We Love Golf! is the brave promise offered by a new addition to the Wii school of interactive playthings. As one might expect from a Nintendo title, this golf game is full of cartoony visuals and, like many Japanese-style games, pre-pubescents with unhealthy penchants for knee-high socks and miniskirts. I often wonder what would happen if the police glanced at any Wii owner's games collection - most likely the person in question would have to answer some very stringent questions - but dubious young girls aside, what does We Love Golf! offer over the more traditional stick and ball simulators out there?

Not a lot, actually. Initially there are only three courses (more are unlockable through the tournament mode), which is a massive disappointment; I would expect at least five to give the game some scope, especially as the quality of the courses is fairly poor. Each is based around a different theme - the short Skull Island course features pirate ships, smugglers' coves, treasure chests et al, a Candy land course comes complete with pineapple-chunk tunnels and ice-cream-cone-shaped greens, and the remaining course, Highland Leaf, is the most 'normal', being based on the classic Scottish style of stormy skies and long expanses of grass and hills. Whilst each course looks very different, the lack of any real challenges based on the theme of the course is a shame. I would have loved to be able to play on a pirate ship, or fish the ball out from a bunker filled with ice cream. Sadly though, the change of visual style is simply aesthetic rather than having any kind of bearing on the way the game is played.

Likewise, many of the hole designs are too similar and too bland to ever make any of them stand out. Despite the admittedly clever layout of each hole's bunkers and water hazards, they all seem to blur into each other in disco-mix style, resulting in a game that feels much longer than it -s, and not in a good way. There is never any reason to want to replay a particular hole - played one, played 'em all. There's a reasonable challenge, but not one that you might ever want to try again.

Even graphically, We Love Golf! does very little to wow you. The characters look adequate but there are none of the crazy costumes or silly flying things that add so much fun to similar golf games, like the excellent Albatross 18. Whilst not poor, the visuals hardly scream "Look at me! I'm next-gen!" , and while that is par for the course (excuse the pun) with many Wii titles, Nintendo's releases are without exception colourful, stylish and visually appealing. Much of We Love Golf! is bland; it's only the themed objects that sets the course apart. There's nothing particularly unattractive about We Love Golf!, but it's hardly jaw-dropping either.

The characters do at least add a little flair to the proceedings; each has unique emotions and voice styles, and they do little dances or sing when they win, or fall over and generally act hard done by when they lose. Characters can heckle each other in multiplayer and it's often hilarious to wait until just before a tense putt to shout 'Fore!' and watch your opponent miss by a mile, leaving you clear for victory. There are six characters in all, each with different statistics and dress sense, as well as the option to play as your own Mii, making the game fairly personalised, although the latter option must be unlocked for use in single player and some of the characters must be beaten in the Character Match mode (a single match against a particular character) to unlock them and their new costumes and clubs, which is no mean feat given the AI's tendency to trounce you at every opportunity! The lack of shop items seems a massive oversight though; there is no option to buy new clubs or clothes and although there are several different styles for each character, We Love Golf! lacks the depth of other sports games, which all seem to feature at least some kind of shop system.

Perhaps the best feature of WLG is its natural swing system, which uses the Wiimote as a mini-golf club; whilst not the simplest method I've ever encountered, it does make playing the game feel a little more like the real thing and not just a cheap imitation. However, this system could have used a little more testing; rather than being simple pick up and play goodness, I actually had to read the manual just to work out the overly-complicated display - there's no proper tutorial beyond practise holes and the screen is often cluttered with supererogatory information. In a true simulation this could be expected, but We Love Golf! is obviously an arcade game aimed at the new audience of casual gamers that the Wii has attracted, and this over-complication takes away the core essence of what arcade gaming is about: simplicity.

Playing a shot takes a fair bit of practice; you swing the Wiimote backwards to set the power, wait a while, then time the front swing to get maximum distance. Too quick on the front swing and the shot travels off course; too slow and the distance is reduced. It's not as intuitive as it sounds either, because you must wait a few seconds between finishing the backswing and starting the front swing, completely against the natural inclination to swing and hit at maximum speed, as is more the norm in other golf games. Spin control is achieved by holding the 1 or 2 button on the Wiimote, but the effect this has on the ball is negligible and its inclusion seems like an afterthought.

The whole effect of this control method is obscured somewhat by the amount of inane chatter. Before each shot the controller's speaker shouts "Point me down!" to remind you to point it down. During a shot it shouts encouragement and advice, and the character voices issue forth from the blasted thing like Hell's own fanfare. After ten minutes of this onslaught of tinny voices I had to search for a way to turn it off. Complications aside however, WLG's control system is pretty darn good and almost redeems the game. Once mastered you'll be making long drives and short putts with ease, curve shots are a doddle and the whole system gives a truly visceral feeling; each swing gives gratifying response.

Of course, all this control system malarkey would be pointless if all you did was hit a ball up and down a field. Alongside the obligatory Tournament mode there are a fair few extra game types, including the aforementioned Character Match, Stroke and Match play, as well as novelty modes like Ring Shot (hit the ball through numerous rings whilst trying to make par), Target Golf (aim for the most points on a giant dartboard) and a Near Pin Contest (no description needed, really!) The single player mode should offer enough of a challenge to keep you interested for a little while and, to its credit, We Love Golf! is actually quite enjoyable (besides the annoying chatter); I quickly found myself having a fair bit of fun with this game. When it comes to lasting appeal though, I could see none; after completing the (quite lengthy) tournament mode, the lack of depth and the uninteresting courses provides little incentive to keep playing.

Most modes are multiplayer compatible though, meaning that up to four players can hit the greens. However, this is where the overly complex controls really trip We Love Golf! up; rather than being able to simply invite people over and play a quick round of golf, it takes so long to explain the convoluted controls that, really, there's very little point. The addition of extra players changes little, as the game modes all revolve around who can master the controls quickest. The multiplayer is basically identical to the single player experience; there are no game modes unique to multiplayer - in fact, certain modes are unavailable in multiplayer! However, those who do bother with multiplayer will find that it is really quite fun! Four players means that there is an almost constant barrage of heckling, off-putting and showboating to keep the game's lifespan increased, although there is still not enough here to keep you coming back time and time again.

We Love Golf! serves as an acceptable Wii golf game. It's better than the Wii Sports version and it does offer a few hours of decent gameplay. However, the lack of courses, limited character choice and annoying audio does little to elevate it beyond a novelty game, and while the swing system, once mastered, provides an interesting way to play, it is something of an obstacle to overcome initially, after which the multiplayer captures the friendly rival nature of the Wii perfectly. Veterans of more traditional golf games like the Tiger Woods series probably won't discover any reason to stay with We Love Golf! for long, but as a Wii game it serves its purpose - cute characters, appeal to all ages and enough gameplay to keep players amused for at least a little while. It's just a shame that the complex controls and average presentation keep it nearer the bottom of the party game pile than the top.

Reviewed by John Barnes for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).