From: aa519@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scotty Meredith)
Subject: LINKS 386 Pro -REVIEW-
Reply-To: aa519@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scotty Meredith)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 23:58:51 GMT




I am writing this quick, so please excuse any typos.


	I Went to a local computer store yesterday to pick up my copy of
Links 386.  The store around the corner wanted $64, and the one 10 miles
away, only wanted $49.  I think the cost of gas was justified in making 
the trip.  When I picked up the box containing the 3 1/2 disks (no dual
packs, you either get 3 1/2 or 5 1/4) and took it to the counter, the
store manager got a big smile, and told me I made an Excelent choice.  I
already own Jack Nicklaus Signature Edition, and am an adict to it alread.
Even shot a 4-under par!  Anyhow, After paying, I brought the game home.

Opening the package, I find a Prodigy ad (where DONT you find a prodigy
ad)??  a Registration card, a small Access paper about future games, a
64 page players manual, and an envelope containing the 4 disks.  There
is also an offer to send in for either 5 1/4 or low density disks, should
the need arise.  One thing I found Unique, was a message on the envelope
telling you to send in the card, or register by phone!  Neat!  

Ok, on to the game...  Installation should have only took 10-15 minutes,
but I ran in to problems with the VESA drivers.  I have a Tandy 2500sx
w 3 megs.  My SVGA card is built in to the motherboard.  None of the
included drivers would work.  DONT PANIC!  (Sorry Infocom).  After digging
out my computers owners manual, and doing a little re-search, I found there
was a VESA driver on my MS-DOS disk.  I simply copied it to my LINKS386
directory, and presto!  NOTE:  There is an auto tester if your video card
does not work.   However, it is quite a long process.

After finally getting the game running, and brushing away a few handfull's
of hair, that I had pulled out in the process, It loaded.  WOW! The 
graphics really are as impressive as advertised in the mags.  I am not going
to go in to much detail about details posted earlier on the net, such as
ten shirt colors, female golfer etc... but I will tell about a few other
things I didnt see earlier.  Soundblaster (regular and PRO) as well as adlib
is supported.  Digitized sounds seem average.  The mentioned more sound
libraries are comming soon, along with other options like left-handed golfers
and golfers of other races.

LINKS 386 TIDBITS

- Pressing CTRL-ALT-S will capture the screen to an .iff file.  NOTE: I
have not tried this yet.

- Links 386 was not designed to run under windows, and doesnt according to
the manual.  Again, I have not tried this.

- It will not run on a 286

- You can turn down the graphics settings for increased speed redraws.  I
have a 20Mhz 386sx, and have no problem with screen redraws set to the max.
The manual estimates a 30 second redraw on a 16mhz SX, and a 1 second redraw
on a 486DX-50.  (must be nice).  The first whole takes the longest to draw,
because all the info comes from the hard drive, after that (memory permitting
) it stores the trees, houses etc... in ram, resulting in a much faster
redraw.

- There are no differences in strength between female and male golfers.

- There is not a lot of comments from female golfers.   Males talk alot.
Reason given, was to keep sound file small.  Promise more female comments
in the future.

- Golfer is not vissible during a revers angle.  They are working on the
problem.

OVerall, the game play is good.  I still Like Nicklaus, for reasons too
neumeris to mention here.  Links 386 is a good value, and is defanatly
worth the money.  MEMORY HELPS!!  the more, the better!!

If you have any further questions, E-mail me.  I will be happy to answer
them.


Scotty