In my time Mario golfreleased on Nintendo 64, became the first 3D sports game with Mario in the lead role. Subsequently, many similar spin-offs have been released, dedicated to other sports: tennis, baseball, football, and even basketball. Years passed and it seemed that Nintendo I completely forgot about golf, because the last game in the series appeared on a portable console 3DS seven years ago, but today we can finally take our golf clubs again and return to the smoothly mown lawn in the company of a mustachioed plumber, his friends and unlucky rivals in Mario Golf: Super Rush on the Nintendo Switch…
Perhaps to some, the genre of virtual golf may seem boring and unworthy of attention, but it is worth remembering that this sport has always got along well in the gaming industry, starting with its appearance in the legendary arcade Neo turf masters from SNK and ending with a pipeline of games with a license PGA Tour, which has temporarily stopped due solely to the personal problems of major golf star Tiger Woods. If you like, golf is more of a tactical, turn-based strategy than any other sport.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of any golf simulation is handling. In Mario Golf: Super Rush, it comes in two flavors – gyroscopic control using split Joy-Con, and a conventional button layout. Fortunately, the joykons do their job very well, and if you managed to play in due time Wii Sports, you will immediately feel like a fish in water. In fact, you will need to imitate the movements of a real club to perform various types of blows, and the game is quite sensitive to any deviations to the side, to the swing and force of the blow. The main thing is to remember to make sure that there are no innocent people around you before you start waving your hands with relish.
Naturally, Mario Golf: Super Rush does not strive for a realistic display of the ancient game invented by Scottish shepherds, and therefore dilutes the walking pace with proprietary fun obstacles and challenges in the style of Super Mario, although the rules and basic components of golf are preserved intact. Basic mode offers the classic 3 to 18 hole pattern, a rich set of golf clubs, variable winds, terrain to be considered for effective play, and all the rest of golf.
All the fun begins in the new Blitz Golf and Skirmish Golf game modes. In the first, you find yourself side by side with three opponents at the same time and must race to score balls into the holes – not only accuracy is important here, but also the speed of execution of strikes and competent energy consumption, and the animation and running mechanics with a constantly decreasing endurance strip are very reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wildwhich will surely delight all Nintendo fans. While dashing from one point of impact to another, your character can collect coins, hearts, and also perform unique stunts to help outrun competitors. In addition to the fact that the chaotic running of familiar heroes around the golf courses looks fun in itself, the developers managed to make this mode really addictive, especially if you are not playing alone, but with a good company of friends on the same console or over the network.
“Golf scramble”, in turn, is a multiplayer game in one large arena with several holes, which must be passed at speed in random order. The arenas themselves differ in structure and complexity, and if you wish, you can enable special events, such as ice lakes that suddenly appear on the map, adding intrigue and unpredictability to the game.
