The Sega Saturn was one of the most import-friendly consoles of the era. Ever since getting an Action Replay to plug into the expansion slot, my girlfriend and I have been steadily adding Japanese games to our Saturn collection. I wasn't expecting to find an import golf game for the system, but I stumbled across Masters: Haruka Naru Augusta 3 at a retro game store for dirt-cheap. After playing it, I can safely say that I wouldn't have paid full price for it if I had to.
As can be gleaned from the first word of the title, this game focuses on the Masters Tournament, one of the biggest annual events in pro golf which takes place at Augusta National Golf Club on the first week of April every year. Naturally, with that focus, I'm not surprised that Augusta is the only course represented on the disc. While normally I would be irritated that this is yet another golf game on CD that only has one course despite having plenty of room for more, I can somewhat forgive it as the game does much more with the setting than just letting you play on it. The video flybys do a wonderful job of highlighting the eighty-year-old course. There are multiple game modes including actually playing a full mock-up of the Masters Tournament, all four rounds. There's even a great bonus in the Challenge Mode with tasks you with trying to match or beat some records set at Augusta throughout its history. While I can't completely excuse having only one course on the disc, this one does give plenty of reasons to return.
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T&E Soft have provided their typical mechanics to another golf game, almost a carbon copy of the set-up for
Waialae Country Club on the Nintendo 64. There are two major differences, however. First is that, as was typical for CD-based games of the era, the game uses FMV for the players and caddies. The animation stutters heavily to the point of distraction during gameplay, and the canned caddie reactions are very cheesy. Fortunately, load times aren't as bad as they typically would be for an FMV-heavy game on the Saturn. The second mechanical difference is much more irritating. If you fail to lock in power before the meter reaches the top, you will automatically botch the shot, hitting for at most ten yards. In virtually all other golf games that use the three-click meter, failing to lock in power just resets the meter to start again. Trying to get maximum power is so frustrating because of this that it's really not worth it.
Graphically, the game is very polished, but more than a few cheats are used to get it that way. The low-res FMV characters clash significantly with the very detailed course. Textures disappear when adjusting aim only to reappear when stopped. Despite the course being rendered in polygons (except for the cardboard stand-up trees and spectators), there is no dynamic camera. When a shot's taken, it just cuts from the shot right to the landing area. The audio package is quite pleasant though it is disorienting to hear Japanese during the flybys and English from the caddies.
Masters: Haruka Naru Augusta 3 is a very average golf game. It does plenty right and plenty wrong in equal measure. While it does honor the tournament and course well, the gameplay has too many hiccups to stomach today. If you want another golf game on the Saturn and can find it dirt-cheap, you can get some enjoyment out of it. Otherwise, stick to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 for the best trip to the Masters.
