Sid Meier's SimGolf

The Good
Ever since I played the near-black and white "Pebble Beach Golf" on my old 386 I've been really wanting a game which lets me create my own golf course. Well...Sim Golf isn't exactly what I was looking for, but it comes close.

That is the premise behind Sim Golf, if the title didn't clue you in. Your task in Sim Golf is to build and manage a golf course, managing your funds and the well-being of the course and the golfers within it. You'll have to hire security to keep those pesky kids from running amok, and hire groundskeepers to keep those blasted dandelions out of your fairways. You'll also have to build additional components into your course, like a cart garage or a putting green, to increase popularity and growth. And a single course won't hold up for long. Who wants to drive all the way to the golf course just to play the same hole over and over? You'll have to expand, but of course, that's most of the fun!

You're able to design the courses from a top-down view, similar to, say, Sim City. Only instead of planting residential zones, you're placing the fairway, adding a sand trap, putting down trees and raising/lowering the terrain. You can make some very easy courses, some wild and crazy holes or just make that impossible nail-biting one that'll piss everyone off.

And an extra feature in the game, which comes into play later in the game, you can create your own custom golfer to play your own course! Compete in tournaments in your own grounds and see if you can beat the best golfers around.

The Bad
Like most games in the "Sim..." series, once you've played it through once, there's not a lot of replay value. I mean, it was fun to make my award-winning eighteen-hole golf course...but I don't really want to go do it again.

You can create some truly creative holes in your course, but the reaction of those who play the course might annoy you. There's a thin line between having a "creative" course and having a "bad" course. The AI is sort of smart, usually. They'll usually know where to hit the ball so they can avoid the sand/water trap. But sometimes they don't. Sometimes the trap is right in front of them and they get annoyed after they hit the ball into it three times in a row (and then walk away and get rid of their membership).

They used that annoying way of "talking" from The Sims. They didn't even make new ones, they just recycled the old ones. Maybe some people like hearing "Jumba joo shuaw? Debbie doo ma call an shnibble!" every five seconds, but I couldn't stand it in The Sims, and I can't stand it in Sim Golf.

The Bottom Line
Well, I did enjoy this game, but it became boring once you've done everything there was to do. And it can be aggrivating when the golfers don't appreciate the true creative genius of your 900 yard downhill wilderness par 8 hole.