Game Reviews: Super Swing Golf & Baroque

Super Swing Golf

Any golf game to hit the Wii will always be compared with the effortlessly simple, but remarkably entertaining Wii Sports title boxed with the console from launch. Despite only offering 9 holes, hoards of gamers still spend time lumping golf balls down the Wii Sports fairways with the Wiimote swing control system.

Hoping to take advantage of a new breed of golf gamers, Super Swing Golf takes the simple premise and attempts to add an extra dose of realism and depth.

The first difference is the swing method. Where as in Wii Sports, the height of your backswing with the motion sensitive Wiimote determines the pace of the shot, in Super Swing Golf you select the power on-screen and then the accuracy of your swing and direction of the Wiimote at striking point, denotes the quality of the shot. While at first, hitting the sweet spot on swings will be remarkably hit and miss, once you start to get into the game, it becomes ever easier.

Of course with a full golf game you’d also expect a lengthy single player campaign and Super Swing Golf doesn’t disappoint. Despite the expected stock story of a young golfer battling your way past mean opponents, the actual matches are entertaining and addictive, giving you a thirst to keep playing until every other character has been defeated.

Multiplayer is similarly entertaining, and with gameplay offering a number of special shots, unlockable courses, characters and clothes, despite the throwaway Pangya points system and the initially aggravating difficulty curve, Super Swing Golf is the best golfing experience on Wii.

3/5

Baroque

Released a full ten years after its initial Sega Saturn debut, Baroque makes the leap to the next generation via the Playstation and an equally updated PS2 offering.

Baroque follows the standard RPG template, in a story whereby the lead character must fight his way down to the bottom of a holy tower to relinquish his sins and bring a sense of conscience back to his troubled future world. You must fight you way past numerous enemies on each level to find your way to the exit, in the standard turn-based structure, collection new items, weapons and all important experience points along the way.

While the gameplay, graphics and lifespan are all sufficiently acceptable, the game’s biggest flaw comes from the harsh method of resurrection whereby if a player dies, they are thrown back to the first beginning of your quest. Though each level is randomly regenerated every time, even for lovers of RPG classics like Dark Chronicle, the method of advancement can become repetitive, closing doors to newcomers to the genre, however, for hardened fans, Baroque will offers plenty of hour of entertainment.

2/5