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Bellecombe Village-Course
by Francois Cristallo
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1332 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-09-08 |
12,569,485 bytes |
72 |
7453 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
Bellecombe Village-Course.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Rick Priebe
September 2003
Designer: This is the third course by M. Cristallo. The other 2 were Waterworld and Arsonval, both have been reviewed by Loner. I started to play Waterworld once, but glaring technical errors caused me to abort the game before finishing. I haven't seen Arsonval. All 3 courses seem to have been released within the last 3 months.
General course information:
File size: 10 mb (Zipped)
Type: Fictional Woodland
Par and Length (Back Tees): 18 holes, Par 72, 7453 Yards
Difficulty: Moderate
APCD Version: 2003 (APCD 1.5)
Included: Hole Previews, Splash screen, Cameo.
General Comments: The layout itself is fairly benign, but the difficulty is increased by some added 'features'. Most of the tee shots are blind for one playing in close-up view like I do, and many are blind even in the panoramic view. The decent hole previews made the shots doable. However, the prevalence of deep, penal (and often invisible) bunkers in the middle (see screenshot) of several fairways exactly in the driving area makes the 1 wood all but unusable on many holes. This theme became rather overdone when used on the long par 5 holes (all are over 600 yards, the longest at 646), that would have been unreachable in 2 shots even if you did use a driver off the tee. Those holes could have been made somewhat shorter to offer a reward for taking such a risk. As it was, playing a 3 wood from the tee lost you nothing and took the bunkers out of play. I will say that his contouring and customizing of the bunkers shows improvement from his earlier courses. Extensive forestation also adds to the challenge. Read on to see more about the forest areas.
Textures: All of the forested area plays as hazard, so there is no 'recovery' opportunity if you miss the fairway by more than 10 yards or so on most holes. This came as quite a shock the first time it happened to me, as I was deliberately cutting it close on one approach shot, figuring that I could still get up and down for par (or bogey at worst) if I failed to completely clear the trees. I clipped the one of the last trees and dropped down into what I thought was deep rough, but turned out to be hazard instead. As the drop point was almost back where I started, the punishment seemed rather more severe than necessary for such a minor crime. This could become quite frustrating on days when your swing is a bit off. The other texturing is good. The bunkers have the best appearance. Rough and fairway is average.
Eye catchers: Most of the course is planted in a tree that is leafed with bright orange (fall?) foliage. There are however, some trees with midsummer appearing green leaves, and on one of the early holes (see screenshot), the right side is lined with trees covered in pink apple/cherry blossom flowers reminiscent of mid-spring. Combined with the pano of high craggy peaks in winter snow, the designer appears to have hit all four seasons in 18 holes. In addition to the bright colors, the planted trees were quite repetitious. I was only able to find one tree model of that loud orange color, copied over and over. The same applied to the pink and to the green trees. This may be a good way to keep the file size small, but it is not in keeping with today's design standards. I'm not sure if the effect of the bright colors was supposed to represent fall colors, but it didn't make the grade for me. The orange may have worked in moderation with some green and yellow, but the pink was clearly a spring flowering tree. With his past history of fanciful courses (Waterworld), this may have been intentional, but the colors were too bright and clashing for me. Beta testing might have inspired him to change some of these problems.
Favorite Hole: I really can't name a favorite hole. I think that #17 was, at 317 yards, an almost drivable par 4, and as such seems to stick in my mind the most.
Rating: The course is playable, and some users may enjoy the sort of artificial challenge that it presents, but it was a bit too tricked up for my taste. The blind tee shots, even on some par 3 holes were too much. And I got really tired of the orange trees. At only 10 mb, you can try it for yourself without too much time invested, so it might be worth taking a look, but I can't give it a high recommendation.
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