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Microsoft Links 2001
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Graphics & Sound:
Although Links 2001 doesn't have the absolute best graphics in the world of golf, they are pretty sweet. Some elements are rather bland, but most of the game has lots of eye candy (which does slow down render-times). One nice thing is that golfer animations look very smooth and are virtually jitter-free. Golfer voices are, while occasionally quite humorous, for the most part quite pitiful. In fact, there just isn't the sound interaction that would be expected from a golf game. I know, it sounds funny, but it's true. No, you don't want some guy talking during your backswing, but birds chirping and the wind blowing are common sounds on the golf course and seem to be minimal in Links 2001. In tournaments, you can hear the crowds from other holes, but overall the game has a boring silence about it.
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Gameplay:
Links 2001 has got TONS of gameplay! Quite simply, I'm overwhelmed with all of the options included in the game. It's almost as though there are too many options. However, leaving everything at its default settings keeps the game easy to get into. There are a vast number of gameplay modes, including all of your standard modes as well as a tourney mode (with it's own selectable options!). In fact, logging on to
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Difficulty:
Another nice feature in Links 2001 is that you can control the difficulty of computer-controlled players rather easily. While selecting the easiest settings will allow you a good chance of winning some tournaments, choosing the highest difficulty will give pros of the genre a lot of competition. Oh, and just in case you see some unbelievable scores somewhere out there, Links 2001 has a built-in score verifier to stop people from telling those fishing stories!
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Game Mechanics:
For the most part, Links 2001 looks really good, but this will cost you on system performance. If you boost your graphical settings, you may have some slow screen rendering times, even with 3D Acceleration (as I have). Swinging the club is pretty easy, and allows you 3 choices to suit your personal preferences. Links 2001 is a solid title and with the addition of the Arnold Palmer Course Designer and online play, the game has tons of replayability. If you are looking into purchasing a newer golf title, you may want to consider Links 2001.
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-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele |
Minimum System Requirements:
266MHz Pentium II running Windows 95, 98, or 2000 (does not support NT), 64MB RAM, 250MB Minimum HD Space, 4MB Video Card capable of 800x600 resolution in 32K colors (recommended 8MB Video Card (or better) with Hardware Acceleration), 4x CD-Rom, Mouse (3-button recommended), 8-bit Sound Card, for Arnold Palmer Course Designer: all of the above plus recommended 128MB RAM and needed 400MB HD Space (plus 500MB HD Space for swap file) |
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Test System:
Pentium II 400MHz CPU; Windows 98 (upgrade version); 256MB 100MHz SDRAM; Creative's 32MB 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 3D-Accellerator AGP Video Card; Ensoniq AudioPCI sound card; DirectX 7.0a; using Hewlett Packard CD-Writer Plus 9100 (reads 32x, writes 8x, rewrites 4x) as main CD-ROM; 1 gameport; 2 USB ports; Saitek's P2000 Tilt Pad (*USB*/gameport connection); 56K Modem |
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