Mario Golf: Advance Tour is the Gameboy Advance version of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Nintendo's foray earlier in the year into the golfing game business. Now, normally with a portable conversion of a disc-based console title, I'd sit down resigned to getting less. Less impressive visuals, fewer play options, and, generally speaking, less fun. Obviously the designers at Camelot (chiefly known for the Golden Sun GBA RPGs) weren't aware of this little convention, as they've managed to pack more gameplay and fun into the portable version than was in the console original.
If you have played the console original, you'll find it relatively easy to just drop into a quick game of Advance Tour, which uses the same control mechanisms as its bigger console brother. That means that the analog swing mechanism used by titles like Links 2004 and Tiger Woods Golf games is right out, in favour of a modifiable button-controlled swing system -- very old school. In the case of the Gameboy Advance, however, it's the most sensible approach to take. It's also an approach that's very easy to pick up and play with -- perhaps a little too easy for some players, especially when it comes to the game's general approach to putting. To put it simply, if you simply add a little extra power to your shot when putting, then nine times out of ten it'll plunk right home. This does reduce the stress factor of putting evident in some other games, but it also makes it harder for really skilled players to stand out.
The big addition to Mario Golf: Advance Tour is the game's story mode, which attempts to merge some light roleplaying components with the central golfing engine. You'll play as either a male or female golfer -- Neil or Ella, although the name of your golfer can be altered. Whichever gender you don't pick becomes your partner for doubles matches, and as you play through becoming the second-best golfer in the Mario Golf world, you'll gain experience that can be used for either player to improve their golfing stats. No particular suprise to find that Mario's the best golfer in this fantasy world, although strangely everyone else is just a regular human character. Quite why Mario gets a look in, and the criminally under-regarded Donkey Kong Jr doesn't is a crime in my estimation -- although at least you can play as everyone's favourite ape in the regular game modes. Playing through the story mode unlocks a number of additional characters and courses for regular play, so if the concept of a golfing RPG makes you shudder, you should probably look elsewhere, as without playing through it at least once you won't see everything the game has to offer. It's also possible to link up the GBA and Gamecube games (if you have both) for a little bit of data sharing.
I'd be stunned if the humble Gameboy Advance could replicate Gamecube graphics, but while there's an obvious step down in quality, it's less of a brutal bump than you might expect, thanks largely to some clever trickery with surface shading that gives the courses something of a three dimensional feel. Even some of the spot effects from the Gamecube game make their way through untouched, as does much of the audio.
There aren't that many golf games on the Gameboy Advance, period. As such, Mario Golf: Advance Tour wouldn't have to work all that hard to be considered the best golf game going on the portable platform. That it manages that, and managed to exceed my expectations is a very nice surprise indeed. It's thus highly recommended for golf game aficionados, especially if you liked the original Toadstool Tour.
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brent
15/02/2005, 06:13 AM
fun but easy to beat
My only complaint is that it is too easy to beat this game once you pick up the basics.
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