This is the bit where we talk about plus-fours and V-necked jumpers. And checked trousers. Steve Bradley gets all Sensible about golf...
Sensible Software are renowned for producing games with the odd `quirk' and this one has more than its fair share. Here are just a few of them. This won't take too long.
One particular hole, a par four on an island surrounded by water, can be reached in one stroke. If you don't quite reach the island and land in the drink, then naturally you're returned to just in front of the tee. If, however, you whack the blighter with a large wood and it rolls over the back of the green into the water (which it nearly always does), despite losing a shot, you still get to chip for a birdie.
On occasions, when you're quite clearly on the green, the little caddie in the computer only lets you have a pitching wedge. Other times, you can be resting by a tree (the ball can be resting, that is) yards off the green and it automatically gives you a putter.
The collision detection with trees is very odd. A ball rolls seemingly harmlessly under the branches of a shady tree, when lo, it comes to a halt at the sight of the first branch. And at times, when you've shot out of bounds, you think you're blasting away from the trees, only you still end up whacking branches and getting called "Out of bounds" by some chap with an American accent. Annoying.
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| Clearly, a run to the pin with no problems. But no, for there is a tree branch. | And that tree branch can lose you shots galore. Just a little 'quirk'. |
And on some holes, the computer players are virtually guaranteed to keep whacking the ball in an attempt to get over trees to the green or a choice part of the fairway, but will go out of bounds loads of times until they make that perfect shot.
The holes themselves. Some of them have more sand than fairway, others are ridiculously wet, littered with ponds. And you can hit the ball from in the water. Yes, sometimes it splashes near the bank, no water hazard is called and you get to thwack through the pond - making, admittedly, a tremendous splashing noise in the process.
And the little man actually got stuck in a tree once.
Phew! Now this might seem like Attack of the Monster Quirks from Hell, but before we go further, I have to hold my hand in the air and say: "I like Sensible Golf". It's a golf game quite unlike any other, and one which could have floundered badly.
Hopefully you played our neat, five-hole Bath Waters demo last month and you've got a reasonable idea of how the shebang works. For sinners who missed the sermon, it reads thus. You are a little man. A man who can choose the colour of his skin, hair, trousers and jersey. You have thirteen golf clubs and 25 courses to walk, each course being made up of 72 different holes, and the whole assortment is scattered liberally throughout with changes in graphical style for good measure.
The game itself? Well, it's far removed from PGA European Tour. There's no wind to worry about, just the problem of hitting the ball straight and true and to the pin.
It works like most other golf games - three button-clicks on a semi-circular bar with swing and hook - but here, if you want to gain the maximum yardage that can be squeezed out of the club you're using, you have to click the button at the very end of the bar, which basically means you're often better `going down' a club and giving yourself more leeway on the strike.
Sensible Golf is blessed with options; tournaments galore, multi-player, four difficulty levels for computer opponents, that type of thing. Good. We like this. But it's more a multi-player game than PGA, mainly because of the speedy pace at which it runs. You can rattle through eighteen holes with four human players in an hour and some.
Another reason for preferring to play with flesh-and-blood opponents is the blinding accuracy of the computer players, particularly on their second and third shots. It knocks the old confidence when they're banging the ball straight in to the hole from 140 yards.
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| Get the big wood out and whack it towards the tiny patch of fairway on the left of the sand pit. Then you're bound to chip it straight in. Honest. | Corks, you can even put your own names in and stuff. These people think of everything. Apart from good collision detection on the trees and sensible course design, of course. |
And putting can be a lottery. The greens are littered with directional arrows but the accuracy required when judging the shot and pinpointing the pace ruffles your feathers at times. A little more detail would be appreciated.
Don't expect realism from Sensible Golf - it's arcade fare, pure and simple, which is what makes it refreshingly different from the rest of the PGA wannabes. PGA Tour is the benchmark and Sensible sensibly decided to go for a whole new ball game which, despite its `quirks', is rather fun.
Sure, it rather pales when compared with their other games; it hasn't nearly the longevity of stalwarts like Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer, but it ain't as bad as some feared it would turn out. It's enormously pretty and even has the odd humorous touch - a sarcastic round of applause as you hack and miss.
No doubt the Sensible name will ensure Golf's success and thankfully they haven't rushed it out - it was originally pencilled for release last Christmas. It still isn't even nearly perfect, but I forgive its eccentricities because I thoroughly enjoy playing it. And that's what counts, right?
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| Hmmn. This par four is best overhit because if you go in the drink over the back, you still get to chip for a birdie. | Hrrummph. Stupid, eh? Where could they get all that sand from? And who put that pond there? Own up. | Daft fairway behind the tee scenario, here. Behind the tee. How bad do they think we are at this game? |
Price £29.99 Versions All Amigas System requirements 1 Mb Release date Out now
Graphics 8 out of 10
Overall verdict
81% |
