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> Results: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
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Par for the course!Ah, itﾒs-a him, Mario, is there anything he canﾒt do? Heﾒs a plumber, a party animal, tennis pro, and a world-class mascot for a certain Japanese entertainment company. N64 fans remember that heﾒs also a world class golfer and the good news is, theyﾒre about to be reminded as Mario Golf hits the GameCube with Toadstool Tour. Toadstool Tour works by offering reasonably solid golf fundamentals, strategy, and physics and combining it with a heaping helping of Nintendo charm and polish. Available from the start you can choose to don the cleats of Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, a Koopa Troopa, Bowser, Peach, another female character whoﾒs name escapes me, some sort of weird pink bird-thing, Wario and Waluigi. Each character has his own victory or defeat animation, each has his/her own audio files (Peach hums the Mario theme, Waluigi goes ﾓWaaah!ﾔ), and each has their own swinging style. Mario hits straight and narrow, Wario slices, and Donkey Kong has a monster swing that angles dangerously low. You have to take these into account; on some courses youﾒll need power, a straight lie, or even a good dependable slice, to win the day. The controls couldnﾒt be easier. The default swing is a simple two-button affair. Hit the A button to start the meter, hit it again when it gets to the target. The AI handles the accuracy for you. Or you can add in this third button press for greater challenge whenever you like. Like any good golf game you drive for show (long drives are easy in this game and youﾒll typically hit the green with strokes to spare) and putt for dough. Toadstool Tour makes things far more challenging by making putts a bit harder than they need to be, usually because the timing required to hit that second button press is alarmingly short. You can pass it up and hit the button on the return instead (much easier) but nowhere does the game suggest this to you. The left stick lets you aim where youﾒre hitting, while the right lets you travel along the course and see whatﾒs ahead. The camera system could be better. These are large, lush, and extremely interesting courses (Donkey Kongﾒs takes place in the trees! Itﾒs a real-world golferﾒs nightmare). But the camera doesnﾒt free roam very well. Itﾒs hard to control, limiting, and makes it harder to aim your shot than necessary. The default camera often gets in the way, inexplicably showing your characterﾒs backside, or a side view, when youﾒve just made a crucial putt. Itﾒs less fun making a difficult putt when the only reason you know you made it is the audio cue. Ultimately, thatﾒs a minor gripe though because the gameplay is solid, the AI is good (it scales upward well and even at the highest difficulty level your opponents will make mistakes that give you a shot at overtaking them), and the courses are genuinely interesting places to play. Thereﾒs a lot of gameplay here. You can play with up to four players, thereﾒs a tournament mode, stroke play, match play, character match (which pits you directly against a single AI competitor on a hole-to-hole basis), and skins match. Toadstool Tour contains a nice range of oddball gamemodes you can use for variety or practice. Thereﾒs Ring Shot, which has you driving balls through giant rings. Coin Shoot, strike the ball as close as you can to coin piles located around the course. Speed Golf, play through the course as fast as possible. And then thereﾒs my personal favorite, Club Slots. Club Slots is something some golfers might want to try to liven up a favorite public course. Play a slot machine and then play whatever club comes up. Get the putter on the tee? Well, good luck then! Winning matches unlocks new courses and characters to play and the game packs a lot into that little GameCube disc. The audio matches the visuals with bright cheery themes and sound effects. The music is typically catchy and well matched to the game, and it all comes together with the graphics to evoke a fun little cartoon world that isnﾒt too saccharine sweet (how could a world with snapping giant balls hidden in the bunkers be considered overly sweet?). Nintendo has a design aesthetic and cast of characters almost as interesting as Disney or Warner Brothers, and Mario Golf plays up those rivalries to comic effect. Add in the solid gameplay thatﾒs a nice alternative, but not really a replacement, for stronger golf games like Hot Shots or Tiger Woods, and you have a great golfing game, perfect for a rainy day or parties around the old GameCube. Kid Factor: Whether youﾒre into golf or not, whether your spouse is into golf or not, whether the kids are into golf or not and whether your friends are into golf or not, everyone will find this game appealing. Itﾒs witty, charming, clever, cute, and extremely solid. Itﾒs easy to pick up and rewards intricate strategy and random button-mashing almost equally well. Thereﾒs nothing offensive, it teaches a lot about golf in an unobtrusive way, and the extra oddball games are quite a bit of fun. Itﾒs terrific in single player, but hilarious with up to four people hitting the links and best of all, itﾒs a wonderful game for kids to play with grownups.  Ages: 4+ ESRB: E-Everyone Developer: Camelot Producer: Nintendo Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour |
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