Video Games Reloaded - Super Swing Golf (Wii)

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Super Swing Golf (Wii)
By: Adam Waddilove

Does this game swing into a bunker or into the hole?

Super Swing Golf is the party golf game for virtual golfers everywhere. Using the Wii Remote, Super Swing Golf allows players to take actual golf swings on 14 unique “18 hole” fantasy golf courses. There is a multiplayer Party mode featuring games like “Darts” and “Longest Drive” designed specifically to get players together for a fun, competitive golf game in the living room. The courses include a wide array of themes and challenges with environments as diverse as a tropical island, a scorching desert and even on ice! You can accessorize and equip your character with different outfits, clubs, and balls. You can also play and earn Pang Points to spend on better items. The more you advance in the game, the more items become available!

Super Swing Golf Features:

Choose from eight wacky characters each with varying skills with woods and irons

Play in multiplayer tournaments with up to four players or choose multiplayer mini games

Single Player Tour mode sees players compete against computer controlled rivals in matches across Pangya Island

Play rounds on colourful fantasy courses customising the look of golfers as you go

Successful play allows for the unlocking of new club sets, costumes, items and characters.

Eight playable characters, various selectable caddies, an abundance of collectable costumes and equipment

All controls are via the Wii’s remote

Training mode included

On-screen information describes the ground attributes, the ball’s trajectory and point of impact

With so many golf games now on the Wii, it’s hard to choose between them. Wii Sports and Tiger Woods currently share the crown for the better games while We Love Golf is the more disappointing. Super Swing Golf finally hits Europe after a long delay from the US and Japan, I don’t really know why the game took almost 2 years to head our way but it’s here now.

Without any Mii or online support, Super Swing Golf may appear to actually be worse than We Love Golf but in fairness, it does manage to surpass it considerably. First of all, the game manages to have a much better control system thanks to some excellent motion support that more or less turns your Wii Remote into a golf club. Sure that’s nothing new, but so many games manage to mess up the basics of this and SSG isn’t one of them.

The 8 characters you can choose from do their jobs, but of course they aren’t licensed golfers nor can you use your Mii’s, so that’s a disappointment. It would have been nice to have some customisation options or create a golfer mode that I’m sure Tiger Woods 09 will have. The competition between these games seems to be heating up and I’m sure that a much better one is just around the corner, so should you buy Super Swing Golf or just wait a bit longer for Tiger?

It’s a tough call, since Tiger has managed to be pretty good on the Wii over the past year or so. It also will probably have more modes than you can chuck a stick at, so in terms of value I would have to recommend it more than SSG at the moment. Plus I’m almost certain that there will be an online mode included, so it wins hands down.

That’s not to belittle SSG, it’s a nice golfing game but it’s quite limited with its modes. Sure you can play a few rounds with some friends or the AI, but that’s about it. The lack of online really hurts it, the minigames add a few hours of fun but it won’t keep your attention for that long.

Super Swing Golf has some nice visuals, sure it doesn’t support 480p but at least it looks fairly good on a HDTV. It may not look as impressive as Tiger does but it does a good job nonetheless. It won’t win any awards for its graphical prowess, nor will it win anything for the cheesy background music in the menus but it does have a certain charm to it that’s hard to pinpoint.

The Verdict

Super Swing Golf doesn’t really deserve an accolade like Super, but it does deserve its place on the Wii. It belongs there and even though there are better golf games coming, it’s a nice and charming game that any golfer will enjoy, no matter how briefly.