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Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Nick
Faldo Plays the Open
1985 Mind Games/Argus
Press Software
Programmed
by ?
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Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the fisth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(September 1985). |
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NICK
FALDO PLAYS THE OPEN
Argus
Press Software, £9.99 cass, joystick or keys
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Another from the Argus 'Mind Games' series, this golf
simulation is endorsed by the British golfer Nick Faldo,
as he takes you for a round on the 114th Open Championship
1985 course at St. George's Club, Sandwich.
The
package comes complete with a map of the course showing
the relation of tees to greens, and then 10 pages detailing
each hole individually. There's also a very short history
of the first Open held at Prestwick, a brief outline
of the Sandwich course, and its local rules. A few lines
per hole set the scene for the tee off and offer a brief
pointer on the drive.
Onto
the game itself.
NFPTO
is easy enough to get into because it is all icon
driven. A little under half the screen at the top is
the playing area which scrolls across the course with
the ball play. Below it are the various boxes containing
the icons, which may be selected by moving a cursor
(in fact a small pointing hand). Going from left to
right, box 1 is a bar indicator for shot strength. The
cursor may be placed on either of the two arrows for
increase of decrease of strength. Below it is a compass
with central reference point. Again, two arrows allow
movement round the circle either clockwise or anticlockwise,
and the final choice should be made bearing in mind
the general direction desired and the wind direction
and speed which alters all the while and which is shown
in the top right hand corner of the display area.
Next
comes an icon which switches the display from a local
map to a much smaller scale, showing the area all around
your current position. Below it, two arrows allow you
to scroll up or down along the club choice available
(see panel). Next door are two larger boxes, the first
containing a graphic of your caddy and yourself. Activating
this icon results in the caddy getting the selected
club from the bag, handing it to your player and him
taking the shot. The last combined box is the score
card and hole selection icon, which also gives the par
for the hole and its distance in yards. After selection,
all the icons are activated by pressing fire.
At
the start you can choose to play an entire round or
just hole by hole. While running through the hole selection,
the display area cuts from tee to tee, and you can cross
check with the map either on screen or in the booklet
to see the general relationship of the landscape.
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CLUB
CHOICE
Choosing
the correct club is vitally important. When you select
a club and then return to the golfer/caddy box and press
fire to activate the shot, if you have chosen badly,
the caddy will ask you whether you are sure. You can
now return to the club selection box if you wish, or
press fire again and take the shot. However, a poor
choice may result in a severe hook, slice or, worse
still, a miss hit or short jump shot.
There
are 9 clubs in the bag; wood driver, No 3 wood, No 5
wood, irons 3, 5, 7 and 9, a wedge and a putter.
The
wood driver is best used on a tee. Trying to use it
on a fairway or in the rough results in disaster! Depending
on the length of shot required, the other two woods
can be sensibly used on the fairway, but it's important
to control the strength of shot well. You certainly
wouldn't get far using, say, a No 3 wood or a long iron
to get out of a bunker! And once on the green, the caddy
will have a fit if you select anything but a putter
-- after all, he's in the pay of the club!
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Golf seems to be an ideal
sport to simulate on a computer although, oddly, there
have been many more on the Spectrum. Nick
Faldo's Open
is the best I have played both from the point of view
of the graphics and from the 'feel' of the game.
The icons make it so simple to set up and play shots
that it's a delight. Setting it on a real course is
also a good idea, and of course it's ideally timed for
the TV coverage of this year's Open (even if this review
comes out a bit later)! On my first attempt, I did pretty
well getting to the green, and then took nine puts to
get down, beginning to believe that the thing wasn't
very playable
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and (this remains my
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main niggle) it does seem very hard to get the
ball into the hole from close range. However,
on three subsequent holes I went down one under
par, rather disproving my niggle -- one, indeed,
was a wedge shot from the edge of the green! The
sound is limited, a chunky woosh and thunk when
you hit all but a put, followed by a double bounce
when the ball lands. Holing out results in a loud
squeal -- not particularly realistic, but satisfying.
Golf
simulations may not be to everybody's taste, but
this one, because of its simplicity and reality,
rises above the specialist taste and should prove
generally popular. But for the armchair golfer,
it's excellent.
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Presentation 84%
Nice packaging, excellent book and good options.
Graphics
74%
Smooth scrolling, reasonable golf course implementation,
nice icons.
Sound
28%
Very limited to spot FX and no
music.
Hookability
78%
Easy to get into with the icons.
Lastability
82%
Good 'feel' makes it worth playing
again -- especially if you like golf.
Value
For Money 75%
The tenner makes it a bit pricey,
but it is the best around.
Overall
80%
Neat simulation for the armchair
sportsman.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (24 Nov 2002)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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