NES Open Tournament Golf

When you load up a title from gaming's early days, you naturally assume that it'll be more straightforward than its modern day counterparts.

NES Open Tournament Golf belongs to simpler times, but it's anything but simple.

The leniency of a modern Tiger Woods or the presentational panache of an Everybody's Golf are sorely (though understandably) absent from this Virtual Console downloadable.

Making a meal of three courses

The game gets pretty raw with you immediately: there's no in-depth tutorial to be found, and the opponents you'll face are tough from the outset.

Even Luigi (the title's least able character) is handy with a nine iron. However, if you've got a good working knowledge of golf games - or after you've gone a few rounds on the USA, Japan, and UK courses - you'll get into the swing of things.

NES Open Tournament Golf isn't much of a looker. There are few frames of animation to be found in the third-person view as you take your shot, and though the overhead map for scoping out what's ahead is clear it isn't particularly detailed.

There isn't much of the Mushroom Kingdom to see, either - just the occasional Toad indicating your ball lying out of bounds, or Princess Peach making a cameo.

However, the main issue with the presentation is that there's no clear indication of where your ball is headed for. Where a Tiger Woods might have a long-tailed arrow pointing to where the shot will land, here only a small crosshair gives you a general idea. That means relying on a lot of guesswork.

Under par

Since golf is a sport that requires precision, this adds to the already brisk challenge. Combined with a shot meter that's exceptionally fast (even when you decide to take a slow swing), you sometimes feel that you're engaged in damage control.

And while golf is meant to be relaxing, the pace at which you move through menus can be quite frustrating. You need to aim your shot, select a club, choose where you'll strike the ball, define your swing speed, and then there's a viewpoint change before you finally get to take the shot itself.

These steps give you a wealth of options, but going through them every time you take a swing is tiresome.

Fundamentally, NES Open Tournament Golf plays much like every golf game you've ever played, but the refinements that the genre has undergone are sorely lacking. It's still a decent purchase for a round or two if you're strapped for cash but - unlike many Virtual Console releases of late - it's very much showing its age.

NES Open Tournament Golf

With few of the gameplay refinements to be found in current golf games, NES Open Tournament Golf is about as welcoming as a real golf club
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Peter Willington
Peter Willington
Die hard Suda 51 fan and professed Cherry Coke addict, freelancer Peter Willington was initially set for a career in showbiz, training for half a decade to walk the boards. Realising that there's no money in acting, he decided instead to make his fortune in writing about video games. Peter never learns from his mistakes.