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PC | Sports | Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf

There is no Boxart for - Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf
  • GRAPHICS: 3.5
  • SOUND: 3.5
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.1

Review: Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf

Review by Daniel Morris | 01/01/2000 | 00:00:00 AM PST

action | adventure | fly / drive | roleplay | simulation | sports | strategy Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf Straight and simple By Daniel Morris If it's been a while since you've been down to the local arcade, you don't know what you've been missing. Golden Tee Golf has been one of the most popular coin-ops of the last few years (and deservedly so), an addicting golf game that features a trackball to simulate a real swinging motion.

If it's been a while since you've been down to the local arcade, you don't know what you've been missing. Golden Tee Golf has been one of the most popular coin-ops of the last few years (and deservedly so), an addicting golf game that features a trackball to simulate a real swinging motion.

Developer Incredible Technologies, already counting Golden Tee Golf as a giant success at the coin-op level, is now showing some guts by wading into a very crowded PC pond. They're hoping that their title's proven street name and arcade-flavored gameplay will help separate it from the increasingly muddled pack.

The biggest hurdle is that there's no trackball like at the arcade. Golden Tee Golf makes do with the TrackSwing, another coy trademark for the de rigueur mouseswing. When you first load the game, you take five calibration swings with your mouse, and then you're locked in. Time to play.

It's refreshing to see a golf title that doesn't pretend to be competing with Links LS '98 or Jack Nicklaus 5. Golden Tee Golf, like its fine coin-op parent, is a fairly mindless game. It's about fun. You step up to the ball and whack it. It goes straight or it doesn't. The challenge isn't so much about mastering "real" golf as it is mastering "Golden Tee" Golf, a somewhat looser and more flexible affair.

The PC version is, thankfully, not just an arcade port. The 3D graphics engine has been newly minted for the platform to better take advantage of detail and scenery. There is a nice, smooth flow to every screen and shot, though the game suffers when it tries to do things the other golf titles do brilliantly already. For example, the overhead view of the hole and the inset close-up camera of the ball landing are both useless. But they certainly don't detract from the game's entertaining rhythm.

Of course, Golden Tee Golf's biggest advantage-its arcade emphasis-is also its biggest weakness. The ball physics are dubious at best. Sometimes shots seem to pop straight up or skip along the ground when there's no discernible difference in the mouseswing motion you took. The ball has a tendency to take big, cartoonish hops off the fairway. Water hazards are a laughably common nuisance and they end up being like the traditional bosses at the end of every coin-op game's level. As tough as the hazards are, putting is really easy. I was sinking 45-footers routinely after just a few minutes of play.

But so what? The fine multiplayer options (hotseat, LAN, or online through Golden Tee Net, a free Internet matching service accessed from within the game) make Golden Tee Golf a ton of fun to play against other people. A very friendly and intuitive interface coupled with fast and simple gameplay make Golden Tee Golf a worthwhile addition to the shelves of PC golf fans who occasionally want a little dessert as opposed to the full meal that a Links LS '98 offers. Clever commentator voiceover and elegant graphics add to the kick. It won't win any industry awards, but priced at just $29.95, it should attract a lot of gamers.