| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1413 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2004-03-13 |
28,737,536 bytes |
71 |
7063 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
UNCLASSIFIED |
Nov2.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 2ac05fba345946d09434e4afc01203dd |
e00bf7818dd16bf913c14a9988adea58 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
3/31/04
Reviewed by: Chuck Clark
Background: This is the fourth course released to Links Corner by Mr. Purcell. All three of these courses were released in early 2003. Since it has been about a year since his last release, I am hoping that his skills have greatly improved; since none of the previous courses were well received by the community. For further information here is what the read-me has to say: 'Historically, I have released Porcupine Lakes, Ghost Echo at Séance Chambers and Mudflat Lagoon and I trust my skills have slowly evolved with APCD and this course Novicane Grove. I've since started toying with seam blending, but am torn between the looks of extruded and seam blended bunkers. We'll see on the next course. Thanks for trying it out and enjoy.
Oh yeah, I purposely misspelled Novocain (for any lawsuit reasons)'.
Overall Impression: I hate to say this, but this course shows no improvement over Mr. Purcell's previous courses. I looked thru the reviews of those courses, and I see the same errors on Novicane Grove that I saw in the screen shots of those courses. Novicane Grove is a fantasy type course with lots of unusual holes. It can be very unfair and unplayable in spots; and easily playable in others. The textures are strange and don't work well together at all. There is nothing about this course which is realistic or believable. The designer used sharp texture edge extrusions everywhere (tees, greens and fairways) which I personally don't care for. But even with all that, I still enjoyed playing this course. It is weird and quirky; and the designer definitely shows that he has a great imagination. There are some very interesting holes which could have been really fun with a better grasp of the program.
Playability/Shot Values: This course suffers from playability issues. There are a number of shots which are too difficult or too quirky. The first hole is a 630 yard par 5 with a blind lake along the right side of the fairway. On the 12th hole I could never reach the fairway with my driver. It was just too far away when played into the wind. I always play with breezy conditions and the wind was right in my face on this shot. It is about a 260 yard carry to get over a lake and about 270 yards to the fairway. If I was 'lucky' I got it over the lake but short of the fairway. A number of times I tried this shot I was not lucky! There was one par 3 (4th hole) with an island green which was tiny! And of course there is a big tree right in your line of play on the 18th hole. You can avoid it by moving your ball or trying to play a slice; but this sort of thing shouldn't have been left here. There are also a number of blind tee shots on this course. Since there are no Hole Previews included here, this required the extensive use of the top cam. I thought there were some very interesting ideas for golf holes here and there but the lack of technical expertise rendered the experience a moot point.
Visuals: This is a pretty hilly course with lots of water and plenty of unusual aspects. I didn't care for the textures at all though. The fairway texture had a very distinct mowing pattern which was very narrow and tight. It really didn't look like grass to me; more like painted Astroturf. To top it off this texture didn't mesh well at all with the surrounding textures (see screen shots). The planting was ok, but the underplanting was sporadic at best. It was pretty good in places and non-existent in others. I also don't really care for the sharp texture edge extrusions. I didn't get any weird bounces off these things; but I know they can happen. There was also some poor technical work on some things which detracted from the visuals. There were many angles on the texture transitions which make the course look unrealistic.
Technique: Obviously this designer knows how to use the program; but also obviously he doesn't choose to 'go the extra mile'. There are many technical errors on display here. I won't mention them all but some of them include: blurry graphics (logo and splash screen), bad edges and shadows, angled texture transitions, sharp texture transitions, no seam blending, divot marks facing the wrong way (every time they were used), tee signs directly on the line of play, holes crowding the edge of the plot (seen in top cam) and unmapped or poorly mapped faces on some walls. If this was the designers first course I would say that he shows lots of promise. But since this is his fourth course I don't understand why he hasn't started to get a bit better. He really needs to look at some of the better courses and find some beta testers. On a positive note though, I really liked the (red, white and blue) yardage plates in the fairways. This was a really neat touch.
Favorite Hole: I liked the 7th hole quite a bit. This hole has a split (multi level) fairway which is quite an interesting idea and a fun golf hole. If you go for the safe fairway (the high road) then you have a decent spot to hit to; but are left with a longer approach. If you go for the low road then the shot is blind and the fairway is guarded by some bunkers. If you execute a good shot though; you are left with just a short pitch to the green, thereby setting up a good birdie opportunity.
Summary: I think this designer shows a great imagination and flare. But he needs to really spend a lot more time cleaning up his courses. There are just too many technical errors for someone this proficient with the program. This course had the makings of greatness if he had spent enough time making it look and play more realistically. As it is I really can't recommend downloading and playing it. There are just too many technical errors and quirky glitches. If you really like and enjoy fantasy type courses; then you may want to go ahead and download it. It will definitely keep you wondering what will come next!
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