Golf is a game that can be easily simulated on the PC, sparing the player from having to buy a set of clubs and pay greens fees. EA's brand-new PGA Tour 96 is the latest sim to put the player on the golf course, using the same style of graphics and broadcast feel found in previous EA games of late. So what's really groundbreaking about EA's version? Well, nothing really, but what the designers of Tour 96 have done is make sure that what is included was done in a very solid, playable, attractive style. If you have Links or Microsoft Golf I'm really not sure if you'll want to run out and get Tour 96, but if you're in the market for a PC golf game, read on.
PGA Tour 96 uses the tried-and-true PC interface found on most other golf sims. Hitting the ball consists of timing the progress of a line as it travels around a semi-circle, called the swing meter, which represents the swing of the golfer. The player clicks the mouse to start the line up and around the meter, then clicks again at a point which determines the strength of the swing. The line then begins to travel back down towards a white bar at the bottom which represents the center of the ball. If the player clicks right on the white bar, then the golfer will hit the ball squarely in the center for a straight shot. This interface seems to be the standard, and it works very well. One thing I would have liked to see PGA Tour 96 do was to have the golfer actually swing as the bar went up and down the swing meter. The meter is partially wrapped around the golfer's body in 3D, but the golfer never moves until after the player clicks all of the swing information on the meter.
One new, nifty innovation that has been added to Tour 96 is something called the waggle bar. This is an option that represents how solidly the golfer hits the ball. Before the player starts to swing, the waggle bar moves back and forth at the bottom of the swing meter, and the player must click as close to the white line as possible in order to hit the ball in its "sweet spot." Clicking too early makes the golfer hit "fat," or behind the ball, while clicking too late hits the ball thin, or on top of the ball. This feature was a nice addition in as much that hitting the ball fat or thin is an actual part of golf, but I found using it is almost senseless since it was so easy to center the waggle bar on the white line every time. I was very glad I could turn it off, but I'm sure some golf purists will appreciate this feature.
Where PGA Tour 96 excels is the interface it uses for aiming the ball. The player can use the ordinary method of using the mouse to point on the screen where he wants to hit the ball, but it's often hard to judge distances or effectively see the relative position of hazards. In resolving this problem, Tour 96 allows the player to use an overhead view of the current hole to aim the shot. A map, which can be turned on and off, appears on the left of the screen, and all the player has to do is click on the map to aim a shot. It's a very easy and efficient way of getting the whole picture of the course.
Another neat feature in Tour 96 which helps the player get a feel of the distances on a course is the targeting arc. When you're aiming your shot, a yellow arc shows the target you're aiming at and the trajectory of your shot. If the trajectory runs into a tree or other obstacle, the arc will turn red at the point the ball will hit. The targeting arc is extremely helpful in lining up shots since you can't actually see in true 3D. In a PC golf sim, this arc is the next best thing to actually seeing in 3D.
All of the standard golf features like hooking, slicing, backspin and forward spin are included in Tour 96. The amount of spin put on the ball is represented in a "ball screen" which shows either the position of the club or the direction and velocity of spin on the ball. This interface is something that some folks will like and some folks won't. In games like Links, achieving spin and curve is accomplished by positioning your feet just right, moving the ball back and forth, and so on. In Tour 96, putting a backspin on the ball is accomplished by right clicking and moving the mouse backwards. Some players will no doubt want more detailed interaction with fine-tuning the shot, but some folks will find this interface very easy to work with because there aren't all of the physics and body positioning to deal with.
PGA Tour 96 has a distinctly broadcast feel to it. The players names and statistics are flashed on the screen in a style very reminiscent of a televised broadcast. Two extra windows, superimposed on the main game screen, show the game from different angles. One view shows the shot from an overhead view while the other window shows the area where the ball is landing. An option to watch a replay from either the golfer's point of view or from where the ball is landing has also been included. The only real drawback of these features is the view of the landing area, which shows where the ball is going to land immediately after you hit your shot. This means that all of the fun of anticipating where the ball is going to land is diminished since, even as the bill is hit, the window may show a sand trap or a green so you know automatically where the ball is headed. But this is an option, so if you don't like it, it can be turned off.
One of my favorite features of Tour 96 is that all of the major players from the PGA Tour are included to play as or against. And since digitized video is used for the golfer, when Tom Kite is teeing off, you see actual digitized video of Tom Kite himself. And to top it off, every now and then if a pro player makes an especially good or bad shot, there are appropriate actions that have been digitized. I only wish that there had been a variety of reaction shots used, since it seems that only one good reaction and one bad reaction have been filmed for each player.
Tour 96 includes several different playing modes, including practice, where you can tee off on any of the holes in the two courses; tournament play; skins play; and shoot-outs. Any of the pros can be added to any of your games but let me tell you, unless you get really good at this game, don't expect to be winning the tournament any time soon. The pros in Tour 96 hit shots like you wouldn't believe, but you expect it from these guys. The Skins mode can be especially frustrating because you're playing for money - the winner of each hole wins $10,000. But when Davis Love III has $70,000 and you don't have anything, you start to get the idea that golf isn't as easy as it looks, even on the PC.
PGA Tour 96 is an good product with all of the features that make a great golf game, with a few extras on top. I can say that it's probably the best-looking golf game I've ever seen, but whether it suits your tastes in the way it plays is difficult to say. If you don't like it, it will probably be because of style, not design. The game has been well designed with all of the same features of the king of golf sims, Links386, but the style in which it is done is a little different. You can still do all of the fancy stuff with the ball, but the method in which it is done is not as deep or sophisticated. I actually found myself missing the more involved stuff because I really wanted to get into the nuts and bolts of golfing instead of just telling the computer to "make it so." If you have a golf game that you really like then there's no reason to get PGA Tour 96. But if you're looking for a good looking, well designed, fun golf game without a lot of the intricacies, then Tour 96 just might be the golf sim you're looking for.
