Pros: Easy to pick up and play; multiple modes of play
Cons: Bad voiceovers; what's with the weird story?
The Bottom Line: Swing Away Golf has sharp graphics, ambient sound, and great gameplay, as well as plenty of play modes and unlockable secrets. Highly recommended.
offspringer's Full Review: Swing Away Golf for PlayStation 2
Swing Away Golf borrows a lot from Hot Shots Golf and brings home an enjoyable and moderately addictive golf experience that almost anyone can enjoy. Just like Hot Shots Golf, gameplay is relatively easy to pick up and there's a fair amount of hidden stuff to unlock as you progress. The high resolution graphics look stellar, and the multiple game modes will keep video duffers busy for hours. While the game isn't perfect, Swing Away Gold delivers in many areas.
Swing Away Golf's mainstay lies in its single-player Story Mode. You can choose a golfer, adjust his or her skills to your liking, and compete in many different events, such as match play, tournament play, and near-pin and long drive contests as you progress from Amateur to Professional to World status. The great part about the Story Mode is that once you beat certain characters or play certain modes, they become available outside of the Story Mode for multiplayer fun. Winning these events in Story Mode is key, as you can win special items as well as skill points to distribute and make your golfer even better in areas such as power and accuracy. You can also use prize money that you win in certain tournaments to purchase new equipment, as well.
Graphically, Swing Away Golf looks a lot like what Hot Shots Golf might look like in high resolution. From the trees and grass to the skies and even the characters themselves, the graphics look sharp and well-defined, as well as colorful. There are some great climate-related nuances that can be seen, like rustling leaves on the trees or different cloud formations. This demonstrates game developer T&E Soft's attention to detail. The ambient sounds of golf are all here, such as rain, wind, and other sounds of nature, but the sugary voiceovers are weak. Even though you can choose any of a number of caddies, many just sound ridiculous... the golfers sound even worse.
Swing Away Golf uses a swing meter similar to EA's PGA Tour Series, but hitting the golf ball with the right amount of power and accuracy seems a bit easier than in EA's popular golf series. Acclaim's Tee Off title for Dreamcast also used a similar swing meter, but was much too easy to control. Swing Away's meter seems to have found a good middle ground that always changes, depending on how you choose to upgrade your golfer's skills. It will also take some practice to learn how the ball will land in certain situations and players will have to use some trial and error in order to learn which clubs to use at which times... just like real golf.
In the end, Swing Away Golf is a surprisingly good golf title that has a lot to offer in many areas. The graphics are sharp and colorful, the sound captures golf's aural ambience, and the gameplay, while challenging at times, can definitely prove rewarding as well. Swing Away Golf may not get the critical acclaim that Hot Shots Golf did, but that certainly shouldn't deter golf fans from giving this game a try. You just might be as surprised as I was.
A light-hearted golfing title from the experts at T&E Soft, Swing Away Golf was one of the first sports titles announced for the PlayStation 2 and all...More at GameQuest Direct. com
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