Parent's Guide: Mario Golf: World Tour - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is Mario Golf: World Tour?

Mario Golf: World Tour is the latest instalment in the long-running Mario Golf series, which lets your children tee it up with their favourite characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, from good guy Mario and Princess Peach to series ne'er-do-wells Donkey Kong and Bowser. It's a pretty straightforward game, as all you need to do is putt your way to the hole at the end of each course, using some well timed button presses to determine your shot's power and accuracy as the meter charges. With wind and weather effects, as well as the sloping of the terrain to take into account when it comes to lining up your shots, there's still a fair amount to think of here, but for the most part, it's pretty accessible stuff, and far from realistic.

How do you play Mario Golf: World Tour?

Castle Club is the game's career mode, and lets you take your Mii avatar on a journey to golf stardom, as you work your way up the ranks at the exclusive Castle Club golf club. A little unusually, this mode asks you to play through (and win) each of the game's three 18-hole courses three times in a row, under slightly different game rules each time, before you can move on to the next. As you play, you'll earn coins and unlock new clothes, clubs and balls to buy in the Castle Club store, each of which subtly tweaks your Mii's skills to suit.

The second mode, simply titled Mario Golf, is where simpler, stand-alone games can be played - from one-off matches versus the computer or friends who also own the game, to online tournaments that change every few days. There's also a wealth of inventive, short challenges to complete, which range from collecting coins on a course, to putting your way through a number of rings, to whacking some pesky moles that have invaded a course through a well placed shot.

If you're planning on playing Mario Golf: World Tour in local multiplayer, it should be noted you'll each need a 3DS and a copy of the game each, as there's no support for 3DS Download Play.

How easy is Mario Golf: World Tour to pick up and play?

Generally speaking, as long as you understand the basics of golf, then Mario Golf: World Tour should be fairly easy to follow. The game gives you a brief tutorial when you first start it up, and the controls themselves are easy enough to get the hang of - all you need to do is point your shot in the right direction (you can even check where it's going to land, roughly, from the overhead view), and then set your shot power. Press A once to start the shot power bar charging, press it again when it reaches the level you want, and a third time when the meter reaches the bottom to take the shot - you do require pretty quick reactions for this, but it's not too tricky.

In general, the complexity of the game depends on the mode you're playing. In Mario Golf mode, things are much more relaxed, and there's plenty to see and do, with fun mini-games to complete - but the Castle Club mode is more complex, as it puts much more pressure on you to win the tournament, and you'll find yourself coming up against much tougher opponents, who always seem to be that little bit better than you. You'll need to beat them if you want to unlock the subsequent tournaments, too.

For the youngest of players, a basic reading ability would be a plus, but it's likely not required. While the tutorial does require some reading, it's pretty much the only part of the game that gives you anything vaguely complex to read - any other reading from there on in will simply be goals and objectives, like "Collect Star Coins while achieving par" or "Shoot through all the rings and complete holes in par".

Like most Mario games, Mario Golf is about as safe as you can get. There's no blood, sex or swearing in sight, and unless you object to the accidental explosion of a golf ball, no violence whatsoever either.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS