It seems like nowadays games have to be completely in-your-face and full of explosions to be “worth playing.” Often times when a game comes out, a good, solid, fun game that doesn’t live up to this expectation of being extreme, it ends up getting overlooked. This, friends, is one of those games.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (for the Gamecube) isn’t the kind of game to draw a crowd, or start a party with. What it is is a very fun, easy to pick up and play game. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes when I’m in the mood to play a video game, I don’t want to think to hard. I don’t want to be attacked by the game; I just want to lounge around and passively do something. Maybe even put in one of my favorite CDs, find the comfiest pillow in the house, grab a root beer, and just hang around for a while. Mario Golf is the perfect game for this type of scenario.

I picked up the game the week it came out, months and months ago. I can’t say I’ve been addicted to it; I haven’t played it every day in attempt to unlock all the cool stuff (which you can do, if you want. It is there.), but I haven’t gotten sick of it. To me, the game has withstood the test of time. It’s a great boredom-killer, without being a test of patience and/or reflexes. Mario Golf is a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, or a sick day, or an “I can’t sleep” midnight.

So I’m not telling you to freak out and go buy the game as soon as you can, but if you see the game for cheap somewhere, it is most definitely a good one to have in your Gamecube library.

Not all games have to be extreme, to be great, you know.

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