GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Mediocre
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 05/26/1999
- Updated on: 05/02/2000
- Released on: 03/31/1999
- Originally published on GameSpot: Pro 18: World Tour Golf (PlayStation) Review
The makers of Pro 18: World Tour Golf trumpeted on their online site that they wanted to make a game that made players feel as if they were "watching a TV golf event."
Be careful what you wish for.
Thanks to its photo-realistic golf-course backdrops and video-filmed players, it is indeed like watching golf on TV. However, its flawed user interface and slow-paced yet challenging gameplay will bore frustrated gamers and prompt them to go channel-surfing instead.
What would make a golf game that unplayable? Well, don't blame it on the game's golf-course graphics. The game's makers used a complicated terrain-mapping system - along with tons of photography - to re-create three professional-level courses: Royal County Down in Ireland, The Lost City in South Africa, and the Coeur d'Alene in the United States. The results are remarkable - at first glance they look as if they were stolen from a TV feed. The golfers themselves were made from digitized video of eight actual pro players from the PGA and LPGA, such as Tom Lehman and Vijay Singh. The digitized golfers are a bit less convincing, since they "freeze" in their swing animation after a ball is hit. It just looks odd.
Although the game does offer an overhead view of a hole, there are no fly-bys or walkthroughs as in other golf games, so you must play a hole to learn it. There is an option to look ahead or around, however, but the computer must redraw each new view chosen, which slows down the game a bit - a sacrifice for better-looking backgrounds.
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