True Swing Golf

Nintendo golf gets all touchy-feely with True Swing.

True Swing Golf is portable Golden Tee--sans the trackball--with a trusty stylus at its stead. In fact, this game is all stylus--the core gameplay is based on a down and up movement to simulate a golf swing--, as the rest of this golf game is purely barebones. Nothing about True Swing is difficult, and, like most good DS games, where it succeeds is in its simple pick-up-and-play nature.

Fundamentals First
EA attempted similar quirkiness with Tiger Woods DS, but its rush to make launch resulted an outwardly unfinished product, and one at the lower end of the Tiger series spectrum. True Swing focuses on simplicity, as virtually anyone can play it with no more than a couple minutes of instruction.

Its simplicity is ultimately a two-way street. The inherent straightforwardness means lighting fast rounds and broad, casual allure, while certain golf fundamentals turn frustrating...and fast. For example, shot aiming requires only sliding the stylus in the desired direction from the top-down view of the touch screen. But the same aiming system is applied to putting, and its clumsiness and lack of precision just doesn't cut it.

Swing-a-Ding-Ding!
True Swing is built entirely around the swinging mechanic, which is surprisingly versatile. You'll pull down on the stylus to set distance, and then push it up to finish the swing. It also tracks how fast your entire swing motion is, which is quickly converted to club head speed in mph. This means you can drive the ball a heck of a lot further with a swift swing, though your accuracy will almost certainly dip. And, the point of impact on the ball also denotes a straight shot from a draw or fade, so hooking around those doglegs is a definite possibility.

In addition to the 2D touch screen (bottom screen), the top screen presents a nice 3D view of the course where the camera moves around the hole in reaction to stylus movement. The top screen is completely cosmetic and, in actuality, you'll more than likely have your eyes trained on the bottom screen the majority of the time. Even with its flaws, True Swing Golf can provide some quick fun, best suited for the casual golf-goer.

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