NICE ON!
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is no different. Many of your favorite Nintendo characters are playable, including obvious choices like Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi. There are also the lesser-known characters like Birdo and Diddy Kong along with a few unlockable characters that I won't spoil for you. Each character is rated in three different attributes so the choice of character isn't just for cosmetic reasons. Some offer a strong drive from the tee, while others are better with adding spin to the ball.
As you would expect from a Nintendo game, Toadstool Tour has simple, pick up and play controls - hitting and putting will take little time to get used to. Like golf games of the past there is a little gauge that measures how hard the ball will be hit, as well as how far left or right the ball will slice. There are 2 ways of hitting the ball. One more the more novice player while the other offers more control for the more experienced. Hitting the ball is as easy as hitting the “A” button twice. One tap of the “A” button will start filling the power gauge, once the gauge fills to the desired distance, press “A” again to hit the ball. The more advanced mode is slightly different. You start your swing with A, set the power with B, then again when the bar returns back to the 'hit zone'. Where you stop the meter in relation to the bar is where you will hit the ball. For example, stopping the bar to the right of the 'hit zone' will mean you hit more to the right of the ball causing you to curl the ball left, and vice versa. You can also add some topspin or backspin to the ball. For topspin you'll need to press 'AA' in the 'hit zone', whilst for backspin 'BB' is in order. There are also stonger versions called 'Super Topspin/Super Backspin' which can be done by pressing 'AB' and 'BA' respectively. Players can also adjust where on the golf ball to hit, there’s a marker on the power gauge that can be adjusted so players can see how far the ball will go, and then there’s the wind. All of these are factors when trying to get around on the courses. Putting of course has to be just a tad more difficult. As if having those other factors in hitting the ball wasn’t enough, the ground and how level it is must be taken into account. The holes on the later course are anything but flat. Unfortunaly, the camera isn't the most helpful at times so its common that you'll be spending more time lining up your putt than you would with a better camera. In other recent golf games such as Tiger Woods and Links 2004 there was a feature where if you got the ball close enough to the hole, the CPU would take over and putt it for you, thus saving you the risk of missing it from 10cm away from the whole. Annoyingly Mario Golf hasn't adopted this feature for some reason so you will still be expected to putt in those 'unmissable' shots. While not a huge complaint, it's incredibly annoying if you miss from such a short distance.
But hitting the ball isn’t the difficult part of the game, it’s the camera system unfortunatly that really hurts the most. You can’t freely move the camera around the course to get a better perspective on the action. Instead it is confined to moving it along a fixed flight path of the shot. What’s worse is that it’s jerky and unintuitive, sometimes you want to get near the hole to plan an approach. The camera won’t agree with you and instead of giving you a nice vantage point of the green the camera goes down to ground level and gives you a nice view of the landscaper’s gardening technique. No part of the game is more flawed than the camera system, this thing has problems. Not only with aiming and helping you set up you shot, but also with keeping track of the ball and showcasing the action. At times the camera doesn’t even show you where your shot is, giving the game a very disjointed feel that you may expect from an amateur developer. On most close putts the camera doesn’t even bother to follow the ball, and instead relies on the sound of the ball clanking into the cup to indicate that you’ve sunk that five-footer.
Mario Golf has a huge array of modes to play. Ranging from Tournament to several different types of mini-games, and there’s enough unlockables in here to keep players happy for a while. Tournament and Character Match are the modes that’ll get the most use. Tournament puts the player against a bunch of other golfers and all 18 holes are played, and of course the player with the lowest score at the end wins. In the Tournament mode, players collect medals, trophies, and unlock other courses. Of course, as progression through the courses advances, the courses and competition become tougher. Character Match has the player golfing directly against a computer player. Once the competition and course have been selected, the golfers compete to see who can win ten (depends on how many ties the two get) holes first. In Character Match, players can also accept invitations from certain characters. If the computer is defeated, then the star character for that golfer is unlocked. The star character is an improved version of the original offering stronger drives and better ball control. A few of the other modes, such as coin attack, ring attack, and doubles are most enjoyable when played with a friend and are pretty boring playing alone. The mini games, however, are great practice and will give the player a better understanding of the more complex side of hitting and putting.
FORE!
Toadstool Tour definitely holds its own when it comes to the graphics. All of the character models have been done quite nicely. While there are a few things about them that could’ve been polished more, like the occasional rough edge, overall they are all up to what you’d expect from a Nintendo license. All the courses have their own personalities and looks too, each more flashy then the last. The earlier courses are a more standard grassy affair but it's not long before you encounter desert lands and even Peach's castle grounds. But while there are many objects on the courses, and plenty of detail in the character models, most of the textures used on the courses themselves lack detail. When hitting a ball and watching it land, you’ll see the low-resolution of the textures used on the courses. There are a few nice touches in this game however. When you hit a max power shot your golfer’s swing gets some added emphasis like for Mario the ball turns to fire, or for Yoshi a rainbow trail emits from the ball. Other nice touches include birds flying overhead and areas of grass blowing in the wind. What i really was impressed by was the way Camelot animated everyone. They did a fantastic job in relaying the character of each of Nintendo mascots. I love the way Donkey Kong swings his club one handed or the way Diddy Kong putts by holding the whole club. There's also a nice array of celebration animations with different ones for Birdies, Par's, Bogeys, etc.
It seems Nintendo might have used the same person to create the music for Toadstool Tour that created the music for Mario Sunshine. The use of steel drums can be heard throughout Toadstool Tour. It also sounds very much like Mario Golf 64 did, so if you played that you know what to expect. Also, plenty of music throughout this game is familiar. Some are newer versions of old classics and some just have that Mario feel to them. But, most of the time, the music will take a back seat to the concentration a player will put into getting the ball in just the right spot, most of the time. When setting up a putt, the music’s tone changes for the more serious and helps put pressure on to make the putt. Throughout the matches and mini games, the golfers are all making noises of some kind. Whether it’s Mario's words of encouragement or just the screaming monkey sounds from Diddy Kong, all are heard when hitting or after a hole is made. But it would have been nice to hear the characters react to making bad shots, they really only react to missed putts. It's all in Dolby Pro Logic 2 which is a nice addition. Now I’ll be the first to admit that a golf game doesn’t exactly have the breakthrough sound that demands a DPL2 audio setup, but the inclusion of it is still nice. There is a lot of distinct separation between channels on the ambient effects, giving you a feeling that you’re not only watching the action but are also surrounded by it.
Single-player golf is fun for a fair while as, with 7 courses and countless mini games, there are plenty of things to do. But if you buy Toadstool Tour you’ll want to do so for the multiplayer elements. Up to four players can compete or co-operate together at once making this an excellent pickup for anyone looking for a multiplayer alternative to heated games of PES. It should also be noted that the game allows players to share controllers. This means that you can play a four-player game with just one controller, so you dont even need 4 pads to play it! The game has even more chance for replayability when Mario Golf Advance is released later down the line. Not much has been revealed about the GBA-to-GC capabilities except for the fact that you'll be able to move your characters from one game to the other. It'll be a neat way to get players into the game and may open up the door to even more bonus features.
'This is a very tense a moment!'
If you want a damn good Mario game and you like golf, this title is for you. If you don't like Mario but you like golf, this game is still for you but may not offer much more than any other refined golf game out there. As with most golf games, in my opinion, multi-player is all the more fun. Yes, the camera is a pain, but it doesn't ruin the game, it just takes off that extra polish you would exepect from a Nintendo title. Overall, Toadstool Tour is a fun little game and while it might not be a must own for the single player, when its price drops, it’s definitely worth having in your collection. If you've got friends who will play it, this is a must buy.
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