.com
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The popular coin-op arcade game comes to the PC. You can play
with others on the Internet, matching your skills to those with
similar abilities.
Review
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That Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf is a huge arcade and bar
hit proves one thing: Drunks are pretty forgiving about what
they'll pay 50 cents to play. Ranked as one of the most-played
coin-op games for almost two years running, it has finally made
its way to the PC, only to land amid a cutthroat and crowded
field of entrenched PC golf franchises. Several of the coin-op
original's strengths have translated well to the PC, but there
simply isn't enough to carry the game when your competition is
EA, Access, Microsoft, and Accolade.
The first impression of Golden Tee Golf is of a game that feels
and plays pretty well. Its main appeal is a superb control
implementation. Like most recent golf sims, Golden Tee Golf
offers a dynamic mouse swing interface, dubbed Trackswing. In the
coin-op version, this is done with a trackball. Here, it's done
by pushing your mouse at variable speeds and angles to finesse
the ball the proper distance and direction. There is no
three-click or two-click powerbar offered at all, but the
Trackswing is so well done you don't miss it. It's one of the
best mouse swings we've seen, giving you a real feel for just how
the ball is going to fly. By stepping the difficulty up through
five levels, the control becomes gradually more challenging, and
accuracy becomes more crucial. Ball physics and weather modeling
are here in rather simplified forms and won't necessarily
convince hard-core golfers.
This superb control is the heart of the game, but unfortunately
little else about Golden Tee Golf measures up, starting with the
visuals. The courses are all very colorful, maybe a little too
colorful. Resolutions up to 1024x768 are supported, and redraw
rates are very fast. Several cameras can be onscreen without
really slowing things down. From the tee, everything looks pretty
sharp, but once you're out on the course it all comes apart. Get
close (like within 15 feet) to any piece of scenery, and it
pixelizes like a mother. I'm not talking slight pixelization; I'm
talking big ol' fist-sized pixels that you can count. After Links
LS 1999, it's a harsh throwback.
The feature set is also pretty lean. For starters, you can only
play as Peter Jacobsen. Though Peter changes shirts and has a few
comical gestures, he's missing a few dozen frames of animation,
making him look like a bad flip book whenever he moves. There are
no AI golfers whatsoever, and the only way to play someone else
to is find a prerecorded game on the Net or make one yourself.
There are only two modes of play (skins and stroke) and three
courses. Fortunately, Internet play via Golden Tee Net is
smoothly integrated. Combined with the fast redraws, this makes
online play fairly strong. Of course, everyone you play will look
just like you (or just like Peter) since there is only one
animated golfer. A live chat feature has been implemented that
allows you to simply hold down the Control key and talk into a
microphone during head-to-head games.
There's no doubt that Golden Tee Golf will appeal to gamers
looking for a more casual approach to the game. Its swing
interface is smooth and fun to use. Hit a ball into the woods or
try to play against someone else, however, and you'll start
running into its limitations. Incredible Technologies has laid a
foundation for an entry into the PC market if it wants to
continue to tweak and enhance this game. While it falls short of
the mark in several areas, a more full-featured, technically
competitive version of Golden Tee Golf could earn a place
alongside the best of the field. --T. Liam McDonald
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review