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Title |
Tee Off Golf
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Publisher |
Bottom Up
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Graphics |
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Developer |
Acclaim
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Sound |
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Released |
2000
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Gameplay |
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Platform |
Dreamcast
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Longevity |
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Highlights |
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The multiplayer is fun, but you have to play single player quite a bit in order to unlock additional characters and courses. Did not hold my interest for very long. |
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Full Review
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Tee Off for the Sega Dreamcast is a straight up golf sim, with no gimmicks or whiz bang features. The game offers a single player mode, as well as a few differant multiplayer modes. Including a skins, score mode, best ball and a few others. There is also a bonus game called G Ball, which is something like miniature golf, croquet and Tron put together... yeah, don't bother playing G Ball.
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The single player mode provides a stiff challenge from the start. You play in tournaments and gain points to move through the global rankings. You don't have to place first to advance to the next tournament, but you will quickly fall behind in the global rankings if you consistantly get your butt handed to you by the other golfers. Before each tournament, you are given an oportunity to choose the balls, woods and irons that you will be using for the duration of the 18 hole game. From what I could tell, there was not a dramatic differance in the selections you can make early in the single player game, although this changes late in the game, once you have unlocked some of the better equipment.
The worst part about the single player game is even though you are playing in a tournament, against 15 or so cpu controlled oponents (whose scores are simulated in the background) you are forced to play through the course with a cpu player opponent. After you take your shot, you have to wait for the opposing player to take theirs, which makes playing the single player mode take twice as long as it should. Worst of all, I found myself beating the pants off the opponent I was facing during my play through the course. Only to have my victory dance ground to a halt when told that I placed 4th or 5th in the tournament. To top it all off, you will have to power through several play throughs of the single player mode before you unlock the majority of the characters in the game.
On the bright side, the game gives you all the tools you need to make the shots you need in order to win those tournaments. You can press the X button, to get an estimated trajectory of your shot. You can also press Y, to get a good look at the terrain from multiple angles. The game also clearly displays vital information you will need in planning your shot, including wind speed, distande to the hole and the distance your shot will go at 100% power. The hard part comes when actually taking your shot. The game uses a three button press system that is common in golf games. You press the A buttom to start your swing, then again to set the power and a third time to determine the accuracy of your shot. The most difficult part of this process is the last button press. The white bar moves very quickly across the meter and the area in which you must press the A button is very small. Failing to land the white marker in the small area at the base of the meter will result in a miss hit. Usually sending your ball flailing into the rough, a bunker or a tree. It gets a bit easier as you play, but continues to be a challenge.
Multiplayer in Tee Off is more of the same kind of game you will find in single player, but with more fun. Because instead of grinding your teeth at the cpu players, you will be laughing at your buddies as they miss hit their tee shot and end up in the rough behind a tree. As mentioned earlier, the game has a few of the most common golf play styles. Chances are you will want to play skins or score modes, which work as you would expect them to. The only downside to multiplayer, is that you have to unlock the additional characters, courses and equipment by conquering the single player mode on the differant difficulty levels. There are only four characters to choose from when you first boot the game; An Asian man, a blonde guy that looks like a girl, a blonde woman and another woman with black hair.
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At least your eyes won't bleed while playing the game. The terrain textures have enough resolution to them to look decent enough and it is easy to discern the differant types of terrain from a distance. The most distracting thing graphically is the two dimensional trees, but you can't hold that against Tee Off, because that is what most golf games had to do at the time. The characters also have enough polygons and pixels to make them look good enough to not become a nuisance, which is helped in large part because they are all drawn in a japanese anime style, with few colors and details, big hair and the like.
The sound is nothing to scream about either, but it gets the job done. There is unfortunately only a few songs that make up the soundtrack, but they are not repeated enough in the game for most people to notice. It would have been nice if there was a commentator to add some extra engagement to the sound in the game. I never thought I would be asking for David Feherty to tell me that my last shot sucked, but it would have been a welcome addition, especially when you are waiting for the cpu controlled character to take their shot.
In all, Tee Off is a competent golf game, without any weird gimmicks that get in the way of just playing a round of golf. It is disapointing that the single player mode is a pain to play. Even more disappointing is that you have to play the single player mode to unlock all the cool stuff you want to use in multiplayer. If you have a Dreamcast and want a decent golf experience, check out Tee Off. Although, be aware that there are other, much better golf games for other platforms, even from the years that the Dreamcast was still kicking around.
