| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 973 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-07-17 |
33,155,579 bytes |
72 |
7292 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
TROPICAL |
The Dragon's Lair.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 97326e6b983d11d69990444553540000 |
45e9d0d5fb97a60d73cc853b560dabed |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Chuck Clark
August 2002
Background: This is the second course released to Links Corner by the designers. Their other course was called Black Valley No. 2. I am not more familiar with that course other than the review done by Joe Turner. The following was taken from the read-me included with this course:
'The course is imaginary, but yet traditional in design. This is our second course. We spent the best part of 3 months on this one. Hole previews with tips are included. The tips are based on back tees. Splash screens and sounds and crowds are in there to. We spent alot of time on the traps. We did alot of vertex moving and extruding. We were left with faces which we applied deep grass texture to.
The course features tough par three's, great par five's and an array of risk reward holes. Number 12 is a key hole. By rotating 17 degrees to the right, this par 5 gives you a good chance of hitting driver sand wedge to it. Before we start on our third course we plan to go back and make corrections on our first course Black Valleys No 2'
Overall Impression: Well, I am afraid my overall impression of this course is not good. There are numerous technical mistakes everywhere you look. The planting is wildly inconsistent and there are lots of strange and unneeded objects added to the mix. There are also some objects that are hugely out of scale. There are some good holes and routings, but the errors completely destroy the effect.
Playability: This course is generally very playable. The fairways are wide enough and the greens are nicely sloped. Some of the errors affect game play however. There was an edge to a bunker that was unassigned with a texture. If your ball happened to hit here, it would disappear into the APCD nether world. There was also a rock wall texture used as a flat surface (around some lakes and some bunkers) which your ball would never stop bouncing on. This was very annoying, since you would have to wait a long time for the continue box to appear.
Shot Values: I was too disappointed with the errors to pay any attention to this aspect.
Visuals: This course is wildly inconsistent and strangely dynamic. Some holes are tropical-like with palm trees and watery bays. Other areas are planted with flowering trees and/or tall pines. The pano used was the Princeville one; but it didn't seem to fit this course very well. There were also some objects that were not well done and completely out of scale. As an example, there is a bench off to the right of the #13th tee that was big enough for Godzilla to sit on. There was another hole with a foot bridge big enough for Paul Bunyan to walk across. On a couple of holes were some huge rocks, a mud hill or two and some flat sandstone as well. Very bizarre stuff!
Technique: This is the main place that this course fails. There were numerous technical errors. There were frequent sharp edges and bad texture transitions. There were badly finished bunker edges and the aforementioned objects. The planting was redundant in places and poorly done in others. There were badly mapped faces and a few other things as well.
Summary: I really can't recommend download this course. It is interesting to look at (in places) and has some decently routed holes, but there are just so many errors that it is hard for me to play. The designers need to learn about edge sharpness and how it affects the look of their textures. They also could stand to stick to a consistent theme and feel.
I am both a player and a designer. I review courses primarily from the standpoint of fun and playability. I appreciate courses that are beautiful to look at, but first and foremost I want a fun experience. I have spent many hours designing courses myself, so I understand the blood, sweat and tears that go into the design process. Any critical comments made here are meant to be constructive and helpful.
Included/Not Included:
Cameo: Yes
Splash Screen: Yes
Hole Previews: Yes
Tee Signs: No
Custom Tee Markers: No
Custom Flags: No
Read-Me: Yes
Handicaps: Yes
Custom or added Sounds: Yes |
This course is available as a FREE download.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
