Title: We Love Golf!
Platform: Wii
Developer: Camelot
Publisher: Capcom
MSRP: $49.99
Editor: Loren '
AgtFox' Halek
We Love Golf! Review
Camelot, the company behind such Nintendo games as
Mario Tennis and
Mario Golf try their hands on a golf game with another company’s characters in the Capcom produced
We Love Golf! on the Wii. The game isn’t perfect, but it does get down the golf swing mechanic pretty well, I just wish it were more challenging than it is and I wish you didn’t have to unlock all the Capcom characters that are in the game in order to play as them.
We Love Golf! has quite a few gameplay options to it.
You can play in tournaments, go into targeted swing matches, stroke matches, hit the ball through rings, etc. The variety of gameplay options really helps this game. The biggest thing this game has going for it is online play which works pretty well, but I only played a few rounds of it since there didn’t seem to be many people on. If the game just consisted of the tournament section I could easily see this game getting boring quick, so it is nice to have all these options.
The big draw from a gameplay perspective is the swing mechanic. Although it doesn’t work exactly like you wish it would (swinging just like you would in regular golf), it does a good job of bringing a simple swing mechanic that anyone can pick up on. Basically you start the Wii remote at a down position. You then push the A button and start your swing. Via the remote you swing it back to set the power of your shot. The game puts an indicator of the best possible backswing you can have and you swing the remote back as close to that as possible. When the shadow icon hits where your solid icon is it starts to move forward and you want to swing the remote forward right when the shadow icon hits the dead center of a perpendicular club and your shot goes off. It doesn’t sound very intuitive, but after just a bit you will get the “swing” of it. Via various buttons on the Wii remote you can do such things as switch clubs and put spin on the ball before you hit it as well.
Most of my time with the game was spent in tournament mode, although I did touch the other options at least once. The thing with tournament mode is that the game is way too easy. The first tournament I was in I was still getting used to the swinging and I still won by 26 strokes and I was the only one below par. Now, this isn’t like a regular PGA tournament, you only play one round which makes 26 strokes all that more amazing. Through the rest of the tournaments I was mostly 10+ strokes up at the end with a few single digit stroke wins.
You have four characters to choose from at the start, all of which seem to be original characters.
In order to unlock characters like Chun Li, Guile, Arthur, Ken and various other Capcom characters you have to make it through a certain bar in each gameplay option. That is a bit too much to do when the challenges are just too easy for you to win. If there was some competition the time spent doing all this may seem a little less like going through the motions.
We Love Golf! isn’t a bad game even though I make it sound like it is. I think it can be enjoyed playing it with your family or playing it online with other people. As a single-player experience though, it’s just not very challenging. Unfortunately playing single-player seems to be where the majority of characters get unlocked, so you may quit on the game before unlocking some of Capcom’s favorite characters. This game is a good pickup if you’re looking for a serviceable golf game, but this is certainly not Camelot’s best even with the actual feel of swinging a club versus hitting buttons on their previous games. All in all this is a slightly above average game.
The Good- Swing mechanics, although not a straight parallel to real life, are good
- Playing with people can be pretty fun
The Bad- Tournament challenges are pretty non-existent
- Challenge in other modes is higher, but still a bit on the easy side
The Ugly- When I won by 26 strokes in my first tournament
