Action! PC Golf - A little change of pace

[Grim.Reaper]

Hope folks don't mind that I post this here, but after seeing the other posts on Out of the Park Baseball, looked like we had some sports fans here as well.  If anyone is like me, I enjoy playing golf, although I am not that great at it.  Instead, I prefer to try and capture the glory by playing golf games on a PC or console.  Until recently, you really only had the choice of more arcade games like Tiger Woods and Links (although this is pretty good too).  About a month ago, Action! PC Golf was released, by the same developers who created the text replay sports games such us Action! PC football, baseball, hockey, and basketball.  This is a fantastic game and has a different feel because it is much more visual and hands on in my opinion.

This game is much different than TW and Links since those games require you to "play" a video type game of golf where you have to be good with a controller and such.  APC golf is much more of a golf strategy/simulation game, where video game skills is not necessary.  It certainly does not compare visually to those other games, but very good in my opinion as you can see from some screenshots below.  This game is all about golf simulation/strategy.  You have options to play casual rounds and also can compete in a full schedule of tournaments on real-life courses, although they use fictional names because of trademark concerns.  Currently they have four seasons available which are 1973, 1993, 2000, and 2012.  Each of the season files contain the PGA tour players for that year and their ratings.    You can even play across eras if you want to see how Jack Nicklaus might turn out against Tiger Woods.  There are also roughly 25 courses currently available.  The tournaments are intense and really give you the feel of participating in the tournaments, sort of like watching on TV.

When playing a round, you have to take all the normal situational stuff into consideration in order to have success.  You have to read the course conditions (i.e. wind, weather, lie, terrain, etc.) and determine how you want to setup your golf shot (i.e. which club, fade/draw, spin, lop, pitch, punch, etc.) and then target where you want to shoot.  Although it does not have arcade graphics, it does animate the golf ball flight path for each shot.  The game uses aerial shots of the courses which I think are well done, especially for this type of game.

I know you all might make me take the walk of shame for saying this, but I have actually been playing this golf game recently more than any other game I own:(  Again, I thought I would share in case we had any other avid golfers out there.

Link to Official Forum
http://actionpcsports.yuku.com/forums/19

Link to Offical Game Information (description, more screens, etc.)
http://www.dksports.com/golf.htm

[Nefaro]

I wish the Action! stuff had career mode in them.  That's the only reason I enjoy the sport text sims.. in order to run a team for many seasons while making all the decisions.

[Grim.Reaper]

I wish the Action! stuff had career mode in them.  That's the only reason I enjoy the sport text sims.. in order to run a team for many seasons while making all the decisions.

I also enjoy career play but I believe there is room for both...their games are much more about season replay and game coaching then career play at this time.  The golf game does have the ability to play across multiple years versus just one like the other games, but it is not career play since ratings and such do not change.  Just allows you to keep playing.  I wouldn't be surprised that in future versions of the golf game that career play is further introduced.

[Nefaro]

  I wouldn't be surprised that in future versions of the golf game that career play is further introduced.

Could be interesting but, IIRC, someone mentioned that the Action! devs stated they weren't interested in creating career mode for their football game.  So I took that to mean that they didn't like it or want to bother with such a mode in any of their creations.  :-[ 

[Grim.Reaper]

  I wouldn't be surprised that in future versions of the golf game that career play is further introduced.

Could be interesting but, IIRC, someone mentioned that the Action! devs stated they weren't interested in creating career mode for their football game.  So I took that to mean that they didn't like it or want to bother with such a mode in any of their creations.  :-[

Certainly not a sure thing, but the golf game has taken the first step by allowing you to play across seasons.  If you were going to implement career play, I think it would be much easier in golf than the other major sports since it doesn't have all the complexities (i.e. drafts, rosters, free agency, trading, etc.) of a team sport.  For golf, you would mostly have to worry about ratings increasing and decreasing over time and generating new tour schedules each year, while maintaining a history of all the stats.  The game already creates schedules each year and keeps a history of all the stats, so rating adjustments would be the big thing.  Now if you want to add RPG like elements to it, that might be a different story like agents, life events, swing coaches, etc.  However, for me, just having ratings adjustments would be enough for me since I don't need those other things in a golf game, at least I think so:)

[Nefaro]

So the golf game does let you play many consecutive years?  Even though the players' game calc-related abilities don't change over time (and other similar progression) as a 'Career Mode' normally would?

I'm a sucker for these games (with career mode), even if I don't play or even watch them normally.  This would fall into the latter category.  However, I get the most kick out of roster management, contract negotiations, draft, free agency, etc.  This specific one not having any Team-building as such, I'm not sure if I'd dig it.  Still.. it does look a bit interesting.

I'm still pining over how bad we need a quality modern NFL sim the most.   :(

[Grim.Reaper]

Correct....you can play multiple years in the golf game but it does not change ratings and such.  Basically at the end of the tour year, you can choose to advance a year which basically creates a new schedule (which is a default schedule) for the next year and carries forward all your stats and world rankings and such.

I couldn't agree more about the lack of NFL career sim's out there...Front Office Football outdated and never really liked PFS (professional football simulator).  Hard to believe there is not a market for it, but must not be if nobody has done it.  My best hope is that OOTP tackles it after they get done with their hockey career sim this year, which btw is looking nice (although rough right now).

[Nefaro]

I couldn't agree more about the lack of NFL career sim's out there...Front Office Football outdated and never really liked PFS (professional football simulator).  Hard to believe there is not a market for it, but must not be if nobody has done it.  My best hope is that OOTP tackles it after they get done with their hockey career sim this year, which btw is looking nice (although rough right now).

I've been pondering picking up the Hockey beta, but it sounds like it has quite a ways to go yet. 

[Grim.Reaper]

I couldn't agree more about the lack of NFL career sim's out there...Front Office Football outdated and never really liked PFS (professional football simulator).  Hard to believe there is not a market for it, but must not be if nobody has done it.  My best hope is that OOTP tackles it after they get done with their hockey career sim this year, which btw is looking nice (although rough right now).

I've been pondering picking up the Hockey beta, but it sounds like it has quite a ways to go yet.

I have it but haven't invested much time....has a ways to go, but wanted to save a few bucks by pre ordering:)

[Arctic Blast]

I couldn't agree more about the lack of NFL career sim's out there...Front Office Football outdated and never really liked PFS (professional football simulator).  Hard to believe there is not a market for it, but must not be if nobody has done it.  My best hope is that OOTP tackles it after they get done with their hockey career sim this year, which btw is looking nice (although rough right now).

I've been pondering picking up the Hockey beta, but it sounds like it has quite a ways to go yet.

I have it but haven't invested much time....has a ways to go, but wanted to save a few bucks by pre ordering:)

Oooo....I didn't know pre-order was already available...

[Grim.Reaper]

I couldn't agree more about the lack of NFL career sim's out there...Front Office Football outdated and never really liked PFS (professional football simulator).  Hard to believe there is not a market for it, but must not be if nobody has done it.  My best hope is that OOTP tackles it after they get done with their hockey career sim this year, which btw is looking nice (although rough right now).

I've been pondering picking up the Hockey beta, but it sounds like it has quite a ways to go yet.

I have it but haven't invested much time....has a ways to go, but wanted to save a few bucks by pre ordering:)

Oooo....I didn't know pre-order was already available...

Yep, has been since early March....you can get basically for $10 cheaper and then you get the beta versions and all updates until release.  They have been releasing game and data updates roughly once a week.  Not a bad deal if you planned to pick it up anyways.

[Nefaro]

Just be aware that it's still in a rough beta condition.  There may be crashes, some interface stuff still needs to be done, and I've seen some reports of the gameplay stats being rather odd at times.  The latter is why I've not jumped in yet.. but I may buckle before long anyway.  ;)

As you can see, I've been watching the beta forums for a convenient time to jump in.  Since recently buying OOTP14, I already have that to keep me busy.

[Arctic Blast]

I don't even necessarily care about the Beta...I just like getting it cheaper.  ;D

Of course, it can't hurt to wait a bit longer, either.

[Grim.Reaper]

I don't even necessarily care about the Beta...I just like getting it cheaper.  ;D

Of course, it can't hurt to wait a bit longer, either.

+1.   If you are going to get at some point, might as well save a few $$$$ :)

[Nefaro]

I don't even necessarily care about the Beta...I just like getting it cheaper.  ;D

Of course, it can't hurt to wait a bit longer, either.

+1.   If you are going to get at some point, might as well save a few $$$$ :)

Breaking.. my.. will.. to.. resist..

:P