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Pacific Breaks
by Mike Jones
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 673 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-12-02 |
68,684,572 bytes |
71 |
7230 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
OCEAN |
Pacific_Breaks.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 303ebb20e73811d59c2044455354616f |
90c7b84ca107258a8acb14e3511b7332 |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
December 2001
Expectations: The expectations are always high with a Mike Jones course, due to the excellence of all his previous courses. I'm expecting a seaside course exhibiting expert use of the APCD.
First Impressions: Pacific Breaks is the last of five courses released by Mike Jones and was posted at the Links Corner on December 2nd, 2001 following these wonderful designs in order; Driftwood G.C., Northern Dunes, El Escorpion and Northern Dunes ver. 2.0 (The Open) which I reviewed. Every one of his previous designs has won Course of the Month honors at this site, and none of his designs has received a review score lower than 87%. All of his courses are ranked highly at other sites as well, namely Crusader's great site (where all currently reside in the top 8, including the number 1 and 2 spots). This means each new course he releases is much anticipated but is also held to the same high standards he himself has set. The Northern Dunes course has been included in the 2nd expansion pack released by Microsoft (renamed Ayrshire Dunes), and without question Mike has established himself as the top APCD designer among the user community.
Pacific Breaks is a seaside course that is a par 71 playing to 7,230 yards from the black tees. Three tee choices are offered, with the ladies tees a shade under 6,000 yards. It is set off the coast of Northern California and gets it's inspiration from the many famous golf venues in this part of the country, most notably Pebble Beach and Cypress Point. If you have ever been to the Monterey peninsula you will know that the recreation of the coastal holes are spot on, marvellous in their beauty and reality. A readme Word document is supplied in the zip file and is something that you should definitely look at, just look past the part about 'Dave Campbell's folly' at the 17th hole . hehe. Mike has also provided some of the nicest hole previews you'll ever want to see so the option of playing without the top cam is there. Now let's get to the good stuff, and there is plenty to go around.
Playability: The moment you see the first hole render you will know you are in for something special with Pacific Breaks. The nicely elevated tee box with extruded light rough collar (the extrusions being a first for Mike I believe), the great ground level planting with mix of coastal type trees, the wonderfully colored textures and well done dirt cart path, the cry of the occasional seagull and the promise of ocean views to come will immerse you in the experience immediately. It is simply photo realistic in look the entire length of the course, with the design and playability to match. The interesting part of this design is that you actually don't see the ocean until your approach to the 5th green, a theme also employed on the back 9. This leaves each 9 with the last four holes along the most realistic ocean coastline yet produced for a Links course. Add to this the planting of sounds, waves that seem to fade and get stronger as you approach or move away from the coast, and the cry of the seagulls throughout just adds to the realism.
The tee boxes are very nice and come in all shapes and sizes, showing the aforementioned extruded light rough border and some nice elevation work. The tee along the coastline on the par 3 16th 'Cove' is particularly nice, as it juts out into the ocean and has a fence along the edge of the cliff. All your tee shots are wide open and free of obstructions but this doesn't mean they are always easy. Many choices are available on how to play these holes and the readme document will give you some hints on the best places in the fairway to try and land. The center of the fairway and booming the driver are not always the best options, as you may often leave an awkward lie or end up in one of the many hazards. The views offered from all tees, especially the coastal holes, are picture postcard material.
The fairways are spacious for the most part with a sprinkling of hazards to be wary of. The texture is a light, cross-mowed texture that seems to really fit a wind blown coastal setting. Mike has added a fairway fringe and light rough collar before you get to the rough. Venture through all of that and the trouble will really begin. Deep grass and dense plantings await the real errant tee shot and approach. Fortunately the wispy grasses seem to allow pass though unimpeded, but the same can't be said of the small bushes and of course the trees.
The bunkers come in two different styles. The majority are of the standard looking, manicured type and are flawless is construction. The other is a wilder looking trap with plantings sprouting up within, and these most often are located in the wilder deep grass areas. They offer a most realistic look and should be avoided at all costs. There is no water on the inland holes but you will get your fill on the coastal holes 6th-9th and 15th-18th. Needless to say you need to err on the side of caution when teeing off on these beautiful but deadly holes as rock, beach and ocean are waiting to swallow any errant shot. Not only are the tee shots in danger but also many approaches will need to take this hazard into account. When you are standing over your approach shots on the 7th (Break) or the 8th (Beachhead) and you have a right to left fairway slope toward the ocean, and a breeze working against you, your palms will start to sweat. Or the 18th approach that is a full 200 yards, most of which is a carry over 'Sinner's Bay' and try to hold this green hanging precariously on the cliff edge. Three of the four par 3's (6th, 9th and 16th) will have you teeing off next to the coastline, all of which will take your breath away they are so gorgeous.
The greens are superb and utilize a cross-mowed light green texture and feature a light rough collar. Most have greenside bunker protection, some of considerable size. I'd like to make mention that some of the deep grass areas come fairly close to the greens so make sure you look around before your approach shot and don't hit long into the nasty stuff, you just may save yourself a stroke. The greens themselves are perfect, peaking and dipping in a most realistic and testing fashion. Of course the pin positions make full use of these swales and a careless shot will often feed away from the flag, or off the green even. There were several multi tiered greens (the 3rd and 15th come to mind) and on more than one occasion a great looking approach would catch a front tier and spin back away from the cup, once off the green completely. I played several rounds and all pin settings I encountered seemed fair.
I'd like to make mention of the ocean Mike has created here, the most realistic I've seen ever. I believe he had to create large numbers of individual texture panels and then piece them all together to offer an incredible ocean look and feel from the main cam view. Add the rocky coastline and planting and it is the next best thing to actually being there. The sounds just tie the whole thing together to offer as complete a round of computer golf as you can imagine.
Drawbacks: Only two things to mention here, the first being the redraw times between screens. With the above PC specs I was averaging about 5-7 seconds between redraws at 1280x1024x16 and the detail slider down one notch and the dynamic camera on. I've seen some postings that have mentioned redraws as long as 20-30 seconds. I consider my PC to be middle of the road now and redraws in the 5 second range to be more than satisfactory, considering the beautiful picture that I know is coming. So measure your PC against mine for some idea as to rendering times. Of course you always have the option of turning the resolution and details down to help render times, as the screens will still be wonderful I'm sure.
The last thing to mention is the ocean view from the dynamic cam. The panelling technique Mike uses to make such a realistic ocean has a funny look in some dyna cam angles but I don't consider this an error, just making a mention of it. There is no way around this at this present stage of the APCD according to Mike, and the main cam ocean views are well worth this occasional funny view.
Best Hole: Talk about an impossible task. Suffice it to say all are superb in their own way, simply the best that it can get. I've mention many already in this review and any coastal hole is a sight to behold. Even each of the inland holes is super as well. I think as a favorite I'd have to choose a coastal hole, as the ocean seems to define this course right down to its name. The par 4's 17th 'Bottleneck' (my nemesis) and the 18th 'Sinners Bay' are two awesome holes. Add the par 4 15th 'Babylon' with its risk/reward, dogleg right drive and the par 3 16th 'Cove' with its breathtaking tee box view and promise of birdie, and you have four of the most beautiful finishers ever. I also love the strategic drive choice offered on the par 4 14th 'Treasure Chest' with a full eight sand traps, five around the green.
For me it comes down to the two lovely par 3's on the front 9. The 6th 'Pacific' is the first coastline hole you encounter on the course and if you're playing Pacific Breaks for the first time you may pause and just take in the beauty for a while. It is also a real birdie opportunity so try to concentrate and get one back here. I think my best hole vote goes to the par 3 9th hole 'Point'. Another gorgeous coastal hole but this one will test everything you have. A Champ level player will have to dial in the snap in a hurry or you'll be in the ocean (left) or a bunker (right). At a carry of around 250 yards you would swear you're looking a par 4 from the tee. There is no shame in taking your par and moving on when playing this testing layout. My screenshot is a reverse can view of my tee shot here, and a good look at the inherent dangers around the green. I'm not sure you can tell but there is also some multi tier action to this green as well. Even though my ball is hitting the green here it didn't stick, but I did walk away with par.
Test round stats: Even 71%FIR 55%GIR 27 putts. I'm happy with this round, as level par will always be the goal here for me. With some wind and faster greens mixed in I just hope to keep the over par to single digits.
Comparable courses: Pebble Beach by Access/MS
Overall: Well, this probably comes as no surprise but I have given this course the highest rating ever bestowed upon an APCD design at the Links Corner. I would also be shocked if anyone even argued this point, as I think this is the finest course produced to date. Pacific Breaks is a marvellous design and adds another gem to the portfolio of Mike Jones. At 68 meg it's a HUGE download, but again I would be surprised if anyone complains. It would get a recommendation from me even if it were twice the size. Can Mike, or anyone, improve on this design? We're running out of numbers to give these courses, but I think this design earns the rating I've given it. Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into this Mike, I can only begin to imagine how much work a design like this must take. Thanks for sharing it with us in the Links community.
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Text file? Yes
Hole Previews? Yes
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