Publisher: Maxis, www.maxis.com
Ages: ten and up
Parental Advisory: This golf game emphasizes strategy.
Violence
Rating: 
Maxis' SimGolf, which comes from legendary game designer Sid Meier, puts you
in charge of a golf resort. As the CEO, resident pro, and course designer,
you're asked to build a business from the ground up, taking a small, public
pitch-and-putt to a five-star resort with luxury accommodations and world-class
golf holes. The better your resort, the more customers it can attract and
the more successful you will be. In this regard, SimGolf is a solid strategy
game that manages to offer a new virtual golf experience.
To start, you'll want to create great courses that will appeal to a wide range of golfers so they'll come and spend money at your resort. The game's well done course design features let you set fairways, greens, obstacles and water hazards, and you can raise and lower terrain as you see fit. To develop your resort, the game offers tools that let you build resort facilities, as well as hotels and casinos.
The other half of the game involves creating a pro golfer that you use to test your courses and ultimately win money in tournaments that may be invested back into the resort. Here, the game lets you customize golfers with names, personalities, appearance, and dialogue, and you develop a golfer's abilities and stroke types with a simple skill system that considers: power long driver, accurate driver, and more. To play a game of golf, you choose a stroke, and then select the amount of power you want behind the swing and set the trajectory. It's a simple and enjoyable way to play virtual golf.
Graphically, SimGolf doesn't look all that impressive. While its images are colorful, they are rather simple and lack details. And the game's sound effects are functional, but nothing special. While the game is easy to understand and play, you can become bogged down with its interface. However, these negative aspects don't detract from a fun and entertaining game.
While it may sound as if the world doesn't need another golf simulation or "tycoon" style game, SimGolf shows that a little innovation and thought can create an entertaining new gaming experience. This one is worth a look, particularly for those who love golf.
