Mario Golf: Advance Tour review

Golf, as a rule, is an incredibly dull game; watching it on television always provided Gamestyle with a cheap and effective anaesthetic. However, the fact that we've just spent the last two hours competing in various tests of skill while taking into account wind direction and swearing at our useless doubles partner speaks volumes for Mario Golf: Advance Tour. The combination of golf and RPG is an odd one, but ultimately pays off, although not without frustration. Mario Golf: Advance Tour tasks players with ascending the ranks of the golfing elite by competing in various events and tournaments (both singles and doubles play with an AI-controlled partner). When first starting out, your chosen golfer lacks anything but the most basic of golfing abilities. However, the more time you spend playing golf, the better he/she becomes. By completing the various tournaments and events, experience points are awarded depending on how well you perform. These points are then spent on your golfer's (and your doubles partner's) various attributes - such as drive distance, ball control and height. Just like its console counterpart, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Advance Tour looks simple, but can be rather complex. The swinging mechanic only requires three button presses: one to start the shot, another to set the power, and a third to try and hit the 'sweet spot' of the ball for maximum power and accuracy. However, the game also allows for a little more finesse in this area. Pressing the D-pad allows you to choose where to hit the ball while a double tap of either the A or B button respectively applies top spin or back spin to the ball. For a handheld golf game this is surprisingly elaborate, but it's doing it without complicating matters too much. Along with the handling comes other considerations, making Mario Golf: Advance Tour partially a strategy game. When preparing for a swing, players must take note of the wind speed and direction, the type of terrain they are on and/or approaching, and the type of club they want to use. To truly stand (freakishly-large) head and shoulders above the other golfers, you must take all these into account when lining up your drives and putts. While the mechanics of golf are enjoyably portrayed, the RPG element seems to have shoehorned a storyline. Frankly, Gamestyle feels it gets in the way of the enjoyment as pages of mandatory text guide you on your adventure to become the 'ultimate golfer', which sees you eventually taking on Mario himself. These story sequences are quite intrusive as all the characters you face go into a long dialogue about the effectiveness of your driving abilities, or simply fume at their bitter defeat - which gets rather tiring when you simply want to get the next round going. Another element that needs improvement is the doubles play. While playing singles matches earns experience for both you and your partner, to progress in the story you must compete in the doubles tournaments. This means that you must endure the absolutely horrendous partner AI; nine times out of ten your partner will not get the power they require to get the ball to its intended destination. It also causes great frustration when your partner continually hits the ball into a tree which can be easily avoided. Lord help you if the AI gets stuck at the bottom of the hill as it stubbornly refuses to allow the ball to travel up it. Fortunately, you're easily able to pick up the AI's slack, but it would have pleased Gamestyle greatly if Camelot had included a 'beat your useless partner over the head with a 9-Iron' option. Astoundingly, the AI also hinders the graphics of the game. Whilst decent enough on their own (apart from the jerky animation), it's when the AI is deciding the positioning of a shot that the game's framerate slows to a crawl. We can't think of a satisfactory reason why such a hiccup should occur, and since you'll spend half the game playing in doubles events you'll be seeing a lot of it. If you do get sick of trawling through pages of text and brain-damaged partners, you can select a quick game option and play as various characters unlocked through the story. All game modes from the story section are available, with the added bonus of being able to play as Nintendo characters (or alternatively you can play a multiplayer game). Camelot have graciously allowed players to play on one cartridge - passing the GBA around as each take their turn - as well as more standard multi-cartridge affairs. Again, all game modes from the single-player game are available and are enjoyable when played alone or with friends. Mario Golf is a great game for a long car journey, and if you get tired of the single-player campaign, you can always share it with your fellow passengers. Despite its shortcomings, Mario Golf: Advance Tour is actually quite appealing and addictive. Gamestyle found itself continually muttering "one more round" despite having completed our fifth one in a row. If it can make golf interesting, it must be doing something right.