Holy moly, a halfway decent disc golf video game?

Screenshot courtesy of ign.com

Being an avid disc golfer, casual gamer, and living in an area that doesn’t always offer the best climate for squeezing a round in, I’ve been pining for quite some time for a decent disc golf video game. There have been a smattering of offerings presented in the past, but none of them did much to impress. Probably the most well known game is the Innova Disc Golf game, published in 1999 by little known publisher Wizard Works (who put out the equally impressive Grand Slam Turkey Hunt). The most generous appraisals of the game were “pretty good for what it is,” while most reviewers summed it up as “crappy.”

After the Innova game, there wasn’t too much offered for disc golfers in the digital realm. There were a couple little flash based games, which Brian wrote about earlier, but again, it wasn’t anything to write home about (the designers didn’t even know the difference between an hyzer and an anhyzer).

We disc golfers had to sit idly by while we saw great games for traditional golf being released, like the ultra-realistic Tiger Woods franchise and the cartoony, yet undeniably fun Hot Shots Golf series. I know lots of disc golfers played these games, being the closest thing the market had to offer to a disc golf video game.

Then came the evolution of the Nintendo Wii. I, like many others, immediately saw the potential of the Wii for a disc golf game. The platform is perfect for it, as it is with many sports games. All we could do was hope and pray some game developer would see the same potential and make a game for us.

Earlier, Sega released Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz which had a disc golf mini game part of it. It was better than nothing, but it was, after all, just a mini game in a cast of dozens. Also released, for the Nintendo DS was Original Frisbee Disc Sports: Ultimate & Golf, packing two games in one, assumedly a double value. In reality though, it was just double suckitude.

So the track record for disc golf video games has been pretty dismal. It looks though, that developer THQ has brought a much needed breath of fresh air to the genre. In late June, they released Big Beach Sports, a casual party game for the Wii that features six “beach” games: volleyball, cricket, soccer, American football, bocce, and of course, disc golf. Now out of those, I only really consider volleyball to be a beach game, but what the hey. If you’re thinking “Well, that sounds nice and all, but I’d rather have a game solely dedicated to disc golf rather than having it just being part of a game,” that’s exactly how I feel. But, you have to take it as it comes.

There’s good news and bad news regarding this game. The bad news is that Gamespot, whose opinion I usually trust, gave Big Beach Sports a rating of 4.5 out of 10 which is “Poor.” The good news is that they say that “out of everything on offer in Big Beach Sports, disc golf is the most fun.” OK, so that’s not exactly a glowing review, and the game may fall short of my grand expectations, but its at least a step in the right direction. One feature that I like is that different kinds of shots are allowed, instead of the basic backhand hyzer/anhyzer options. By pressing the “1″ button, players can switch from backhand to forehand to overhand. Pretty cool. Still, the only options you have disc-wise are Driver, Midrange, and Putter. The general consensus is that while fun, it doesn’t offer enough depth to make it ultimately satisfying. This game may not be making me run out and buy a Wii just yet, but if I did own one, I’d definitely pick this up.

So we have a not so bad video game for disc golf now, but there’s still so much more that is possible. Fortunately, we do have something to look forward to in the foreseeable future. Reportedly, there is another game in the works for the Wii, which would be downloadable via WiiWare. Autonomous Productions, the developer, has been in contact with the PDGA and want to make an authentic recreation, complete with famous courses.

Also on the horizon, is a promising looking project for the PC, simply titled Disc Flight Sim. It’s still in progress, and there’s no downloadable beta version or anything, but there is definitely progress being made. The project has come a long way since I first viewed it, which was maybe a year ago. One aspect that I really like the looks of is that it looks like most if not all disc manufacturers will be represented, and the discs based on Blake Takkunen’s ever handy Joe’s Universal Flight Chart.

Yes, it seems good things have come to the disc golf video game genre, and even better things are to come. Being a long time PC gamer, I’m have my sights set closest on Disc Flight Sim, but if I see a truly good disc golf game for the Wii, by this bloody keyboard I swear I will go out and buy a system the moment I can.