Pro 18: World Tour Golf

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: May 04, 1999
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Golf
• Similar Games: Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf (IBM PC Compatible), Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf (PlayStation), Jack Nicklaus 6: Golden Bear Challenge (IBM PC Compatible), PGA Championship Golf 1999 (IBM PC Compatible), Links LS 1999 (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

In Pro 18: World Tour Golf, the player has the option to play as or against eight world-class professional golfers: Dottie Pepper, Laura Davies, Mark O'Meara, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Tom Lehman, Vijay Singh and Jesper Parnevik. An option to create and edit players (human or computer) and designate the size of your playing group (1 to 4 players) complements the five available formats. Multi-player options to play over the Internet, a modem link or network allow for strokeplay, tournament, shoot-out, skins and four-ball competition.

Adjustable or random weather conditions, a practice option and television-style commentary by Peter Alliss and Bobby Clampett of CBS are featured along with four nicely modeled courses, including a bonus (expansion) course, Royal Birkdale. Rounding out the course foursome is Idaho's Coeur d'Alene, South Africa's Lost City Golf Course and Royal County Down Golf Course in Northern Ireland.



Pro 18: World Tour Golf uses a 4-click double-gauge "ProSwing Meter" designed to emulate a precise golf shot consisting of power (distance), snap (direction) and amount of spin (fade or draw). Two additional methods available for swinging are the standard 3-click meter and a mouse-controlled swing. Both methods, meter or mouse, can be utilized on the putting surface. The player can choose either amateur (less realistic) or professional status when creating his/her on-screen persona along with other customizable options such as shaft type (graphite or steel), iron type (cavity or blade) and ball type (2 or 3 piece ball) and color (white or yellow).

Additional features include changeable green speed, length of rough, course conditions, a caddie guide, pin positions (during strokeplay and tournaments only), tee positions, autoplay, green analysis (for putting) and a realistic honors system where applicable, as well as options for "gimmes" and mulligans. A minimum resolution of 1024x768 is required.

On the course, a "shot designer" provides a targeting system that shows both the apex and anticipated landing location of cleanly struck shots in increments of 100%, 75%, 50% or 25% in conjunction with the aiming arrow. Tournaments begin with a field of 72-golfers (68 computer-controlled and up to four human players) and, after two rounds, a cut is made with only the top 36 players plus ties surviving to compete in rounds three and four. A complete sudden death playoff procedure is activated in the event of a tie at the end of 72 holes. Pre-set "money" prizes are awarded for places one through thirty-six in tournament play as well as for skins and shoot-out competitors.

Roots & Influences

The decade of the 1990s has seen an explosion of golf simulations hit the market. The game of golf itself serves as a deep influence on this title as evidenced by the inclusion of world renowned golf courses from England, Ireland, South Africa and the USA. The roots of golf go back before the turn of the 20th century and the institution of organized golf has flourished in popularity, carrying into the 21st century. Previous golf games (see Similar Games) no doubt have influenced in subtle ways the development of this title.

Review: Overall

Presuming that readers of this review are golf simulation fans, the first answer that needs to be addressed concerns the Pro 18: World Golf Tour 4-click approach at emulating a golf swing. In reality, it's more of a 3-click operation with a delayed release of the left mouse button constituting the "fourth" click. As with most standard golf swing meters, you situate the cursor on the player or meter and click once to start the meter moving upwards. At the apex of the swing, a second click sets the power of the shot which varies in intensity dependent upon the timing of the click -- too soon, less power; too late (in the red), more power requiring more precise timing in the other parts of the swing.

In the case of Pro 18, the object moving around the swing meter is a golf club which actually "bends" or "breaks" to emulate a real swing. After the second click, the club moves back down the meter to a bottom mark which requires a third click designating the point of impact, or snap. Clicking too early or too late affects the direction the ball will travel and here is where the 4-click meter is different. At the time this third click is made, a second meter located below the main meter is activated. In order to successfully complete the swing, the player holds the mouse button down after the third swing and as the "club breaks" and moves across the lower meter to a pre-set mark, the act of releasing the mouse button early or late constitutes the final part of the 4-click swing and affects the spin, if any, on the ball caused by missing the last mark.

Although the swing process is different, the actual implementation is quite easily mastered assuming you have a fast machine that doesn't cause stuttering or jerky movements of the meter. Pro 18: World Golf Tour demands a monitor resolution of no less than 1024x768. This would be acceptable if the actual on-screen depiction of the ball was any larger than a single pixel. When using the "snap around" camera angle to view the results of your shot, the ball is extremely difficult to pick up until it has bounced once or twice. Even then, if the ball lands in the rough you may not see it at all until the next shot sets up.

The game features most of the standard customization options available on the major golf simulations on the market (circa 1999). The tournament mode is well executed with a realistic approach to the 36-hole cut and sudden death options. After locating the "names" file and trying to substitute a list of 60 real-life professional golfers in lieu of the fictitious names supplied for computer tournament opponents (background scoring, of course), I was disheartened to discover the game would consistently shut-down when tournament mode was invoked and I clicked on the "Play Golf" option, definitely bogey material. Restore the original file and it's tee-off time with no hitches.

The four courses included in the game are photo-realistically rendered and reflect the international flavor of the game, although even with a 1024x768 resolution there is still oddly a hint of graininess at times (but not enough to spoil the view). The eight professionals (who are added to the field of 60 "background" players at tournament time) were filmed in real-life action so movements and mannerisms are accurately portrayed. Ball movement seems realistic except for the visible suspension of flight as the camera snaps around to the landing shot (this occurred on a PII/450mhz machine with 128MB RAM). One observed problem concerned the depiction of water, especially on The Lost City course in which the wet stuff (which I hit into all too often trying to escape the rough) appeared to be a non-moving dull gray mass. Never having been there, however, I can't definitively report it isn't realistic. Ball "splashes" in water and sand have a fairly mediocre appearance as does the "sand blast" stroke.

The announcers in the game aren't as irritating as those found in many other golf simulations. The calm, yet not "whispery" voice of Peter Alliss fits in nicely with the venue of international golf. Besides Bobby Clampett and on-course reporter David Heaney, a fourth announcer in the guise of a TV anchorman (Jim Nelson) is portrayed very smoothly by Rob Ross. Ambient sounds seem somewhat muted, however, and crowd noises tend to "turn on" a little too sharply rather than building up as you might expect. The overall TV-style reporting during tournament mode is done quite well.

Overall, there are too many small problems that taken as a whole detract from gameplay. Lack of customizable computer opponent names is one. Difficulty of picking up the tiny little golf ball on a 17" 1024x768 monitor screen is another. Lack of a ball marker on the overhead hole layout after a shot which creates the occasional problem of not being able to see what lies between the ball and the hole. There is no option to identify the precise location of the pin from out in the fairway other than a small directional arrow that appears at the top of the screen before each shot. Difficulty at times seeing the "target" marker due to terrain hills and valleys. A very large problem for me is the lack of a course designer and the minor irritation of no recordable round feature. Although there are a few more minor irritations, there is plenty that I do like about the game such as tournament setup, the 4-click swing meter, the selection of courses, the ease of learning the game mechanics, the announcers and the unique green analyzer just to name a few.

To sum up, Pro 18: World Tour Golf is not a game lacking in enjoyment. However, the lack of any sort of course designer, one of my preferences in any golf simulation, is regrettable since it means another game on the market requiring purchase of add-on courses.

Review: Enjoyment

I really want to give this title a higher rating but can't bring myself to do it because of several small problems that, taken as a whole, detract from gameplay per my perspective: Although a pleasant package overall, there isn't enough here to supplant my golf simulation of choice.

Review: Graphics

Above average but still grainy in places. Good player movement.

Review: Sound

Announcers not nearly as irritating as in similar products. Ambient sounds seem to click on too quickly at times rather than being part of the surroundings.

Review: Replay Value

Naturally, a golf simulation that doesn't have replay value is a dud. This game is far from that status but it is still (at the time of release) very limited with only four courses from which to choose. Golf simulations must have variety to capture the attention of die hard cyber-golfers and at the time of release, {*Pro 18} is lacking in this department. Still, there is certainly replay potential here.

Review: Documentation

A very short but adequately helpful manual. Somewhat bland in appearance and lacking specific details on certain points in the game (e.g., mouse-mode putting procedures, detailed "how to" illuminating explanations in some areas). Fortunately, gameplay is fairly straightforward and intuitive in and of itself.

Production Credits