|
Midnight GC
by Lars Rudbeck
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 694 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-12-09 |
43,466,086 bytes |
72 |
7082 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
UNCLASSIFIED |
MidnightGC.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 04eb9922ec9c11d586cbbe89234edf14 |
1c861eacaca9de95bd3e72a74065459d |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mike Nifong
December 2001
Course type: Although this course is listed as an imaginary course, it might more properly be described as an imaginary experience on an adaptation of a real course (Simons Golf Club in Denmark). However you classify, you may rest assured that it has no parallel in the Links world. It is, as they used to say in the Colt 45 malt liquor ads (circa 1965), 'a completely unique experience.'
Historical perspective: This course is Lars Rudbeck's second offering to the Links community. His first course, Cogitara, was released in February, 2001, and garnered quite a bit of favorable word-of-mouth, primarily for its layout, which placed a premium on thoughtful consideration of how to attack each hole. It achieved a score of 89% in its Links Corner review and has maintained a 3-star rating in the user poll. At only 11MB, it also represents excellent value, although it is beginning to show its age visually.
Midnight Golf Club, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction, offering all the amenities in a file size nearly four times as large. From the time Lars first announced his intention to produce a golf course to be played at night, the interest has been tremendous. Indeed, this course was probably awaited with as much anticipation as any course released this year, and I do not need to tell you what a great year this has been for courses. And as it currently holds a 4-star user review (80-89%), it appears that the consensus is that it was worth the wait.
What is included: The read-me file contains the usual acknowledgements and some suggestions for enhancing the playing experience. Although there is no written course guide, it is not missed because of the excellent hole previews, which manage to convey the necessary information without violating the inherent spirit of the course. There is the customary cameo, and the splash screen succeeds both in being visually stunning and in conveying the essential nature of the course.
First impressions: From the moment that you hear the tolling of the church bell as you are staring at the splash screen waiting for the first hole to render, you know this will not be your usual golfing experience. Then you find yourself standing in the tee box, where torches are the markers for the back tees, looking out over the course to a city on a hillside across a river. The city, the river, the sky are all alive with light; the course, on the other hand, rapidly recedes into shadow. You peer out, waiting for your eyes to adjust to the darkness that awaits your tee shot. Eventually, you are able to make out the faint edges of the fairway, and you are ready to begin.
What comes next: An experience like none other you have had in Links.
In both the read-me and the splash screen, Lars advises that his course should be played in a darkened room. He is absolutely correct. Under those circumstances, the experience is absolutely immersive. Your eyes become accustomed to the dark and you begin to see things a little more clearly, just as you would in real life. And having played it in the daylight in a room I could not get very dark, I would have to say that I found it less involving, not to mention harder to see. And while I had no problem with the overall brightness on my 21' Trinitron, my 64MB nVidia Geforce 3 did exhibit the blue band at the top of the screen in the main view window (although not in the dynacam). Switching the skies to overcast changed the band to a more neutral gray, but it was still visible. On the other hand, I really did not notice it much at all in game play, certainly not enough to spoil the course, as one poster to the Links web board said it did for him. And at any rate, it certainly was not a big enough deal to me that I would have fooled around with my video display to make it disappear. I really think that entirely too much has been made of this issue, but that is just my opinion.
The only other complaint I have heard about the course is that the sky is not 'astronomically correct.' Perhaps not, but I predict that you will not spend a lot of time stargazing during your round. Moreover, as a design decision, the overly starry (compared to real life conditions) sky is totally defensible as a way of unifying the brightly lit panorama and enhancing its contrast with the darkness of the course.
And what of that course? In a way, discussing it in depth would seem to miss the whole point. It is, after all based on a real course (adapted, we are told, in length and hazards to make it more challenging to the Links player), so there is limited leeway in what modifications are available. It is not a long course, and it seems to play about its length. I suspect that it would not be a very difficult course to play in daylight, since the key to scoring well seems to be landing your tee shots in the fairways. But you might be surprised at how much more difficult it is to hit the fairways in the dark, even given the excellence of the hole previews (which maintain the same general darkness as the course itself, but shed a little extra 'light' on the landing zone so that any hazards can be noted). In six rounds, my percentage of tee shots in the fairway ranged from 35% (which I believe to be my personal low) to somewhere in the mid-70's (the upper 70's are my norm). And since your ability to place the ball close to the hole is a function of avoiding the rough, with its patches of tall grass that you do not want to be directly behind, and the deep-grass bunkers, from which recovery is a crapshoot. The fairway sand bunkers seemed a little more forgiving. Water is in play on several holes, but I did not have much trouble avoiding it (only one wet ball in my six rounds). The greens are realistically sloped, so putts of less than 12' are pretty makeable, and longer putts are not out of the question; since they are also lighted, they play pretty much the way they do on more conventional courses. At least three of the par 5's are reachable from a good fairway lie, but this course really sort of turns the risk/reward dichotomy on its head: because of the limited visibility, virtually every shot carries the threat of an unaccustomed degree of peril.
What really distinguishes this course from everything else out there is not the use of darkness per se. It is, rather, the incredibly imaginative use of light. The decision not to attempt a uniformly dark course was certainly the correct one. The previously mentioned tee-marking torches shed their little glowing circles of illumination; dim footlights line the cart paths, and brighter overhead globes reflect convincingly off them. The greens, surrounded by towers of bright floodlights, look like miniature football fields. But not only are the light sources well chosen and well located; they are also effectuated with astonishing realism. No where is that more apparent than around the greens, where the light falls away rapidly from the edges, and the greenside bunkers look real enough to stand in. The screen capture does not do full justice to the magic worked by Mr. Rudbeck. The bunkers actually have shadows! (The only thing not totally convincing on the greens is the fact that the golfer animation shadow, which should be both dimmer and falling in multiple directions due to the encircling lights, looks the same as usual. Oh well, we can't blame Lars for that.) I predict that you will find the overall effect stunning.
I would also be remiss if I did not make mention of the sounds and objects you will come across, both from the short stuff and from any serendipitous traipsing across the nether regions that an errant tee shot may occasion for you. The sounds start off benignly enough, with the usual assortment of insects and twittering birds, but then you hear the spookier sounds of owls, whistling wind, and wolves, not to mention the unmistakable creak of a door being slowly opened somewhere to the left of the 7th green. Perhaps there are good reasons not to play golf in the dark! You might also notice the owls and wolves, especially if you stray into the rough, or the silhouetted figures visible in the windows of the house off the 13th green, or find that you are not the only person out late on the 16th. There is no telling what else I failed to discover. Very entertaining!
The bottom line: This course is a remarkable achievement: a work of art, and a testimony to the sheer genius (yes, that is the right word) of Lars Rudbeck's creative impulse. For me, the aforementioned lighting effects alone justify the download. This is a truly groundbreaking course, one that pushes the envelope of what can be done with the APCD, and one that will likely have tremendous repercussions for future course design. Whether it should be considered the best fantasy course available or just a fantastic experience, you owe it to yourself to find out what it is like. Urgently recommended for everyone.
Course Statistics :
Par 72; 3 sets of tees; 7082 yards from back tees; holes are handicapped |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, concept course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 10/10
Mindblowing stuff. Even if the idea of playing golf at night wasn't clever
enough, to put together such a faultless construction on that premise is
near genius. Even the easiest holes become more complicated when
plunged into darkness (thankfully the serious hazard count is low), and the
lighting around the greens is a brilliant idea and very deftly carried out. |
Appearance 9/10
Hard to know what to say, here, seeing as it's tricky to see very much! Certainly what we can see is great: the panorama is extremely
impressive even if it doesn't quite blend with the night sky; the multitude of objects (mostly floodlights) are well-customised, and the
bunkers look extremely professional. There is one nasty moment where the edge of the plot comes into view, but otherwise less to look
at definitely means more, in this case. |
Playability 8/10
Much of the charm of playing this course comes from not being able to see where you're going, and the many unusual sounds and
experiences you will run into at night (again, all deftly customised). It's a good job, because the course as a whole doesn't offer a lot of
variety or risk/reward, and having it jazzed up like this certainly builds on the replayability value. |
Challenge 4/10
You'd think the darkness would create an artificially hard challenge, wouldn't you? Not so. Even though the fairways are narrow, the
rough is forgiving and the greens flat (and, being lit up, very easy to hit!). The only way you'll drop strokes is by finding the little ponds
and streams which dot the course, or the big lake on the 17th. Even then, it's all too easy to shoot a low round. |
Technical 9/10
There's clearly been a lot of effort expended on this course, and criticism seems harsh, but there were one or two places where the
ambient sound wasn't channelled correctly, and the background sky does occasionally clash with the pano. But the customised objects
are terrific, the majority of sound entertaining and different, and there's a lot less need to worry about poor texturing! Very soundly
done, from a player's point of view. |
| Overall |
A brilliant concept brought lovingly and imaginatively to life. This could easily have
been mediocre: happily it's turned out a triumph. |
40/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
|
|
