Cutie Cupcake

I’m only giving this 2 stars because I do enjoy playing the basic courses against my sister, there is no problem there (although there are definitely not enough courses, and they have pretty boring layouts, more on that in a second). The biggest issue with this game is that Nintendo really thought we wanted to run around and race each other and destroy each other’s shots rather than play a fair and relaxing game of golf. I thought the racing aspect was an optional thing to do, like a battle mode, but while playing the adventure mode of this game, the racing is completely mandatory (and much more important than actually getting a good score). The challenges in adventure mode are centered around speed golf, which is just who can get to each hole the fastest and get a decent enough score. Speaking of which, all the courses are designed in a way that you can physically run around to each hole. Which means that they’re all pretty boring without any neat water features or layouts that presented much interest. Most holes feel identical to the last. This being Mario, I feel like they could have made creative and fun courses, like in the clouds and going down pipes, anything other than a basic stretch of grass. There was another challenge in adventure mode that I found particularly frustrating and awful, although I forget exactly what it was called. It involved traveling to each hole throughout an entire course in a certain amount of shots. I failed this around 3 times, because on the map it is unclear which holes are uphill or downhill unless you’re right next to them. It was completely irrelevant to golf. I think the mechanics are fine, although I wish your special shot didn’t harm the other player’s shot. And one last note for adventure mode, you never participate in a tournament playing normal actual golf just trying to do your best by getting a good score. In fact, there is no tournament at all. Huge let down, I thought that was the point. Instead you have a frustrating battle against a snowman, which once again is not golf. I think it’s fine to incorporate non-golf elements, like the game “Golf Story” did. That game was actually fun. I highly recommend buying that instead.