I noticed I had some funds I forgot about in my Nintendo account and will be seeing my dad and other assorted relatives soon and Mario Golf is essentially the only console game he’ll play, so I decided to try it out despite my misgivings.
I played a few rounds handheld while watching the Euro matches today and a bit before and after in docked more. So far, it’s good. The golf feels like golf should, though as I played more, I started to realize I was probably overthinking it a bit. At first, I was using the range-finder view—where you zoom in on potential shot locations to read the course—but soon discovered the course-map viewer and started using it to plan my shots with no noticeable drop off in play.
The way shots work is standard and intuitive. It mostly feels like how I remember older Mario Golf games feeling. Putting is a bit simplistic, but since that seems to be the bane of every golf game, I won’t complain about it since putting in this game does not make me want to pull my hair out (you can dock it a point in realism if you wish). There are also special club unlocks for each character once you use them enough and simply playing in the solo modes where you’re trying to beat your own high scores seems like a fun enough grind for me.
The first two courses are a bit generic, especially compared to those in Golf Story. Having a simple parkland style course to start with is fine, but the second course is similar, except with sheep and cottages thrown in. The third course, the first one you have to unlock, looks a bit more promising and the fourth is on a desert course. I remember reading a review complaining about how none of the courses feel like part of the mushroom kingdom save one unlocked toward the end, and that holds true so far (though the desert one looks like a Mario level to me). Hopefully the free DLC courses address this. I’m not seeing any links courses yet or even ones with much water, so I’m also hoping to see some of those in the future. Further, I wish there were a tournament mode where you’d play against several players beyond those in your group and have a leaderboard update after every hole. It would be an easy way to address my next complaint.
Which is that the AI is pretty bad. I was winning comfortably in my first match (I was about -4 through nine-holes and my four AI opponents were all well over par). They three-put a ton and have no clue how or when to use their special shots (you should play with those off when going against the AI). They even struggled against me in the one round of speed golf I played despite me learning its mechanics while playing. There does not seem to be a way to increase AI skill, either. It’s possible they’d play better (or I’d play more to their level) in later courses. You could also try adjusting the wind to make it more challenging for yourself, but I get the sense it would affect them just as much. When playing by myself, I would probably opt for the solo modes more often than not.
I have not tried adventure or battle mode, yet. The former is supposed to take roughly 10-hours to complete, which is more than I was expecting given some of the grousing in the reviews. I did notice there are only three save slots for it, though, so if, say, you have a family of four and were planning to have a Mii golfer for each, you’re out of luck. Although, the roster of Nintendo characters is more charming than Miis anyway.
Overall, I like it. It feels like a great game to chill on the couch with while you half-watch something on television. I’m hopeful that multiplayer will be a hit too and see no reason why it wouldn’t be.
