There are two things about me that everyone knows: I love to write and I love video games. They go hand in hand like PB and J for me. I first started writing video game, music, and movie reviews on a site called Planet42 that has since lost it's way. In any event, for a moment I am back in the review game (weak pun intended).
The World Golf Tour put together a pretty fine free online golf game for anyone to play. The learning curve isn't steep at all, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to master it on your first try, much like the game of golf in real life.
One of the best features of the game is the fact that you can create your own profile and it will track how you improve, giving you trophies and bragging rights over your friends. You can play as often as you like and still have the chance to enter into tournaments and have an opportunity to win cash and prizes. Doesn't really get much better than that, right? Wrong. Did I mention you can customize your player and even upload your own picture?
The graphics are the most realistic I have seen for just about any sports game. Period. The first time I loaded the game it took a minute for everything to load and be smooth but after that it was smooth sailing, even when I came back to it hours later. It's 100% browser based, and I was happy to see I could run it in Firefox without any issues at all. I have no idea how they got the game to be so realistic, but it's a fine blend of real pictures and graphics. It's quite amazing. Even if you don't like golf at all its impressive nonetheless.
The gameplay is solid as well. Right now there are two courses, where you get one swing to see how close to the pin you can get, and based on how close you get you are awarded points. Swinging isn't hard at all, but the accuracy is where the challenge really lies. Much like in Madden when you are kicking field goals, once it gets to the optimal point you mouse click. Depending how close you get to the point on the meter you want to hit, you can either hit it dead on or shank it, and trust me, I know all about the latter. When you hit it dead on it gives you a sound up pops up PERFECT!, but that doesn't mean it will land in the cup. You still need to take wind into account as well as the pitch of the green.
I can't count how many games I played, but I definitely improved the more I played. Like I said before, the learning curve is not steep at all, and the on screen instructions when you first start are all you need to get going and get into the swing of things (better pun this time). Before I knew it I was hitting it onto the green 7 out of the 9 holes consistently. One time I even hit it and it hit the pin, only to bounce back. My goal is to hit 9 out of 9 and see if I can get it to go into the cup. Remember, you get one shot to get it in there and there is no putting
I am looking forward to seeing where this game is headed. I am sure they will add more courses, more challenges, and even potentially a full game where you can play 18 holes from the first tee to the final hole. The World Golf Tour has a winner here and we all win by getting a free game out of it. Can't beat that.
