From: ralph@sandia.uucp (Ralph Keyser)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Review of Pebble Beach Golf Links [SNES]
Keywords: Golf, SNES
Date: 27 Jan 93 00:29:18 GMT
Organization: Sandia Natl Labs, Div. 9224


 		      True Golf - Pebble Beach Golf Links
	
System: SNES
Developer: T&E Soft

SUMMARY
This is a good looking game with a very realistic feel and a
number of winning features. It's marred, however, by the clunky nature
of the graphics updates. The features are neat, however, and may
outweigh the problems for you.

GRAPHICS
The player's point of view is a window on the world from just behind the
animated golfer (pretty standard viewpoint for golf games). The right
portion of the screen contains an overhead view of the hole and indicator
windows to give wind info, ball lie, etc. A zoom to the green option is
also available to get a good look at the green. A number of options are
available such as a helicopter view of the hole before play and a shot-path
option that causes your ball to leave a trace of its flightpath in the sky.

This is a good looking game with a mix of shaded polygons for terrain
and bitmap images for trees, houses, etc. The 3D effect is noticeable
with rolling hills and plunging cliffs. Very realistic. For real
accuracy (in, oh, say putting) there is a wire-frame overlay that
provides a very good view of the slope of the terrain. This game does
the best job of presenting the wire-frame model in a usable form, and
you can set an option which will automatically show you the overlay
whenever you are on the green.

My big complaint with this game is that the graphics update rate is way
too slow. There is a noticeable pause while the machine brings up the next
view. When you change directions to aim your shot there is a pause between
each frame as you move left or right. When you hit a shot, the ball flys
along at a reasonable rate until it is about the leave the current view.
Then everything freezes, there is a pause, the new view comes up, and the
ball goes back to moving normally. This gives the game a really clunky feel
that detracts from the overall game.

GAME PLAY
Pebble Beach really shines in the game play department. It offers Stroke
play (for 2-4 players with handicaps), Match play (for 2), Tournament play,
Skins play (2-4 players with variable betting), and Practice mode. There
are no computer opponents except in the tournament mode which is a bit of
a drawback.

Shots are made with a series of pop-up windows that allow you to pick
direction, club, stance, shot power, and impact point. Each window allows
you to go on to the next one or back to the previous one, and the ball
impact selection is done very neatly in this game. The game displays a
large golf ball with a moving red dot. The dot follows a set pattern down
the ball and you push the button when the dot is where you want to hit the
ball. This gives you control over hook, slice, and spin. Cool! The rate at
which the dot (and the power meter) move is an option, although there are 
only two settings.

Each player gets a caddy who offers advice, moral support, and congrat-
ulations on good shots. This might get annoying after awhile, but it does
give you someone to complain about when they offer obvious advice.

The cart has a battery backup and allows you to save up to ten player names
and a big pile of stats. In addition, you can save a game in progress,
which I think is a big win. The game keeps a pile of statistics on each
player so you can find out what about your longest drive or what percentage
of your shots are birdies (or double bogeys).

SOUND
Golf games are not famous for sound. This one has a soundtrack that gets
old in a hurry, but if you turn it off you get a few chirping birds and the
sound of waves on the ocean holes. Along with the usual sound effects, the
sound on this game is fine.

OTHER
There is only one course for this cart, but it *is* Pebble Beach. The
terrain on this course is awesome! Yawning chasms, steep cliffs into the
ocean, and ocean breezes combine to make this a fun and challenging course.

The manual also gets good marks in my book. It is well written and contains
a complete course guide at the back with a little history about Pebble
Beach and a short description (with suggestions) for each hole on the
course.

In short, I liked this game a lot except for the long pause between screen
updates, and I found that *really* annoying. I recommend you borrow or
rent it before you buy.


---------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph Keyser    Albuquerque, NM  sandia!ralph@unmvax.cs.unm.edu