| ARTICLE |  USA |
Got a Tip?
RSS
AtomNES Golf versus Pro Stroke 2007 for the PS2
His name is synonymous with golf and winning, and, consequently, he’s the face of choice for the hegemonic apparel designer, car manufacturer, and most of all, sports game developer. So it’s only natural that the image-conscious consumer and non-golf fanatic alike need sometimes be reminded that Tiger Woods isn’t golf, really. No disrespect meant to an obvious great, but gee… isn’t there anybody else?
As a self-professed know-nothing in the realm of, to quote the back of the box, ‘The World’s Most Challenging Sport’, I can equally profess that you need not stock your closet with plaid sweater-vests and slacks to enjoy the digitized drives of ProStroke Golf: World Tour 2007. And while no EA-licensed players appear in this game, you can choose from all kinds of other real golf pros! Oxygen and Gusto Games’ have put upon the sports gaming tee a well-rounded, pretty, and dedicated little golf ball that really gets into the proverbial swing, but not without a few nagging divots along the way.
To illustrate just how dapper ProStroke is, for sheer comedic value, and because I left my clubs in another bag today, we’ll compare it to the granddaddy of them all: NES Golf.
Graphics:
NES Golf: Other than the nondescript inset showing your color-limited linksman, you’ll notice the highly text-based and predominantly blank picture. The whole course view at right gives at least some sense of where you are, though. About as strong as a 3mph fart in the wind by today’s standards, with NES Open blowing substantially less.
ProStroke: Well, it’s not bleeding-edge PS2 fare, with trees that look like pixelated paper cut-outs up close, their shadows blurred s though the bird’s eye view suffered some contact-lens loss. But seen from afar, known as ‘Caddy View,’ the picture painted on the whole is requisitely lush in wooded Ashville, arid in cacti-pocked Phoenix, and likewise appropriate in all the many holes from Asia to Scotland. The skyline is green and autumnal in the appropriate seasons, with photorealistic clouds rendered in an endless parade through a great blue-as-life yonder. Though lacking any real reaction to whether you just shot par or ten over it, the character models, including likenesses of Sergio Garcia, Ian Woosman, Zhang Lian-Wei, and your own creations, are considerably more detailed and natural up close, and their hands, club, ball, and current hole in the Swing View animate finely with your slightest motions.
Sound:
NES Golf: 8 bits for graphics, probably half as many for sound. Need I say more? I hope not, because I can’t hear the pictures.
ProStroke: To complete the tranquilizing tradition begun with the visuals, ProStroke Golf’s ambient nature sounds, level commentary and infrequent applause will keep your ears interested but not distracted. You can adjust their relative volumes in a comprehensive Options menu, just in case you get tired of hearing, ‘Oh dear oh dear, this isn’t what he wanted at all.’ Aside from adding a little more variety to the skewering, deadpan commentary, the makers could have stood to include the sound of the club slicing through the air, plus more of a satisfying ‘clunk’ on contact with the ball.
Control:
NES Golf: Two action buttons, a control pad, and a Select button that they might have found a rare use for now and then really just don’t cut it in a golf game. It’s no Power Drive, just a Weak Putt.
ProStroke: A control scheme that might seem a little daunting at first, with the shifting of feet, weight, club angle, views, and the rest each relegated to the many PS2 buttons, ProStroke is nonetheless intuitive once you get the hang of it. Why should pushing a button or letting go of a stick be enough to strike the ball at the end of your swing? Nay, in ProStroke, you have hit the ball and to follow through with the most club-like thing on the controller, the right analog stick. You can use the Shot-Shaper, a guide showing the ball trajectory for a given set-up, until you get the hang of it.
Gameplay:
NES Golf: Modes and options are three in number. The title screen about sums up what you can expect from this game.
ProStroke: A gamut of modes greets players of ProStroke Golf. Included are course and tournament editors, 1-to-4-player games with single or multiple controllers, training, and score attack. You, too, can be a super star of the worldwide circuit thanks to ‘Renown’, granted for achieving incredible feats that show up on your permanent profile. From changing the wind speed to adding rain, choosing from the three major tee-off positions and playing all holes or just the front or the back nine, ProStroke Golf is the product of an obviously meticulous and concentrated effort at authenticity.
Final Score: As far as golf games go, ProStroke Golf: World Tour 2007 is way, way out, as one sitcom might say, in the Parking Lot. A hole in one and then some!
Related Posts
Gaming Map
