Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

"A Surprisingly Fun Game"

Much like its mother version, Mario Golf:Toadstool tour features some of nintendo\'s greatest characters out for a game of golf. If you like golf or not, you will still like this game.

Gameplay 10/10
Myself, I\'m a fan of golf. Some might not find it as interesting as I do so they might give it a 9 or 8 in this category. The gameplay is basically a much faster version of golf, with a few mario-like twists. Some real golf players, like me, will get exceedingly addicted when they pull off a near impossible shot, or exceedingly angry when from out of nowhere a Chain Chomp eats their ball. If your Hard-Corps about golf and believe it should be taken extremely seriously, don\'t buy this game, because you will probably destroy it, when your perfect shot is eaten by a ball on a chain.

Controls 10/10
Mario Golf: TT is fairly simple to control. You press A to start swinging and press A to set power. This is called an automatic swing and can be used by new players fairly easily because there is a 0% chance of you missing the ball. When you become more comfortable with the controls, you can Press A to start the swing and then press B to activate a manual swing. With a manual swing you can almost always \'\'nice shot\'\' the ball if your timing is correct and can put top spin on the ball to make the ball go even farther. However, you can also miss the ball. The camera controls are fairly simple as well. Basically, the controls can suit any gamer, whether your a pro at MGTT or a newbie whose been conned into it by friends.

Graphics 9/10
The characters are sometimes still a little rough around the edges, but crisp none-the-less. For a golfing games standards, the graphics suit it perfectly.

Physics 10/10
The game\'s incorporation of the physics of golf are almost perfect. You can\'t shoot straight through a tree (although sometimes the tree is actually higher up than it appears to be), if you land in the rough your ball will lose a significant amount of swing power, and if you land in a sand trap you won\'t hardly be able to hit anything. On putting, the game adds slope very perfectly, making you really have to actually think about putting. Wind and Rain are also used efficiently.

Sound 8/10
Nothing impressive here. The joyous and happy music is heard on just about ever course, and the characters tend to make just grunting sounds when driving. (They also really made Bowser\'s Voice terrible and Toad needs to go back to being silent).

Balance 10/10
The game is alot more balanced than it\'s mother version. In Mario Golf, each new character you unlocked was better than the previous character all the way up to Bowser and Metal Mario. In MGTT, they have balanced the characters quite efficiently, giving them all a \'\'star\'\' character. \'\'Star\'\' Koopa Troopa will be better than any of the other characters available drive wise and pathing wise, but once you get \'\'Star\'\' Peach, the two will be as balanced as they were without \'\'Star\'\'. You unlock \'\'Star\'\' characters by beating them in One on One golfing challenges, which can sometimes get quite frustrating.

Story 0/10
The game doesn\'t even attempt to have a story unlike the Mario Party games. After all, it doesn\'t really need one.

Replay 10/10
There are literally thousands of unlockables here. Just about every game mode reaps a reward of some kind.

Fun 9/10
Unlike real golf, MG:TT can finish 18 holes in about 30 minutes, where a normal game of golf takes around 4-5 hours. You also don\'t have to worry about getting sunburnt/stung on a video game either... If you think just playing golf all day gets boring, it\'s astonishingly not ;)

Overall 9/10
Even though the game can get quite frustrating and annoying in some parts, MG:TT is still an excellent game due to it\'s balance and replay. Quite a good game if you ask me.

Rent or Buy
Buy. Lots of replay that you couldn\'t hope to beat it all at once.

I hope my review has had an impact on your buying decision, and I\'ll see you at the tees.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/03