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Best Golf to be had on Mac

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been using the Links game since the 1999 version, initially on a PowerMac and then for the last several years on a PC since that was the only platform side that seemed to be advancing the state of the game. At some point I started having all sorts of bugs with the Links 2003 PC version. I installed patches, changed machines and yelled at my monitor a lot. Then I gave up. Recently I bought a 2.16 GHz 24' iMac. I have Parallels installed and thought I might try Links 2003 again but ran into disc verification problems. That's when I found that there was a sort of updated version for the Mac, Links CE 2002. It's a bit of a step backward from L 2003 but it does work and so far I have had no glitches at all. I read a review in here about having to load a disc to play each time and spotty success in loading extra courses but I have not experienced either of those issues. I did trash the annoying Gator movie. I also have had no issues running at 1600 x 1200 resolution. It doesn't go entirely wide screen but it looks great.

I believe there is a patch available for this version but am not certain; I will hunt around the Links Country Club or Links Corner and find out.

Links CE is not as advanced as Links 2003 PC but it's the only links I have that is working. I do not care for the Tiger Woods games so I guess this is it for me for now. Unfortunately it does not appear that the Mac users are going to see any upgrades anytime soon if ever. That's a shame; this game was (and for the most part still is) ahead of everything else that calls itself computer golf.

Question: Does anyone know if the .crz files will work on both PC and Mac platforms? I have about 40 courses for the PC and would like to be able to use them. Send me a note at rgharrison@gmail.com if you know.

Similar in appearance to LS 97-2000, until you actually play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got the cd-rom, was annoyed by the mandatory loading of disc 1 to play. There may be a way around it, if you delete the Intro Quicktime Bold Gator video from your Links CE folder. After doing that, I don't have to place disc 1 in for verification anymore when I play CE. At the very least, you won't have to see the stupid video each time you start Links CE.

The adding of courses via the CD's 1-4 can be spotty, sometimes not loading them to your hard drive, but insisting on loading them from directly from the cd. You should be able to place CRZ courses directly into the courses folder and have them show up from the course manager as available courses.

As for play, the graphics do not dazzle, but CE has changed significantly in ball physics, both in flight, and in putting. Also, hitting into the rough has huge penalties, just like it should. In links 2000, except for special rough on some courses, most of the time you just went down an Iron. The putting is much harder and the colored grids are nice for viewing gradient changes.

The CRX to CRZ course converter results in courses that look just like they did when you played them in LS 2000 but with the new physics in effect--much more fun.

THe games can be buggy in some cases when hitting the ball, but all in all, this games plays similar to the windows version, just does not look quite as nice.

The worst thing about this game is the inability to play Windows users online--I dont get that at all, it is senseless. Still, this is a great golf game!

Make sure you have plenty of RAM, and a g-5 dual would not hurt.

Nice challenging golf game for the Mac

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I play this game usually in downtime on the train or just to kick back and relax for a challenging round. Graphically it is a pretty good game but nowhere near the graphics level of PS2 or XBox. The physics of the game are fantastic and the courses rather challenging. Seems extremely difficult to get a hole in one. I run this on my Powerbook G4 with 768 megs of ram and the 8 megs of video running OS 10.2.4. It runs flawlessly when no other apps are open, but if you have a few ram intensive apps open, close them before you begin the game. One enhancement that I see as a neccessity is the ability to still navigate the dock when the game is running. I run iTunes at the same time as playing usually, and if I have to close the screen for some reason, iTunes stops playing and cannot be restarted without going to the dock.

Good Graphics but Clumsy to Use

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Links 2002 for Mac is OK, but not great. First, if you are an IMac user like me, you'll need to change your screen resolution to 800x600 for this product to even work. The IMac system has the right graphics card, however the program just cannot take the high quality resolution and it bombs the whole system if you don't turn down the resolution.

The second irritation of the software is you need the CDs to make it work. I'm all for protecting intellectual rights, but come on. CD Swapping? You need disk #1 to start the program and you need other disks to do other steps (like loading golf courses). In all a very clumsy way to handle what should be a great game.

Bottom line, it's graphically appealing, fun to play, but very clumsy and does not take full advantage of the IMac graphics capabilities.

Wish it worked better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I had high hopes for this game. Pre-ordered and waited months. The Graphics are beautiful, the courses are challenging, but after a few weeks of crashing every other time I played, I've purged the game from my files and am using all that memory for more productive endeavors. A major disappointment. I refuse to re-configure my computer for a game.

Really Good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: November 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

After reading the bad reviews on this I almost didn't buy it, but decided to take a chance.

The game is great. Running on OSX (Cube - 384 mb) just fine.

I've had the older versions and this is a really good upgrade.

Enjoy.

Links LS was better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I too looked forward to this release, having gotten sick of the same 3 courses on Links LS. Great variety of courses here, great graphics, but if there were a ranger on the course, this game would be warned for slow play. It simply takes forever (I guess with Sergio Garcia in the package, that should be no surprise). I don't mind flip-flopping the CDs all the time, but I've played REAL rounds of golf in less time. My system isn't the fastest but I didn't expect anything like this.
Also, sometimes the golfer will hit shots to places no where near the spot to which they were aimed. I've aimed the marker straight into the hole on a 3 foot putt and the stupid guy hits it almost directly to the right.
And those comments! Awful! My golfing buddies would laugh me off the course if I said most of those moronic lines. "I am the spanker"! I think I know what THAT guy is spanking, and it ain't a golf ball.
A fun game but too slow--not worth the money. And if anyone has figured out that course designer (someone without a degree in computer design/graphics, that is), I'd like to know about it!

excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have a PowerBook FireWire labtop running OS 9.1 with 128Mb memory and this game works flawlessly for me. It has never crashed nor have there ever been any graphics problems. I play the game with every bell and wistle at a maximum and have never had a problem.
It is nice to play a video game that is actually challenging and requires some attentive playing. The courses are beautiful and the sound is wonderful. I recommend it to anyone interested in playing golf at home.

Love It

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

BUY THIS GAME!

Out of the box on my imac; 600mhz; 384mb; 9.1OS, the game ran perfectly.

What can you say...the graphics are so much better than LS2000; the game plays more like real golf...let's see how the rough on St. Andrews plays in CE! In LS2000 it was a minor inconvenience. It should be major trouble... the high grass and sand traps play much tougher in this new game.

When you have an uphill lie, the ball reacts more realistically than any version of the game to date.

OK to play online, you turn off the crowds. I use the impact and landing sounds and the ambient background sounds. I even "sometimes" give up my flag ani...
but if you are playing at home alone, you can run the game full tilt....

BUT WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO?

Online play is the only way to enjoy this game...

Links CE works great for me...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First the details: My ancient system consists of a PowerMac 7300 upgraded with a Newertech G3 400/200 processor card, and an ATI Rage VR 128 graphics card. I am running MacOS 9.1, and I'm using the June ATI driver update.

I had many problems with graphic artifacts when I first tried to play this game, but they were cleared up by increasing virtual memory to at least 256 MB. Giving the system more memory seems to be the key.

To date, I have played many rounds at various courses (those that came with the game, user made courses, and converted courses from Links LS 2000), and I have had very few problems. A few of the user made courses give me error messages about missing sound files, but most work correctly. All of the other courses that I have tried worked fine. Be warned that some of the more graphic intensive user made courses, like Pacific Breaks, might require you to increase your system memory a little more to be able to play them.

The graphics in the game are incredible. They are better than any of the previous Links games on the Mac. I am able to run the game at 1024 X 768 X 32 bit, with the picture quality setting just below maximum. Screen redraws take a little longer than they did in Links LS 2000, but not to an extent that they are intolerable. Note: To see these wonderful graphics, make sure that you are running the game in hardware rendering (OpenGL) mode, not software rendering mode.

I have tried just about all the new features in the game (panoramic view, dynamic camera, etc.), and they all work. Also, virtual tournament works better than it did in Links LS 2000. I replaced all the fictional names with actual names of players on the PGA tour, and I've been having a blast playing a fictional tournament against Tiger, Sergio, and the rest.

Is the game perfect out of the box? No. Depending on your system, you will probably have to do some tweaking to get it to run just right, but it can be done. Believe me, it's worth it. There are some issues that need to be addressed (the divot leaves a trail on the screen, the speed of some animations is a little fast, the course designer needs some work, and the course converter that comes with the game is PC only), but those will probably be fixed in future patches.

Bottom line...I recommend giving this game a chance. If you run into problems, there are places on the web where you can get help. Few, if any, computer games are released any more that are perfect out of the box. With a little tweaking, you will be glad you didn't give up on this game.

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