Last year I posted a thread about this golf game, which a couple people had an interest. The second version is out on April 12th (just in time for the Masters) and they just posted the list of enhancements....pretty big list. Also included a link to the game page for pictures and such. Best golf game in my opinion.
http://www.dksports.com/golf.htm
2014 Edition Features
New Gameplay Features
•The 14 clubs in each golfer's bag can be customized from an assortment of woods, hybrids, irons, and wedges. Club trajectories and distances are modeled using real tour launch monitor data.
•Clubs are now selected for short game shots. The amount the shot carries and rolls is dependent on the club selected. If you don't carry a high lofted wedge in the bag, you'll have difficulty with short side pitches from poor lies.
•Vastly improved short game AI allows computer controlled golfers to better navigate difficult slopes on and around the greens. This also applies to user shots when "Auto Read Greens" is on.
•A new option for simple shot targeting allows you to simply click the spot where you want the shot to end up. The computer AI will generate a setup that, if perfectly executed, finishes as close as possible to that spot. Once a spot is targeted, the landing and finishing points of the generated shot are displayed, and the shot controls are set for that shot. Any adjustments to the shot can be made manually before clicking the swing button. This option allows users to skip the nuances of shot making and focus on broader strategy decisions. It's also a great way to learn the game, since you get to see how the AI sets up the shot to get it where you want. This option expands the game play styles available; from a simple click to target mode, to advanced setup without any aids.
•Enhanced physics and animation on putts creates a realistic depiction of putts with multiple breaks.
•Instant replay is available after each shot.
•Occasional unplayable lies in spots like trees, deep rough, waste areas, and pot bunkers require a drop with a one shot penalty.
•Approach shots can hit and deflect off the pin.
•Improved approach shot AI allows computer golfers to pick smarter targets on the green in different circumstances. You'll see longer shots aimed away from trouble, and wedge shots more precisely targeting the pin. Computer golfers are also better at using slopes on the greens to get approaches close to the target.
•Improved ball flight and roll animation, and improved reactions to terrain and slopes on the course.
•Option to choose wood or metal wood sounds in season preferences.
New Team Events
•Team cup events of up to 8 sessions and 12 players per team. Events are completely customizable or can be loaded from a preset template. Teams can be created player by player or filled automatically using various statistical categories and rankings, filtered by country or world region. Detailed stats are kept for each event.
•Team event templates can be saved for frequently used formats. About a dozen templates are included with the game, covering many popular formats.
•Teams can be created and saved for use in team events. Stats for saved teams are kept, including record, matches won and lost, holes won and lost, average winning/losing margin and more.
•A team ratings report shows the strengths and weaknesses of each saved team.
•Saved teams can be tracked in stroke play events on the new teams tab. After selecting how many scores should be counted from each team, every saved team that has at least that many players in the event will be displayed with its total score on the team leader board. When creating stroke play tournaments, players can be added to the field by team.
•Rankings are kept for USA, International, and European cup teams. These rankings can be used to create your teams at the end of the season.
Course Customization and Enhancements
•Custom course creation allows courses to be made using holes from any installed courses. Courses can be created from scratch or existing courses can be edited. Course name, location, and weather averages can also be set.
•Custom course layouts – edit the par, tee and pin positions of each hole on a course to create alternate layouts which can be used in any round. Examples of custom layouts could include: matching the week's tournament setup, historical tee positions, creating a par three course out of a standard course, converting par 4s to par 5s, setting more difficult or easier pins, and more. Many existing courses have been updated with alternate layouts mirroring their various real life course setups.
•Most course imagery has been retouched and enhanced for cleaner, more vibrant graphics.
•Add course logos by saving a 'Logo.jpg' image in any course folder.
New Casual Round Options
•New casual round game modes include best ball (stroke and match play), skins game, and modified stableford scoring.
•Choose custom starting and finishing holes for casual rounds, plus a 36 hole option.
•Option to set the starting score for each player in casual rounds allows you to recreate the last group on Sunday. This option along with custom start and finish holes allows many different scenarios to be created.
•Casual rounds can now be saved and resumed later.
New Statistics
•Strokes Gained Putting, which measures putting ability by comparing the result of every putt to the tour average from that distance, is now a tracked statistic for golfers and individual holes.
•Hole stats report includes score average, fairway and green percent, putting, and scoring breakdown for each hole. This report can be filtered by course, par, and hole number.
•Course stats include best round and scoring average.
•New player of the year award standings.
•New golfer rankings report displays world, money, cup points, player of the year, and team qualifying ranks.
•Stats are kept for major championship finishes and money earned.
•Individual golfer stats are kept for each tournament, viewable on the summary form by round and totals.
•More stats have been added to the shot by shot scorecard for each round, including strokes gained putting, driving distance, proximity, scrambling, and more.
New Tournament Features
•The new tournament leader board is sortable by categories including cup points, world rank, alphabetical, country, and more.
•Modified stableford scoring option in tournaments.
•A first tee announcer announces players on the first tee of tournaments using the Windows narrator voice. A pronunciation tool allows you to adjust how names are pronounced. Many common golf names and places have pronunciations already built in.
New Tools and Options
•Import golfer ratings from one season to another. Similar to the model league function in our other games, this allows you to update your season in progress with new ratings. For example, upon finishing the 2013 season ratings can be updated using the 2014 data to continue on to the next season, preserving existing stats and rankings. New players are also optionally imported.
•Option to choose what month the season starts in. This allows the current wraparound schedule to be used.
•Season era sliders have been added to account for equipment and course conditions of past eras. These include driving accuracy, approach shots, short game, and putting.
New Appearance
•New background images. Save any of your own images into the 'Images/Backgrounds' folder and they will be used as backgrounds without having to be renamed.
•Add course logos by saving a 'Logo.jpg' image in any course folder.
•The new schedule form displays tour, tournament, and course logos when installed. Events are color coded by type of event, with major championships in bold.
•Click a hole on reports and tournament screens to view the hole image.
•Add a tour logo to the season folder or the game's images folder in the format "TourLogo.jpg" and it will be displayed on the tour schedule.
•Golfer pictures are now displayed on the leader board. Golfer pictures and course logos are displayed on the end of round form.
That's something I would play, however I still have my FM2014 career to continue!
Will probably get it sometime, if not this year. Crazy backlog.
Quote from: Nefaro on April 04, 2014, 10:26:48 PM
That's something I would play, however I still have my FM2014 career to continue!
Will probably get it sometime, if not this year. Crazy backlog.
If you like golf, definitely a game to play. But I hear you, I also have a lot of other games to play yet too:)
Quote from: Nefaro on April 04, 2014, 10:26:48 PM
That's something I would play, however I still have my FM2014 career to continue!
Will probably get it sometime, if not this year. Crazy backlog.
I'm in the same boat. I just fired an FM14 save back up and am trying to work my way out of the Skrill Premier.
I love Action! PC games. They have fantastic customer service (I think it's just Dan and his son) and the games are top notch. My only critique is that they usually don't have a career mode. This golf game is very intriguing.
Quote from: KyzBP on April 06, 2014, 08:21:04 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on April 04, 2014, 10:26:48 PM
That's something I would play, however I still have my FM2014 career to continue!
Will probably get it sometime, if not this year. Crazy backlog.
I'm in the same boat. I just fired an FM14 save back up and am trying to work my way out of the Skrill Premier.
I love Action! PC games. They have fantastic customer service (I think it's just Dan and his son) and the games are top notch. My only critique is that they usually don't have a career mode. This golf game is very intriguing.
Dave and Ryan (son).....I agree, great customer service and all their sports games are fun to play for season replay. One of the best things about the company is they actually stand behind their products and offer full 30-day money back guarantees without any questions asked. Much better than a demo, you get the full product for 30 days!
Career games aren't really their forte or anything they strive to be at this point...their competition is not OOTP, FOF, and the other career sims, but more of the Strat-o-matic crowd. Their golf game does have a start of a career mode where you can advance to future seasons, for example start in 2013 and then you can advance to 2014, 2015, etc. The ratings don't change when you purely advance...however....in this year's version, you can load the future seasons and the ratings will get adjusted based on that so it does reflect the next year. Still won't contain all the other things usually in a career mode, but a start.
I am embarrassed to say this in a wargame forum, but Golf has been the number one game I play and like since it came out last April.....tons of replay possibilities since tons of courses already exist and a number of different seasons. Each course brings its own unique challenge. Playing a tournament actually feels like your watching it on TV. Even if you play the other Action!PC games, this one is much different, a little more immersive and hands-on in my opinion...of course you have to like golf though.
If you like golf and don't own it, I highly recommend giving it a chance....worst case, you return it in 30 days. Right now all the golf items are sale thru next Wednesday, including pre ordering all the new stuff coming out on the 12th....now's the time!
Dan=Dave. (I was on Dan Verssen games site yesterday.)
I'll probably pick it up. It looks like a great distraction.
For those interested....released one day early and available now.
For those interested...a tutorial video posted by the developer playing 18 holes...gives you a very good idea how the game plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKOaB0NuB4I
Three new courses were released yesterday and all their courses currently on sale for about 20% off.....also, they just released a basic version of the game which is only $19 that includes the game, last season, and 3 golf courses....great version for people to try that are on the fence. And always keep in mind they have the 30-day money back guarantee, so very little risk to try.....this game is still my number one sports game over the last couple of years.
The Three New Courses
- TPC San Antonio
- The Belfry
- Valhalla
Link to the new basic version of the game
http://shop.dksports.com/2014golfgamewith-1.aspx
I know some people had interest in this game in the past, since then a new version has come out and for today only, the game package is only $20 (great price if you like golf and this type of game)...with this package you get the following.
Seasons included with the game:
2014-15 updated through March 2015
33 Heroes of April 1960-2014 major championship winners
Courses included with the game:
Dublin Village Golf Club (Dublin, OH)
East Honolulu (Honolulu, HI)
Illinois Farms Golf Club (Lake Forest, IL)
Magnolia Golf Club (Augusta, GA)
Old Scotland Links (St. Andrews, Scotland)
Ponte Vedra Club (Ponte Vedra, FL)
San Francisco Lake Course (San Francisco, CA)
San Martin Golf Course (San Martin, CA)
Sonoran Mountain (Marana, AZ)
West Columbus Country Club (Columbus, OH)