Nintendo Touch Golf: Birdie Challenge

Golf games, while often enjoyable, do not always translate brilliantly into games. Of course there are exceptions, Nintendo's own Mario Golf franchise being one such exemption, but they can be cumbersome and clunky. Aim your shot with the direction controls, tap buttons at precise moments to smack the ball in the best way possible...surely there must be a better way? Golf-specific controllers have appeared that allow you to actually take a swing at your TV which may help (both with your game and with your family's application to get you sectioned), but until Revolution turns up this isn't plausible on a Nintendo console. The next best thing, then, could be clever use of a certain control method that a certain handheld has: the DS' touch screen. More on that later, though...

Somewhat disconcertingly, there's no background at all, no plot to go off, little to no explanation about the nature of the championships you'll be partaking in. You're thrust right into the game, instructed to pick a character and to go and play golf. That's it. It all feels a bit empty, and the feeling isn't alleviated too much by the mode select screen. While clean, crisp, easy to navigate and fairly pleasant on the eye, it lays out a slightly worryingly lacklustre set of modes

 

Upon entering a mode, your first impression may be that the game looks quite impressive. Unfortunately, you are then likely to see your first character model and emit a nervous laugh

 

Like many of the best games, Nintendo Touch Golf is simple to pick up but difficult to master, and the stylus use paves the way for this immensely. A brief tutorial is available when you first play, but it really isn't necessary at all when the bulk of it is self-explanatory. On the overhead map, position the general direction you want to hit the ball with the stylus, choose your club by moving the cursor further or closer to your position (or by using the menu item to the side, or the d-pad

 

That said, wireless multiplayer is easily the best part of the game. A huge problem is that the game just lacks any kind of spark. Golf isn't the easiest thing to translate across with a lot of charisma, much less a serious golf game, but the combination of a selection of boring, plain characters to play as, as well as the the lack of opponents and the uninspiring music, leads to an experience that, while often fun due to the control scheme, doesn't feel compelling enough to sit and play for long periods of time. The addition of another, human opponent makes you realise what this game could've been, and a whole new dimension is added to it. This can be put down to one little feature: an advanced form of PictoChat. While your competitor is taking their swing, you have access to four small 'notepads' and some colours. You can write whatever you want on these notepads and send them to your opponent, where they will pop up on the screen in a nice fair-sized box. You can use this to encourage them, put them off their game, make them laugh, insult them