Introduction, Visuals & Characters

Links2001 is Microsoft's latest contribution to sports genre. It boasts a new graphic rendering engine, colorful golf characters, accurate ball physics, and impressive online play. These elements serve to create a realistic golfing experience in a game that ranks among the best in the industry. Two separate programs are included in the Links2001 package: the golf game itself and the Arnold Palmer Course Designer, a program which allows the player to create and manipulate courses. Links2001 is a top-quality product and a solid contribution to the sports genre.

The game's graphic rendering engine provides fantastic visual accuracy. Cliffs, rock beds, and bunker overhangs are delivered with, for the most part, photographic quality. It creates a 3dimentional effect without any trace of polygonal shapes. Links 2001 also supports a high resolution (1280-1024) making imagery amazingly crisp.

The ball physics are impressive in their realism. The golf ball is accurately affected by wind, other physical objects, and rough terrain. The ball is controlled by specifying the angle of the character's body, the type of club, and the intensity of the swing. A player can customize club distance for better control of the golfer or to reflect his own real-life skills. Another interesting feature is a colored grid which appears when putting. The grid shows the distance and contour of the putting green allowing the player to better estimate the necessary shot. The player can also monitor his improvement as player and course statistics are tracked for every round.

There are three swing types that the player can choose from: easy, classic, and powerstroke. The easy and classic stoke types are similar; a ”swing gauge” is used to select the intensity of the swing in real time. When the easy stroke type is selected, pointers are given on the swing gauge to aid in making shots. When the classic stroke type is selected, players must judge the necessary intensity on their own. The powerstroke option requires more skill. The player must move the mouse from left to right at a speed suited to represent the intensity of the hit. Direction can then be controlled by placing a marker on the green for the ball to move toward. Powerstroke requires a fair amount of practice to master and it, therefore, seems that most virtual golfers will prefer and be satisfied with the much simpler classic stroke.

There are 14 golfing characters to choose from, each one looking completely different. These include three well-known golfers, Arnold Palmer, Anna Sorenstam, and Sergio Garcia, and a number of generic physical types. The characters are high quality 2D video representations of real people in the 3D environment. Each character will behave differently when pleased with their shot or when disappointed. Anna Sorenstam will kick her club and let out a sigh of disappointment when her shot goes awry. One of the generic characters will throw a full-fledged tantrum. This adds an entertaining element to the game, as the player never quite knows what to expect.