T&E Soft, the company behind Nintendo's True Swing Golf has been making golf games since the early 90s. One of their first games was Pebble Beach Golf, a Japanese game that debuted for the Super Nintendo back in 1992. Swing Away Golf for the PS2 was also made by T&E (but released by EA). Needless to say, you would think they know something about golf games.

True Swing Golf is their latest golf game. What makes this game special and sets it apart from other golf games is the use of the stylus to swing a club. There’s no 'button meter' here to swing. Instead, you first view the top screen to aim your shot, then you click the swing button on the touch screen. You are then given a perspective of the ball from the top-down with your club addressing the ball. Using the stylus, you pull the club back and then push the club forward to strike the ball.

Your shot is determined by how well the clubface has hit the ball, the overall straightness of your swing and how fast the clubface was going when it strikes the ball. Sounds easy enough right? Well, like the real game of golf, True Swing can be pretty difficult, and that’s what I like about the game. The True Swing system really feels like you’re playing a game of golf – however the system is somewhat forgiving. When you strike the ball you see a line showing the path of your swing and how you’ve addressed the ball. Many times, it has looked like I’ve shanked the ball but it still goes right to it’s target. I understand that the object of the game is to make golf more accessible to everyone, but it almost seems too accessible. If you mishit the ball, you should see a 30 yard drive to the left instead of a 190 yard drive straight.

Graphically the game is nothing to write home about. The flyovers of the holes look pretty good and are well rendered in 3D. However actual gameplay shots are very pixellated and being back days of the PlayStation 1 or Saturn. I would expect more from a next gen handheld system. After a great shot, you are treated to a replay but you cannot save it or view it again after you’ve watched it.

The weather can change during a round and that’s pretty neat, although it does pose an additional challenge. When it rains, be sure to putt harder because the greens are much, much slower.

The sound in game could have been taken directly from one of those old console games I mentioned. You have the usual golf sounds, background music and clapping at the appropriate times. There’s no play by play to speak of here.

Starting the game can be frustrating – the game uses your original registration information in order to create your golfer. So if you still have your auto assigned Nintendo Username, you could be playing the game as 33uj3h5. That may have some Japanese translation, but I doubt it. Make sure you go into the DS system and change your user name in order to really enjoy the game. You can play as a left or right handed golfer which is very much appreciated.

For game options, you can get right into a stroke play game (by yourself), a match play game (against a computer opponent), a free round (where you can play a hole), or a championship. The championship is where you’ll spend most of your time as you’ll be winning money here which you can use to upgrade your golf gear (clothing and clubs). You’ll have to play in the championship to unlock other courses as well. One of my personal favorite modes, the Skins game, is unavailable in single player.

You can only play skins games against a multiplayer opponent who will actually betting his/her own money against you. Mutiplayer is done very well here, with one exception: there’s no wi-fi mode, it’s ad-hoc only, so in order to play you have to be within 30 feet of someone else with a DS. Unless you’re hanging out at the local McDonald’s or Subway, you’ll find this rather difficult.

There are over 15 courses to play in the game, and after you progress, you can mirror the courses as well, which is a nice touch. The game is often automatically saved for you and I really appreciate that you can save in the middle of a round, which should be a given for all golf games, but this is one of the few that you can do it in.