British Open Championship Golf
Encyclopedia
British Open Championship Golf is a 1997 sports video game
developed and published by Looking Glass Technologies
. A simulation of The Open Championship
, it allows the player to engage in multiple forms of golf
, including stroke play
and fourball
. The player competes at reproductions of the Royal Troon Golf Club
and the Old Course at St. Andrews
as and against famous golfers of the time. Announcer commentary is provided by actor Michael Bradshaw
and Wide World of Sports host Jim McKay
.
British Open Championship Golf was the third self-published game released by Looking Glass Technologies. It was directed by Rex Bradford, designer of the early golf title Mean 18
. The team sought to create an accurate simulation of tournament golf play, which they felt was missing in the genre. To achieve this goal, they focused on recreating the atmosphere of a tournament, and included reactive crowds and announcers. The game was placed in competition with popular golf series such as Links and PGA Tour
.
The game was a major commercial failure, and Looking Glass ceased its self-publishing operations after its release. Despite this, it was generally well reviewed by critics, who praised Jim McKay's commentary and the game's graphics and atmosphere. Criticism was leveled against its lack of multiplayer or course creation functionality, and some reviewers found fault with its brevity.
(3D) video game that simulates golf
, a sport in which players attempt to hit a ball into a hole with as few strokes as possible. In particular, the game is based on The Open Championship
, the oldest tournament in golf. The player may compete as a pre- or self-created
amateur golfer or as one of eight celebrity athletes, including Sandy Lyle
, Vijay Singh
and Ian Baker-Finch
. Three modes of play—Practice, Match and Tournament—are available. Practice and Match are non-binding preparatory modes: the former allows the player to practice each hole of a course, and the latter engages the player in a pre-tournament match of stroke play
, match play
or fourball
. In the Tournament mode, the player competes in The Open Championship, which consists of four 18-hole matches.
Before making a shot, the player may select a club and adjust the general direction of the swing. As with other golf games, a "swing meter" is used to simulate the act of swinging the club. The player clicks three times: first to initiate the backswing, which causes a timing indicator to move along the meter; second to begin the downswing; and third to "snap" the shot, which determines accuracy. Changes in the timing of these clicks alter the shot. A red section on the far end of the swing meter represents overswinging, which negatively affects shots. The crowd reacts to the player's shots, and Tournament mode features announcer commentary that analyzes the match overall; it can frame the player's current performance in the light of past shots.
The player may choose one of two courses: the Royal Troon Golf Club
and the Old Course at St. Andrews
. The player's caddie provides information about the pitfalls and idiosyncrasies of each course. The game simulates the strong wind and weather typical of the courses' real-world counterparts, which lie near the seaside. The player may adjust environmental aspects such as weather, wind speed and the wetness of the soil. During a match, the player uses information on the heads-up display to determine such factors as wind speed and direction, the ball's distance from the flag and the height difference between the ball and the hole.
Looking Glass Technologies
began developing British Open Championship Golf in 1995. The project was led by Rex Bradford, designer of the influential 1986 golf title Mean 18
. He had also worked on earlier Looking Glass games, such as Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
. Bradford decided to revisit the golf genre because he felt that other games did not recreate the structure or capture the atmosphere of golf tournaments; he complained that golf titles took place on "The Lonely Planet of Golf". The team sought to fill this perceived void by more accurately simulating the tournament experience, with a particular focus on crowds, commentary, atmosphere and the caddie. Bradford believed that these elements recreated "the television-style ambiance of being in that moment." Graphically, a focus was placed on buildings and animated objects, in order to make up for the less spectacular nature of links courses
. The game's environments were generated with the same stereophotogrammetry techniques used to create the landscapes in the company's earlier Flight Unlimited
. The team's reproduction of the Old Course at St. Andrews was the first ever authorized for a video game.
Looking Glass officially announced British Open Championship Golf on July 18, 1996. Coinciding with this news, the company launched a website to cover The Open Championship
of 1996; it detailed both current events and the history of the tournament and its courses. According to Bradford, the company was "hoping to make a splash" with the game, which was placed in competition with popular series such as Links and PGA Tour
. He noted the quality of these titles, and stated that, had the team not been trying to innovate, they would not have attempted to compete in the genre. Looking Glass revealed in November 1996 that Jim McKay
, host of the Wide World of Sports, would provide color commentary
for the game. Actor Michael Bradshaw
was hired as the play-by-play announcer
. The pair recorded more than 5,000 lines of dialogue in total. In January 1997, Looking Glass and Eidos Interactive
announced a four-year partnership. As a result, British Open Championship Golf was distributed and marketed in North America and published in Europe by Eidos. However, like Flight Unlimited and Terra Nova, the game was self-published in North America by Looking Glass. In March 1997, near the end of the game's development, part of the team moved to Thief: The Dark Project
; this included Mark Lizotte, who became that game's lead artist. British Open Championship Golf was released on April 30, 1997. That May, Looking Glass collaborated with golf website GolfWeb to host a "Virtual British Open" tournament. Players competed in the game to win a trip to The Open Championship in Scotland, complete with "air fare, hotel accommodations and spending money."
. Writing for Maximum PC
, T. Liam McDonald called the game "a costly bomb that bled the company." Looking Glass employee Tim Stellmach later characterized it as "a disaster". However, it was generally well received by critics. A reviewer for Next Generation Magazine
hailed it as "one of the best golf games in years", praising the atmosphere and calling the graphics "among the best ... around." The writer cited the game's lack of a course editor as its main downside, and summarized, "If you are looking for a golf simulation, this one delivers." PC Magazine
s Shane Mooney cited it as the best of eight golf titles reviewed in the magazine's September 1997 issue—a group that included Jack Nicklaus 4
, Links LS 1998 and PGA Tour Pro. He highlighted its "outstanding graphics" and detailed course reproductions, and noted that it "[immerses] players in a realistic tournament atmosphere." The writer considered the inclusion of only two courses to be the game's "one major drawback".
Jeff Guinn of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
called its graphics "exceptional", and considered the game to be "far from the traditional aim/swing links pseudo-challenge." However, he found the game extremely difficult, thanks to its faithful reproductions of the challenging Old Course and Royal Troon. As a result, he considered the game to be ultimately "too much of a good thing." A writer for the Telegraph-Herald praised its courses, and stated that its gameplay was a "state-of-the-art simulation". The reviewer believed that the tournament atmosphere had been "re-created faithfully." Gary Whitta
of PC Gamer US praised the game's graphics and atmosphere. While he liked its gameplay, he noted that it lacked the genre refinements seen in Links LS, a decision he believed would appeal to genre novices but not to veterans. He disliked Michael Bradshaw's commentary, but praised Jim McKay's for "adding much to the overall feel." Ending his review, Whitta summarized it as "one of the most user-friendly, accessible, atmospheric and attractive golf games out there".
Peter Smith of Computer Games Magazine
found the game's swinging mechanics challenging, and noted that "making a dead-on accurate shot much more difficult than in any of the other golf games out there." He found the mechanics of the putting green to be badly designed, which he cited as "an incredibly serious flaw that takes British Open Championship Golf out of contention for the gold cup." Ultimately, he recommended Links LS and Jack Nicklaus 4 over the game, but suggested that future installments or patches might fix the issues. Computer Gaming World
s Scott A. May wrote that "the game is solid, but ... somewhat unspectacular" compared to Jack Nicklaus 4 and Links LS. He stated that the links courses gave the game "a somewhat desolate look and feel", and that, "Historic or not, the scenery is downright dull". The reviewer considered Jim McKay's commentary and the simulated physics to be the game's high points, and he believed that, "More so than any other golf sim, the reactive crowd and interactive caddie are ... totally integrated into play." He summarized the game as "a very good simulation" that was somewhat deflated by its lack of multiplayer, course editing and match replays.
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
developed and published by Looking Glass Technologies
Looking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios was a computer game development company during the 1990s.The company originally formed as Looking Glass Technologies, when Blue Sky Productions and Lerner Research merged....
. A simulation of The Open Championship
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
, it allows the player to engage in multiple forms of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, including stroke play
Stroke play
Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf. It involves counting the total number of strokes taken on each hole during a given round, or series of rounds...
and fourball
Fourball
A Fourball match is a type of golf match used in match play competitions.A fourball match consists of two teams of two players competing directly against each other. All four golfers play their own ball throughout the round, and each hole is won by the team whose member has the lowest score...
. The player competes at reproductions of the Royal Troon Golf Club
Royal Troon Golf Club
Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course located in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The club was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. Its Old Course is now one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour...
and the Old Course at St. Andrews
Old Course at St Andrews
The Old Course at St Andrews is the oldest golf course in the world. The Old Course is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament...
as and against famous golfers of the time. Announcer commentary is provided by actor Michael Bradshaw
Michael Bradshaw
Michael Bradshaw was an English/Canadian actor.- Early life in England :Born in Plumstead, London, he grew up Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire to the north west of London...
and Wide World of Sports host Jim McKay
Jim McKay
James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....
.
British Open Championship Golf was the third self-published game released by Looking Glass Technologies. It was directed by Rex Bradford, designer of the early golf title Mean 18
Mean 18
Mean 18 is the name of a series of computer golf games released by Accolade in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is also the name of the first game in the series. In the early 1990s, the series was phased out by Accolade's Jack Nicklaus series of golf games, which arrived in 1990...
. The team sought to create an accurate simulation of tournament golf play, which they felt was missing in the genre. To achieve this goal, they focused on recreating the atmosphere of a tournament, and included reactive crowds and announcers. The game was placed in competition with popular golf series such as Links and PGA Tour
PGA Tour series
PGA Tour is the collective name of a series of golf video games published by Electronic Arts and later their EA Sports sub-label from 1990 to 1998, when EA began publishing their golf games with the endorsement of Tiger Woods...
.
The game was a major commercial failure, and Looking Glass ceased its self-publishing operations after its release. Despite this, it was generally well reviewed by critics, who praised Jim McKay's commentary and the game's graphics and atmosphere. Criticism was leveled against its lack of multiplayer or course creation functionality, and some reviewers found fault with its brevity.
Gameplay
British Open Championship Golf is a three-dimensional3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
(3D) video game that simulates golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, a sport in which players attempt to hit a ball into a hole with as few strokes as possible. In particular, the game is based on The Open Championship
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
, the oldest tournament in golf. The player may compete as a pre- or self-created
Character creation
Character creation is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a largely fictional setting may include traits such as race and class...
amateur golfer or as one of eight celebrity athletes, including Sandy Lyle
Sandy Lyle
Alexander Walter Barr "Sandy" Lyle, MBE is a Scottish professional golfer. Lyle has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s...
, Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh, CF , nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer who was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008...
and Ian Baker-Finch
Ian Baker-Finch
Ian Michael Baker-Finch is an Australian professional golfer, who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1991.-Early years:...
. Three modes of play—Practice, Match and Tournament—are available. Practice and Match are non-binding preparatory modes: the former allows the player to practice each hole of a course, and the latter engages the player in a pre-tournament match of stroke play
Stroke play
Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf. It involves counting the total number of strokes taken on each hole during a given round, or series of rounds...
, match play
Match play
Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; this is as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes...
or fourball
Fourball
A Fourball match is a type of golf match used in match play competitions.A fourball match consists of two teams of two players competing directly against each other. All four golfers play their own ball throughout the round, and each hole is won by the team whose member has the lowest score...
. In the Tournament mode, the player competes in The Open Championship, which consists of four 18-hole matches.
Before making a shot, the player may select a club and adjust the general direction of the swing. As with other golf games, a "swing meter" is used to simulate the act of swinging the club. The player clicks three times: first to initiate the backswing, which causes a timing indicator to move along the meter; second to begin the downswing; and third to "snap" the shot, which determines accuracy. Changes in the timing of these clicks alter the shot. A red section on the far end of the swing meter represents overswinging, which negatively affects shots. The crowd reacts to the player's shots, and Tournament mode features announcer commentary that analyzes the match overall; it can frame the player's current performance in the light of past shots.
The player may choose one of two courses: the Royal Troon Golf Club
Royal Troon Golf Club
Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course located in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The club was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. Its Old Course is now one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour...
and the Old Course at St. Andrews
Old Course at St Andrews
The Old Course at St Andrews is the oldest golf course in the world. The Old Course is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament...
. The player's caddie provides information about the pitfalls and idiosyncrasies of each course. The game simulates the strong wind and weather typical of the courses' real-world counterparts, which lie near the seaside. The player may adjust environmental aspects such as weather, wind speed and the wetness of the soil. During a match, the player uses information on the heads-up display to determine such factors as wind speed and direction, the ball's distance from the flag and the height difference between the ball and the hole.
Development
Looking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios was a computer game development company during the 1990s.The company originally formed as Looking Glass Technologies, when Blue Sky Productions and Lerner Research merged....
began developing British Open Championship Golf in 1995. The project was led by Rex Bradford, designer of the influential 1986 golf title Mean 18
Mean 18
Mean 18 is the name of a series of computer golf games released by Accolade in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is also the name of the first game in the series. In the early 1990s, the series was phased out by Accolade's Jack Nicklaus series of golf games, which arrived in 1990...
. He had also worked on earlier Looking Glass games, such as Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri is a 1996 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Looking Glass Technologies. Set in a science fictional depiction of the 24th century, the game follows a faction of humans who colonize the Alpha Centauri star system to escape from a...
. Bradford decided to revisit the golf genre because he felt that other games did not recreate the structure or capture the atmosphere of golf tournaments; he complained that golf titles took place on "The Lonely Planet of Golf". The team sought to fill this perceived void by more accurately simulating the tournament experience, with a particular focus on crowds, commentary, atmosphere and the caddie. Bradford believed that these elements recreated "the television-style ambiance of being in that moment." Graphically, a focus was placed on buildings and animated objects, in order to make up for the less spectacular nature of links courses
Links (golf)
A links is the oldest style of golf course, first developed in Scotland. The word "links" comes from the Scots language and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes and sometimes to open parkland. It also retains this more general meaning in the Scottish English dialect...
. The game's environments were generated with the same stereophotogrammetry techniques used to create the landscapes in the company's earlier Flight Unlimited
Flight Unlimited
Flight Unlimited is a 1995 aerobatic flight simulator video game developed and published by Looking Glass Technologies. It allows players to pilot reproductions of real-world aircraft and to perform aerobatic maneuvers. They may fly freely, race through floating rings against a timer or take...
. The team's reproduction of the Old Course at St. Andrews was the first ever authorized for a video game.
Looking Glass officially announced British Open Championship Golf on July 18, 1996. Coinciding with this news, the company launched a website to cover The Open Championship
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
of 1996; it detailed both current events and the history of the tournament and its courses. According to Bradford, the company was "hoping to make a splash" with the game, which was placed in competition with popular series such as Links and PGA Tour
PGA Tour series
PGA Tour is the collective name of a series of golf video games published by Electronic Arts and later their EA Sports sub-label from 1990 to 1998, when EA began publishing their golf games with the endorsement of Tiger Woods...
. He noted the quality of these titles, and stated that, had the team not been trying to innovate, they would not have attempted to compete in the genre. Looking Glass revealed in November 1996 that Jim McKay
Jim McKay
James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....
, host of the Wide World of Sports, would provide color commentary
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for the game. Actor Michael Bradshaw
Michael Bradshaw
Michael Bradshaw was an English/Canadian actor.- Early life in England :Born in Plumstead, London, he grew up Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire to the north west of London...
was hired as the play-by-play announcer
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. The pair recorded more than 5,000 lines of dialogue in total. In January 1997, Looking Glass and Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
announced a four-year partnership. As a result, British Open Championship Golf was distributed and marketed in North America and published in Europe by Eidos. However, like Flight Unlimited and Terra Nova, the game was self-published in North America by Looking Glass. In March 1997, near the end of the game's development, part of the team moved to Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project is a 1998 first-person stealth game developed for Windows by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...
; this included Mark Lizotte, who became that game's lead artist. British Open Championship Golf was released on April 30, 1997. That May, Looking Glass collaborated with golf website GolfWeb to host a "Virtual British Open" tournament. Players competed in the game to win a trip to The Open Championship in Scotland, complete with "air fare, hotel accommodations and spending money."
Reception
British Open Championship Golf was a commercial failure. Following its release, Looking Glass ceased self-publishing operations and closed a division of the company, laying off a group of employees that included Warren SpectorWarren Spector
Warren Spector is a role-playing game designer and a video game designer. He is known for having worked to merge elements of role-playing games and first-person shooters. He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, fantasy writer Caroline L. Spector...
. Writing for Maximum PC
Maximum PC
Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine and web site published by Future US. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, and in-depth technical briefs...
, T. Liam McDonald called the game "a costly bomb that bled the company." Looking Glass employee Tim Stellmach later characterized it as "a disaster". However, it was generally well received by critics. A reviewer for Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company . It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West...
hailed it as "one of the best golf games in years", praising the atmosphere and calling the graphics "among the best ... around." The writer cited the game's lack of a course editor as its main downside, and summarized, "If you are looking for a golf simulation, this one delivers." PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
s Shane Mooney cited it as the best of eight golf titles reviewed in the magazine's September 1997 issue—a group that included Jack Nicklaus 4
Jack Nicklaus 4
Jack Nicklaus 4 is a 1997 computer game published by Accolade that is based on the sport of golf. The original Microsoft Windows version was developed by Santa Cruz, California-based Cinematronics and the Apple Macintosh version was developed by Austin, Texas-based Eclipse...
, Links LS 1998 and PGA Tour Pro. He highlighted its "outstanding graphics" and detailed course reproductions, and noted that it "[immerses] players in a realistic tournament atmosphere." The writer considered the inclusion of only two courses to be the game's "one major drawback".
Jeff Guinn of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a major U.S. daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. Its area of domination is checked by its main rival, The Dallas Morning News, which is published from the eastern half of the Metroplex. It is owned...
called its graphics "exceptional", and considered the game to be "far from the traditional aim/swing links pseudo-challenge." However, he found the game extremely difficult, thanks to its faithful reproductions of the challenging Old Course and Royal Troon. As a result, he considered the game to be ultimately "too much of a good thing." A writer for the Telegraph-Herald praised its courses, and stated that its gameplay was a "state-of-the-art simulation". The reviewer believed that the tournament atmosphere had been "re-created faithfully." Gary Whitta
Gary Whitta
Gary Whitta is an English screenwriter, author, game designer, and video games journalist. He is known as the former editor-in-chief of both the UK and US editions of PC Gamer magazine and contributor to gaming magazine, ACE....
of PC Gamer US praised the game's graphics and atmosphere. While he liked its gameplay, he noted that it lacked the genre refinements seen in Links LS, a decision he believed would appeal to genre novices but not to veterans. He disliked Michael Bradshaw's commentary, but praised Jim McKay's for "adding much to the overall feel." Ending his review, Whitta summarized it as "one of the most user-friendly, accessible, atmospheric and attractive golf games out there".
Peter Smith of Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine was a computer gaming print magazine. It was formerly Computer Games Strategy Plus, and before that, Strategy Plus, which had been founded as Games International in the UK in 1988. While its initial focus was on strategy games, it covered a wide range of game genres...
found the game's swinging mechanics challenging, and noted that "making a dead-on accurate shot much more difficult than in any of the other golf games out there." He found the mechanics of the putting green to be badly designed, which he cited as "an incredibly serious flaw that takes British Open Championship Golf out of contention for the gold cup." Ultimately, he recommended Links LS and Jack Nicklaus 4 over the game, but suggested that future installments or patches might fix the issues. Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
s Scott A. May wrote that "the game is solid, but ... somewhat unspectacular" compared to Jack Nicklaus 4 and Links LS. He stated that the links courses gave the game "a somewhat desolate look and feel", and that, "Historic or not, the scenery is downright dull". The reviewer considered Jim McKay's commentary and the simulated physics to be the game's high points, and he believed that, "More so than any other golf sim, the reactive crowd and interactive caddie are ... totally integrated into play." He summarized the game as "a very good simulation" that was somewhat deflated by its lack of multiplayer, course editing and match replays.