Taking A Swing: Tour Golf Online
On seeing the news that there was to be a golf game made with the CryEngine3, my heart went a-pitter-pat. I've never been a golf game player, beyond the utterly wonderful Mario Advance Golf for the GBA (WHY NO SEQUEL, NINTENDO? WHYYYYYYYY?!), so it's not like I'm craving playing this generation's Links. It's just, well, I'm craving looking at this generation's Links, I think. Remember when that game came out, with its confusion of photographs and videoed humans made of seventeen pixels? It was like looking at real golf, if you squinted to the point of closing your eyes and imaging real life golf. And while the sport holds no interest for me, I still find it utterly calming, that expanse of green, the satisfaction of seeing the ball fall in the hole... Imagine it. And carry on imagining, because the enigmatically named Tour Golf Online (crappy Facebook page instead of real website, unfortunately) seems to think all the detail should be far, far in the distance.
Of Korean origins, and featuring Korean Professional Golfer's Association players, the game is currently being tested and, er, details get a bit sketchy really, with just a Facebook page for information. Game Campus, who are publishing it Westside, and issuing press releases, seem to have forgotten to mention it on their own site.
It's an odd choice to take this epic engine, recognise its abilities for the extreme background details of flowing waterfalls and mountain ranges, and then keep the foreground an expanse of bland. Sure, I realise options are limited in a game predominantly played in large patches of green, but watch the video and you'll see what I mean. The tiling is so awkward you can see the grids as the ball rolls.
I dunno. I think this might still be prettier:
