Tee Off Golf is a surprisingly satisfying sleeper hit golf game for the Dreamcast from the folks at Bottom Up. Although it does not have the realism of lets say, the "Tiger Woods" series, it still holds up pretty well without real life professional golfers. The cartoon-like characters and overly obscure body models seem to work quite well with its overall loose and subtle comical tone. Tee Off never takes itself too seriously. For example, the quirky comments after a hole in one or when simply hitting the ball vary from character to character. Not only are the characters physically distinct from one another, but also have vocal distinctions. Each character has a special tone of voice that matches the characters age, and possibly social status. For example, Randy, has a brute voice that reflects his muscular appearance, but also has a gentle softness that finishes smoothly with each word of dialogue.
The campaign allows the player to tour the world in five different locales: Japan, Australia, Africa, USA, and Scotland. Each course has a full eighteen hole set with plenty of opportunities for eagles, birdies, and hole-in-ones. The gameplay is very simple, which is a positive. Aim, hit the A button to place a set power percentage, then hit A again as close and as parallel as you can to match the accuracy bar. You can also spin the ball and choose different clubs, but the game defaults to a preferred club every time before a swing. Putting works the same way.
Aside from the tour mode, there's free mode, and more interesting the Gate ball mode. It is essentially a futuristic croquet. Multiplayer in Tee Off works quite well. You are not required to use four separate controllers to play four player split screen, you can actually use one controller for two different human players. The first try for a golf game on the Dreamcast is a worthy effort.
Character roster is large and has many unlockables including some hidden characters.
Log in to comment