Games reviews
Tries too hard to be something for everyone.
Although it’s been a while since Mario and his mates hit the green, Mario Golf: Super Rush will feel familiar to anyone who has played an arcade-y golf game in the past few years, such as Everybody’s Golf. It’s overflowing with color, from the vivid courses you play on to the cast of characters (and your Mii) who you play as, and offers up plenty of different rulesets so you know that this isn’t the sort of stuffy golf you see plastered over Sky Sports. Except, this outing for Mario on the links never captures a specific style, neither as a serious sports game that yearns to be mastered nor a whippy delight that craves to be played with mates.
This identity crisis starts with how you play the game. Depending on which mode you’re playing, you’ll have a choice between traditional button controls or the arm-flinging of motion controls. Your button controls offer more command over where your ball goes, as you set power on a meter with a tap of A and add sidespin afterwards by nudging the left stick. While it’s not quite as simple as that suggests – a red gauge next to your power meter indicates how far a ball can curve unexpectedly if you put too much power on a shot - but it doesn’t quite capture the rhythmical compulsion of Everybody’s Golf, that sense of timing and strategy coming together. Meanwhile, motion controls are what you expect - swing your arms like it’s 2007 and you’re trying out Wii Sport for the first time. How enjoyable that is depends on personal preference, but I certainly made the most of an afternoon taking turns with my partner to see who could look the daftest while playing with them.
This does however highlight the game’s fundamental flaw of never committing to a style of play. Using motion controls leads to uncomplicated fun with friends, but doesn’t feel like it requires buckets of skill. It’s a gimmick essentially, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s hardly something you’ll keep returning to. Whereas the standard controls offer up ways of giving the game a distinct flavour – such as your ability to curl shots in multiple directions, letting them bend to the left before hooping back to the right – but it doesn’t offer any compelling reason to really spend time getting to grips with it, considering the course designs lack opportunities to really test your skill and there aren’t enough modes to lose yourself in.
Swings in multiple different directions without ever making a convincing impact. While Mario Golf: Super Rush isn’t too rough in most places, it’s just not on par compared to other recent golf games.
Ben Tyrer