Pro 18 World Tour Golf (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.0 stars Mediocre
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 4.2 (2.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  T. McDonald
• Reviewed on: 07/27/1999
• Updated on: 05/02/2000
• Released on: 06/30/1999
• Originally published on GameSpot: Pro 18 World Tour Golf (PC) Review

Sure, you can play golf, but can you play golf standing on one leg while rubbing your head? Can you, big shot? Well, Psygnosis and Intelligent Games (no hubris in that name) want you to try. Their contribution to an already overstuffed field of golf sims offers just one new twist in the midst of blinding mediocrity. And that twist doesn't even work too well.

The intent was to create another swing interface to provide finer control over the swing. Pro 18 offers the now-standard three-click and mouse swing controls, but it also adds a four-click interface. It works much like a three-click swing, but with... an extra click. You click to begin the swing. The second click is at the top of the power meter to set the strength of the swing. The third click is at the bottom of the power meter to set the accuracy. But instead of just making your third click, you click and hold. The meter "arm" breaks into a joint, like an elbow. A second, crescent-moon-shaped meter is below the main power bar, and the second arm of the swing starts to move separately on this meter. You release (the fourth "click") at the midpoint to get a straight and true ball. Anything to the left or right is a hook or slice of varying degrees.

The idea has some merit in theory. Getting a closer approximation of the wrist snap and its interplay with the downswing must have looked good on paper and indeed may yet be worked into a new type of viable golf sim interface. Its implementation in Pro 18, however, just adds another needless layer of complexity with little payoff. It's a challenge to learn and master this new control, which is always welcome in the sometimes stale and repetitive world of computer golf, but the bang you get for the effort is small, and the four clicks are cumbersome. Besides, it's also redundant. Don't you already aim the ball separately from your fade or draw control? Doesn't the third click affect accuracy? When added to other shot design controls, such as stance, trajectory, clubface, and direction, the variables begin to get pretty deep and very difficult to track from shot to shot. Bizarrely, you can only turn this new interface off and select another if your golfer profile is set to amateur and not professional.

The mouse swing interface is even worse. It's one of the flat "sideways" dynamic swing controls, and besides being far too touchy, it's also based around a mysteriously unreadable power scale.

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