Maybe we need courses that look easy and play hard.
SID MEIER SIMGOLF PROFESSIONAL
However, from a broader perspective, maybe professional golf needs to see more courses that do the opposite of what SimGolf advocates. Apparently the key to success in the world of SimGolf is for the course to “look hard and play easy." In other words, the players should feel challenged by the various hazards and contours on each hole, but still be able to conquer the course in some kind of respectable score. The makers of the game did their best to point you in the right direction with course architecture advice. The holes the player builds are assigned into categories such as strategic or heroic, while there are also detailed course reports that assess whether each hole is posing the right questions to the virtual clientele. I’m no golf architecture nerd, but I know just enough to notice the game’s allusions to real-world course design terms. The game caters both to those who want to create Redan-style par 3s and imitate the most dramatic holes that Pebble Beach has to offer, as well as those who just want the fun of building a successful business and watching the cash flow in.Īpproaching the game as an adult for the first time, I’ve found that there is a surprising degree of depth to the architectural element of the game. The genius of the game, aside from the early 2000s isometric graphics, is its appeal to both hardcore golf fans and video game aficionados alike.
Golfers tell each other tales of UFO sightings during their rounds, while celebrity parodies such as Rosanne Bare and Mel Gifford may purchase homes on your golf course. The inhabitants speak a gibberish language (translated into English in the captions), and the whole game is infused with a quirky sense of humor.
Created by Firaxis and Maxis, along with the eponymous Meier, the game loosely inhabits the same universe as "The Sims" and "Sim City," and it bears some of the same hallmarks.