SimGolf

Game review

If you want to play golf today, you simply pick up your keys and drive to the nearest golf course. However, in this game, if you want to play golf, you must first build the playground. Your task is to lead a golf course, construct it, enhance it, and primarily play with your custom golfers. The better playground you wish to have, the more effort you must dedicate to the comfort and whims of your visitors. It's important to ensure a balanced difficulty of individual holes, maintain the terrain, and provide refreshments for visitors. Everything must work properly. 

SimGolf combines elements of SimCity and The Sims by allowing you to make crucial decisions that will either transform your golf course into a premier destination or reduce it to a fleeting curiosity. Managing each hole, handling memberships, and controlling costs are all part of the game. The Sims themselves may also challenge you to play the course, providing you with a bit of leisure and fun.

The game features a complete system that allows the player to build their own golf empire. Players begin with some money and choose a country to begin building the players' course. Once there, players begin by placing a teeing ground and a putting green for Hole One and are then allowed to go on adding or modifying what lies between: fairways, trees, rough, bunkers (or sand traps), landmarks, benches, paths, flowerbeds, terrain and just about anything players would normally see in a golf course. Players are advised not to waste money because if the budget stays in the red long enough, the game is over. If players design the course well, they can manage to build an entire 18-hole course while obtaining profits. Players can also populate their course with a variety of staff, such as groundskeepers who will pull out any unsightly weeds, greeters that will talk to customers, marshals to maintain pace of play, and drinks vendors to help golfers quench their thirst.

The game also enables the player to save their professional golfer and then play championships with him to earn some extra money to further embellish or expand the course. On the official website players can visit the exchange part and enter a huge archive of player-designed Championship courses for players to download and play. Further adding to its depth, golfers play in pairs and usually talk about their own interests. If players put the proper landmarks in the proper places, these stories may progress and have a happy ending, which also adds to players' course. There is also a 'sandbox' mode, which allows players to play the game with an infinite amount of money, so they can hone their designing skills.

SimGolf calculates the skill rating of your course. There are three skills all golfers either have or don't have: length, accuracy, and imagination. Length is the ability to hit the ball a long way, accuracy the ability to hit the ball straight, and imagination is the ability to "shape" shots the way you want to and put spin on the ball. The skill rating of a hole is determined by the average score of people with each skill compared to the average score of people without each skill. For example, if the average score of people with length is 4, and without length is 4.5, you have a length rating of 4.25. The skill rating of your hole is the rating in all three categories added together, and the skill rating of your course is the ratings of all your holes added together.

Besides the classical mode, there's a so-called Sandbox Mode, where the player can enjoy designing the craziest golf courses without worrying about money since it's infinite. As a player, you can export your sim-golfer from your game and play with them in a championship. It's worth noting that your golfer's abilities can improve with successful gameplay and even deteriorate.