Pro 18 World Tour Golf

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Review: Pro 18 World Tour Golf

Games like Pro 18 World Tour Golf are pretenders, and its my job to relentlessly expose them as such. I play every golf game released for the computer, own every one released in the last three years, and review them all for this magazine. Pro 18 ranks right down there with the likes of Picture Perfect Golf as one of the limpest entries in this very competitive field.

Graphically, there is no comparison between this title and the front-runners of the market. The engine is sophomoric, looking worse than Links did two years ago. The fusion of rendered topography and digitized panoramic views features jagged edges, clipped sprites where trees should be, and foliage that looks more like an artists clutter than a scenic backdrop. Even the sky is unconvincing, with blobs of white for cloud cover.

The whole game has a sprites-moving-on-postcards look, which is always distracting. The nice selection of real-world pros, among them Tom Lehman, Laura Davies, Jesper Parnevik, and Mark OMeara, are wasted on this games crude visuals. The reverse-angle landing cams have long delays, making you wonder whether your ball is ever going to come down.

The games claim to fame is a four-click swing meter. The extra click is actually just the release of the third click, simulating the wrist snap that can be added to a swing to give the ball an extra shot off the club face. The effect of these four clicks is arguably more accurate in terms of real human dynamics, but its ultimately no more useful than any of the three-click meters of old. There is no mouse-swing, thankfully bucking the current vogue.

If theres a bright spot to be found within Pro 18, its that the four-click system presents a well-examined reproduction of a swing. It feels more controlled and has less of that approximation feel you typically get from a swing meter. Shaping shots, a feature that may appeal to more serious golfers, lets you craft spin and work lobs, affecting the balls flight and landing to let you roll balls backward.

While the ball physics and swing mechanics are acceptable, Pro 18 falls flat everywhere else. There are only three courses, located in Idaho, South Africa, and the UK. None are spectacular, and gamers will quickly tire of the limitations of the environments. The TV broadcast presentation of the World Sports Network features the BBCs Peter Alliss and some actor playing a commentator named Jim Nelson. (It will be hilarious to see which half-baked reviewers refer to Nelson as a genuine golf commentator, since hes passed off as real.) Their chatter is punctuated by mispronounced names (e.g., Laura Davis for Davies). The tournaments begin with aggravating pregame shows that are so generic as to be worthless, and they end with player interviews that are even more grating than their fluffy real-life corollaries.

In short, Links LS 1999 casts a shadow so wide and dark that Pro 18 World Tour cant even find a ray of light. Without the production values to compete, Pro 18 belongs in the clubhouse.-- Daniel Morris / GamePro