenty of reason to doubt if Super Swing is right for them. With obvious anime heritage (it is actually based on a popular Asian game), the cartoon-inspired character style will raise immediate red flags with the Tiger Woods crowd. The focus on the pseudo-RPG Story Mode, which centers around characters being whisked to a fantasy land to reenact the heroics of ancients who somehow saved the world by plugging holes with little magic balls, doesn't help a bit.

At this point most of our imaginary gamers who aren't fans of Japanese cartoons are probably putting down the box and wandering off to look for the latest of EA's Tiger Woods titles on other machines, or are going back to play the 9 holes of Wii Sports a few more times. If they do, they will be missing out on one of the most unique and natural feeling control mechanisms to ever grace a golf game. The swing system is Super Swing feels amazingly like swinging a real club. Players take a stance as if they are stepping up to the ball, then swing the Wii remote backward as they would a real club. This moves a marker on an on-screen power bar; the larger the backswing, the farther across the bar the marker moves. Once the desired power level is reached, the golfer (for he or she is feeling less like a simple 'player' all the time) holds down the A button to set the marker. That mark determines how far the ball will go if the swing is perfect. From there the golfer swings back down toward the imaginary ball and follows through the rest of the swing.

To a spectator the action looks much like a real golf swing, and when it all goes right it feels like it too. Swinging too slowly will keep the full potential of the power bar from being used, and a slight curve of the swing or twist of the wrist will send the ball hooking or slicing far off center. To anyone who has swung a real club before the effect can be uncanny, bringing the game home in a way that has never been achieved before. Listening to friends controlling chibi schoolgirls with pink pigtails give each other advice concerning the right way to swing their arms and move their wrists, with the same seriousness they would discuss their real swing at a driving range, is almost worth the price of the game by itself.

Not everything about the swing mechanic is perfect, however. The most critical point of the process is also the hardest to control; setting the mark on the power bar at the top of the backswing. The way Super Swing's physics work, it is nearly impossible to beat the computer players without hitting the correct distance every time. Hitting the mark at the precise moment you want with the Wii remote nearly upside-down and behind your head, at the end of a long swing, isn't an easy task. As with many Wii games, ingenious players will find many ways to make the process easier by taking other actions that register as the same motions. Those who don't want to deviate too much from the "pure" swing may choose to elevate the remote to set the power bar, slowly move it so it is back in the starting position, and then execute a full swing without worrying about setting the power in the backswing. Other less strict players (in my house we call them cheaters) will choose to perform the entire swing sitting down, simply by flicking their wrists. With practice, the sitters will almost always end up with less chance for things to go wrong and consistently beat purists who insist on a full-on standing swing. It is also worth noting that although we labeled it cheating as well, there is a setting that allows the swing to take place using the traditional button-press/power-bar method, allowing players who for some reason can't stand and swing to play along with those who can.

The swing control may be the heart of the game, but the rest of the game is worth examining as well. For a single player, most of the time will be spent playing through tournaments consisting of many small challenges in the Story Mode, to unlock many interesting courses and characters. This and the other single player modes (one trying to win the most individual holes, the other working for the lowest stroke count) reward players not just for winning the match but for small achievements. Each well-hit ball, close approach shot, or under-par round is recognized with a small Pangya (money) bonus, which can be spent on upgraded equipment or clothes, both of which impact character's abilities. Extra Pangya are awarded for exploring the environment and banking shots off of obstacles to find shortcuts. In addition, purchased special-use items can temporarily make the power bar more forgiving, make the meter allowing extra-distance shots fill a little more quickly, or a host of other game-tweaking novelties.

Super Swing includes great support for having friends over to share the game. Before visiting, each friend can save their progress and character from their own Wii on their remote. That allows everyone who brings their own remote to jump into a match (up to 4 players total) using their own customized characters and unlocked items. If only one remote is available, everyone can load the host's settings and play by passing the remote around the room. The only game type that doesn't play like normal golf (and that can't be played with just one remote) features courses dotted with balloons, and challenges players to pop more than their opponents while using tools like wind generators and markers to alter their shots or scrawl graffiti on-screen while they swing.

The well-implemented party-style game makes it more disappointing that no online play was included. The North American PC version of Super Swing, called Albatross 18, is an online-only game with a solid community and plenty of action. We can only hope that any sequels take advantage of all that expertise to bring the Wii the online experience it deserves.

That isn't the only feature that feels missing from Super Swing. Despite the graceful way character import is managed for visiting gamers with their remotes, only one character profile can be held on a Wii. This means that without using multiple SD cards to shuffle save games on and off the console, there is no way for family members or housemates to each have their own character. It is also unknown why the game doesn't support output at 480p. Particularly when judging distance and slope when putting (a tricky endeavor to begin with), the extra resolution is obviously missing.

Also missing is the ability to select customized music from the SD card, as is possible in Excite Truck. The tunes that accompany each course are unique and catchy enough, but anyone who spends much time playing will eventually be driven mad by the never ending repetition of happy elevator-music style. Those who do really get hooked on Super Swing will have to be prepared for some very long matches. When playing against the AI opponents there is no way to skip the full process of watching their shots, which can make a short nine holes seem like a long endeavor.

These complaints are all minor missteps, but taken together they will keep Super Swing relegated to the shadows instead of letting it become the breakaway title it has potential to be. Our imaginary gamer (remember her?) should at least rent this one if she doesn't buy it, because swinging the remote with such precision will give her a better idea of what the Wii is capable of than anything else on the market right now. If this is any indication, the predictable Super Swing 2 and inevitable other golf franchise titles that come to the Wii will blow the experience on other platforms away.

Jan 9, 2007 | 0 comments
Robert Franklin