Albatross18/Pangya made better by the Wii. A great golf sim if you can stand the cute anime-style characters.
Super Swing Golf is the Wii version of Albatross 18, an online golf game known as Pangya to the rest of the world, developed by a Koren game company. Albatross 18 is free to play (http://www.albatross18.com), though there are lots of clothing equipment upgrades in the game that improve your stats, and the best of these generally cost real money. IMO it's a really addictive game that's easy enough to play but can take a long time to master.
Anyway, Super Swing Golf is played entirely offline. This may put some people off, but the Wii is all about unique controls and getting real people to gather together and have fun. In that, I think SSG certainly succeeds.
The controls take some getting used to, but work really well. A basic turn consists of selecting your clubs and choosing what direction to aim. Then you enter shot mode, at which point you control the power meter by how far back you swing the controller. Once you pull the controller back far enough to the desired power, you hold the A button and swing through.
Compared to Wii Sports Golf, this game has a much better feel, in my opinion. Wii Sports Golf actually penalizes you for swinging through too far, which feels all sorts of wrong to me. I think part of the problem is that Wii Sports Golf focuses on the power and length of your swing, but the Wiimote motion sensing is just not accurate enough to measure the motions correctly. As a result, you end up making too many short swings and half swings in order to get the correct ball placement.
The difficulty in SSG is hitting a clean shot. The game detects the arc motion you swing with fairly well. If your swing hooks or slices, the ball with hook or slice as well (i.e. rather than going straight it will curve slightly to the left or right). If you make a relatively perfect swing (you get more leeway by improving your Control stat) your ball will go straight (assuming there's no wind), and you can optionally pull off some trick shots.
Strangely, some other reviews criticize this control scheme, but it's actually a lot like real golf. The only thing that may bother (real) golf purists is that you end up winding back and swinging in two completely separate motions. Other than that, I don't see what the problem is, other than it's not played like EA's Tiger Wood's Golf. Oh darn, something new. :)
Getting used to the swing motion to the point that you can hit clean shots (called Pangyas in the game) can take some practice, but it's possible. After about 4 hours into the game I could do it fairly well. Even if I missed Pangya, I would still be accurate enough to land the ball pretty close to where I wanted it. After 12-15 hours I have pretty much mastered the swing, and can hit Pangya shots almost on demand. In the last 18 holes I played I think I missed Pangya 4 times, with 2-3 shots per hole. Not trying to brag, just trying to point out that it's certainly possible to get the swing system down. In my opinion, it's not a flawed system at all, it just takes some practice.
It's definitely possible to do well without mastering hitting perfect pangya shots. Much like Albatross 18, you can do really well getting a perfect shot less then 40% of the time, but some of the experts will have ratios above 80%. The benefit of hitting a pangya is the trick shots, which are crazy fun when you hit them correctly. These are a lot like the trick shots in Mario Golf, where you could double tap A or B when you hit the ball to get it to roll forward or backward after landing. In SSG, you pick your shot before you hit, and then the effect goes off if you hit a pangya.
To be fair, I will add that my brother is having a slightly tougher time getting the swing down. He's played for about than 10 hours, and while he's had some streaks of good hits, he'll occasionally lose his rhythm and blow multiple shots in a row. Part of this can probably chalked up to frustration, just how it can effect you in any sport. Perhaps a case of the game being too realistic? In any case he's definitely getting more consistent, so practice makes perfect. It's definitely a lot easier to master the swing motion in SSG than in real golf. :)
Another complaint I've heard is the putting system. For better or for worse, it's exactly the same as in Albatross18/Pangya. I can see how it's not for everyone, but it seems to another instance where there's nothing wrong with it, it's just different from what a lot of people are used to. I actually prefer this system.
When putting, the slope of the green is represented by drawing a grid over the green, and then placing dots in each grid square indicating where the ball would roll to if the ball was dropped in the center. I've heard a lot of people (who never played Albatross before) have problems with it, but it's actually pretty mathematical, and any Albatross expert should have no problem sinking putts 20 yards away or more. It's certainly different from most golf games, but again, it's certainly something than can be mastered. From a design standpoint there's really nothing wrong with it, IMO.
Putting tip: For most putts you can try lining up the 4th dot from your character with the hole. Another general rule is that the ball will curve the distance of a horizontally sloped dot for approximately every 8-10 yards of distance.
Another complaint I recall reading is being unable to skip the computer's turn. While this is mostly true (in tournament mode you don't watch the computer play), it's not that big a deal in my opinion, and also adds some value to the game.
First of all, for anyone used to playing Albatross/Pangya, it's not like you could skip the other player's turns online (or in real life, for that matter). So for fans of the series, it's no big deal. Second, the computer doesn't spend much time thinking, so the pace is still pretty quick. And third, it's a lot of fun when it feels like you're playing someone, even though it's not a real person. The game becomes a competition to win, rather than feeling like you're just playing by yourself. And isn't that the point of most sports games anyway, to compete? And again, if you really want to play by yourself without watching the computer just enter tournament mode or practice mode and you won't have to see the computer hit.
The last complaint I'll address in this review is the difficultly. The computer will sometimes make amazing shots, landing mere yards from the hole, or chipping the ball in from 40 yards away. Other times (granted not very often) it will take some odd shots and land in the water or some other hazard.
In my opinion, the difficulty is not that bad. If you ever play Albatross/Pangya, you will quickly see people online who make the computer in SSG seem like a novice. Additionally, it's somewhat representive of professional golf. Let's face it, not many people can beat Tiger Woods. I certainly can't out drive him, and my chip shots aren't that amazing. In order to beat him, you pretty much have to play a good enough game to keep up until he makes a mistake.
I'm exaggerating a bit, as the computer is generally not so amazing that you can't beat it without playing a perfect game. However, there will certainly be some holes where the computer sinks a birdie when you're still trying to get on the green. These don't happen very often though, and it's just a fact of playing golf. Sometimes your opponent will have a really good hole, and there's not much you can do about it. You just have to be better on the other holes.
In terms of multiplayer, SSG is a blast. I think Nintendo has the right idea about getting people playing together in front of the same TV again. Sure, online gaming is fun too, but it doesn't quite provide the same experience.
There's lot of outfits and equipment to unlock, and the story mode is pretty fun, once you get the hang of playing the game. And unlike Albatross, you won't have to play additional fees to buy items. After 30+ hours of playing I have what would probably cost me more than $300 in Albatross items. And there's still a lot of stuff I need to unlock.
Summary:
IMO, Super Swing Golf is a great game, and it feels like a lot of the negative reviews so far just didn't give the game a chance. It certainly plays differently from other golf games and can take a while to master the swing motion, but there's not really anything wrong with that.
SSG is certainly not for everyone. People who don't like cute anime-style characters may not care for the design of this game. Likewise, the game is enough like Albatross 18/Pangya for the PC that if you didn't like those games you probably won't like this either. And of course if you hate golf games or are just hardcore Tiger Woods Golf this may not be for you. But anyone who has a light interest in golf games, anyone who wants a different Wii/golf experience, or especially anyone who likes Albatross 18, this game is definitely worth checking out.