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GameCube Swingerz Golf Developer: Telenet Japan | Publisher: Eidos
Rating: BRating: EveryoneHaohmaru
Type: Sports Players: 1 - 4
Difficulty: Intermediate Released: 10-23-02

Swingerz Golf cover

Meandering through the mall of the digital world known as the World Wide Web, I find myself window shopping for used games at a favorite local haunt that shall remain nameless. I'm browsing through a selection of new and used software for my system of the moment, the GameCube, but don't find much that's all that exciting.

"A, B, C . . . Q, R, S . . . Swingerz Golf?"

"Ye gods, it must be another Midway attempt at bastardizing and mutating a sports title and making it sound X-Treme," I thought. "Hold up, it's not that at all. It's a golf game developed by a Japanese company," and I thought that was a good start. Out comes the recent payment method of choice, PayPal, and less than a week later I find Swingerz in my console and worth talking about.

Let's just get two things straight right off the bat: a.) the Hot Shots Golf series is still the king of the hill when it comes to enjoyable and extremely playable golf games for any console and b.) there is a woefully small choice of golf titles available for the GameCube at the moment in both Japan and the United States (about three or four by my count - but I haven't counted to five in quite a number of years, so take that with a grain of salt). Yes, Swingerz is an Eidos title, but don't let that fool you - it has a decidedly Japanese flavor to it and it doesn't lose much in the transition overseas. Couple that with the fact that it's under $20.00 at most retail outlets and it warrants a closer, longer look.

Swingerz is most certainly from the Hot Shots mold, featuring a multitude of normal-to-off-the-wall characters and six courses on which to compete. The game includes six chatterbox caddies who you can choose to listen to or not, "not" usually being the better choice. Also, the standard fare multiple modes of play are here: Tournament, Stroke, Match, Short Course, Mini Games, and more.

Also included is the now de facto standard upgrade path (by winning tournaments and defeating rivals, silly) that allows you to choose different balls, clubs, and extra equipment. Rain Shoes, for example, increase the probability of rain and increase the scores of your opponents as well. And if that didn't spell it out for you, there are natural elements (rain, wind, etc.) that can suddenly come up and work against you, evoking witty commentary from the standers-by ("My HAIR!") and serving to make your life more difficult. Of particular interest among the modes of play is the Mission Mode, which sets forth particular challenges, usually involving hitting "x" number of balls within "y" feet of the pin with a limitation of "z" shots. Completing ten missions rewards you with an upgrade, and it's a curiously intoxicating challenge. One wonders why you can't compete against the other golfers in this realm of challenges, but it's satisfying enough that it's there.

The game has a curious analog-stick method of determining power and accuracy that deviates considerably from golf games that use a variety of different "click" methods to determine swing weight, distance, and accuracy. The d-pad determines the spin on the ball. The analog stick is held down until you're in the power range that you want to be in and then must be moved upwards as straight as possible to get a good swing. It might sound easy, but it's far from easy to be consistent with the movements of that analog stick. You can find yourself doing very well on a number of holes and then you inexplicably can't seem to nail a stroke after that. I applaud the deviation from the norm and think it's a good mechanism to mimic real golf in that minor deviations in your swing can be rewarded with catastrophic results.

One gripe about the control is that you can hit the same ball in the identical lie with nearly the same power and identical swing rating (Excellent, Great, Good, Bad, Poor) and achieve very different results - as much as forty to fifty yard's difference. Thankfully this didn't seem to happen all that often and didn't detract all that much from the overall experience. The same analog stick is used for putting, but it seems to be far more forgiving here than in stroke play. Reading the greens features multiple overlay colors to choose from and you can use what works best for you. Also, as you progress further up the upgrade ladder, you'll find that the better clubs are far more forgiving than are their predecessors.

Swingerz presents a very serviceable set of in-game graphics and visual elements as you progress through the various courses and challenges. There are multiple camera shots of your tee-off shot that are limited in their quantity but strong enough that they aren't bothersome. For example, the ball flies and "shatters" the screen only to come back to where it bounces on that particular hole. It's a nice deviation from the standard fare that characterizes many of its competitors. The courses are cleverly designed with obstacles laid in particular places for particular reasons. If you don't pay attention to where you're likely to land, you're likely to find yourself in a spot of trouble. The textures and courses are crisp and clean - cleaner than the characters themselves, strangely. I noticed the camera "jump" in certain spots when following a ball in flight, but it didn't detract from the game in any manner.

The background sounds, music, and character reactions are about what you've come to expect from this kind of title. Namely, they are limited and grow repetitive after a while. Pardon the expression, but that's par for the course in the genre and no matter how many samples there are, if you play the game (any game) long enough, you're going to hear duplication. The music is typical light-hearted fare and the natural noises, such as birds, are well-executed. But seriously, in most golf games the less you're focused on outside noises the better, and to this end the game succeeds.

With Mario Golf on the horizon, some might opt to skip on Swingerz altogether, but that would be a mild mistake. This is a game that's obviously modeled after the Hot Shots series, and while it doesn't quite achieve that level of sophistication and fun, it's well worth pursuing, especially considering its present price point.

· · · Haohmaru


Swingerz Golf screen shot

Swingerz Golf screen shot

Swingerz Golf screen shot

Swingerz Golf screen shot

Swingerz Golf screen shot

Swingerz Golf screen shot

Rating: BHaohmaru
Graphics: 7 Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8 Replay: 8
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