Swing Away Golf

Swing Away Golf, known in Japan as Golf Paradise (ゴルフパラダイス, Gorufuparadaisu), is a sports game developed by T&E Soft for the PlayStation 2. Borrowing its concept from Sony's Everybody's Golf), a sports game franchise, Swing Away Golf was shown as a launch title for the system at the PlayStation Festival in 2000[2] and released by Electronic Arts that same year.

Swing Away Golf
North American cover art
Developer(s)T&E Soft
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release
  • JP: March 23, 2000
  • NA: October 26, 2000[1]
  • EU: December 8, 2000
Genre(s)Sports (golf)
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The game borrows its elements from Everybody's Golf, another sports game. In comparison, There are numerous gameplay modes available to the player including a story mode and other single player and multiplayer settings that are pretty much on par with what players would expect from a golf game on a console. The game lets players pick from one of seven different character models to begin the career with. And instead of giving players a preset skill level for each of these characters, it allows players to determine their skill by distributing Skill Points for Distance, Accuracy, Control and Recovery.[3]

Development

In 1999, many third-party developers, including T&E Soft, joined Sony. Not only that but Sony showed how another winning characteristic that helped to launch it to the top of the console heap.[4] On February 8, 2000 T&E Soft announced a release postponement for the game. The game was announced as a PlayStation 2 launch title in Japan, and was scheduled for release on March 23, 2000 priced at 5,800 yen (around $54 US).[5][6] The game was later shown at the PlayStation Festival in 2000.[2] Before the game was released in Japan, Sony released the demo of the game via a shady source.[7]

On October 12, 2000, Electronic Arts promoted to advertise the game in the United States. The ad covered the span of two pages ad the left three/fourths of the spread pictures two golfers doing their business at a set of urinals with their golf bags on their backs. The smaller guy on the left has a large golf bag with a variety of clubs in it, while the bigger gentleman on the right has a very tiny bag with just a couple of clubs in it. The text on the upper left hand corner of the layout simply says, "Whoever has the most toys wins."[8] The game was released in the United States on October 26, 2000, the same date as the launch of the PlayStation 2.[1]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[9]

IGN member David Zdyrko praised the graphics as "beautiful" for a PS2 game. He stated it was "a lot like Hot Shots Golf with some cool improvements, as well as some minor downfalls." He also stated that it "might not be as great as Hot Shots Golf, but it's a phenomenal golf game nonetheless."[18] GameSpot's Frank Provo said that the Japanese import is "a game whose features and execution could barely be explained by a book, let alone by a review."[15] GameRevolution's G-Wok called the game "a fun little golfer whose attitude and extras keep the game from getting too dull." He did criticize the loading screens and stated that "some problems with minor slowdown and the lack of creative courses are a disappointment, but the game doesn't suffer too greatly."[14] Next Generation's Blake Fischer said, "If you want a middle-of-the-road game for your PS2 and you dig golf this might be worth a try, but you're probably better off waiting for Tiger Woods [PGA Tour] 2001."[19] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 27 out of 40.[11]

References
  1. IGN staff (October 23, 2000). "Swing Away Ships". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  2. Horst, Timothy (February 18, 2000). "PS Festival 2000: Golf Paradise". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  3. Electronic Arts (2000) Swing Away Golf Manual
  4. IGN staff (September 13, 1999). "Sony's Got Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  5. Zdyrko, David (February 8, 2000). "Bad News for Golf Fans". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  6. Zdyrko, David (February 14, 2000). "Golf Paradise: Official Date". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  7. Nix, Marc (March 22, 2000). "Demo Repo". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  8. IGN staff (October 12, 2000). "PS2 Ads: Swing Away Golf". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  9. "Swing Away Golf for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
  10. House, Matthew. "Swing Away Golf - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  11. "ゴルフパラダイス [PS2]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  12. Anderson, Paul (November 2000). "Swing Away Golf". Game Informer. No. 91. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on August 24, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  13. Kilo Watt (October 25, 2000). "Swing Away Golf Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 13, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  14. G-Wok (December 2000). "Swing Away Golf Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  15. Provo, Frank (April 14, 2000). "Swing Away Golf Review [Japan Import] [date mislabeled as "October 26, 2000"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive.
  16. Sparkes, Ralph (November 27, 2000). "Swing Away Golf". SportPlanet. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 12, 2005. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  17. Da bomb mom (February 13, 2001). "Swing Away Golf". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 8, 2005. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  18. Zdyrko, David (October 23, 2000). "Swing Away Golf". IGN. Ziff Davis.
  19. Fischer, Blake (November 2000). "Swing Away Golf". Next Generation. No. 71. Imagine Media. p. 117. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  20. "Swing Away Golf". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 38. Ziff Davis. November 2000.
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