During the first round of the Golf Club, one of the most pleasant surprises was when I reviewed
VR Golf '97 on the Saturn. The visuals pushed the Saturn, and the gameplay was very solid. My only lament at that time was the limited amount of content. Looking up, I discovered that that game was the first entry in a European series called Actua Golf. To my delight, I learned that, while Actua Golf 3 stayed in the UK, Actua Golf 2 released in America as Fox Sports Golf '99. After hunting it down, I was sure that I would be giving it the "A" that I wanted to give the first game so much. After playing it, I'm disappointed to say that's not happening.
Just looking at the options got me ecstatic. Unlike the first game which only had four character skins to choose from, this one features a character creator with a decent number of options for tailoring your player's look. While it pales compared to the creation options that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 would introduce, it was still good for the time. The golf bag could be customized though there aren't individual options for each player. There are five gameplay modes plus a practice mode and two tours. Best of all, the anemic two courses from the first game got upgraded to eight in the second, and they're all available right from the start. With all these advances, I was stoked.
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Unfortunately, the problems started when I actually hit the links. The visuals both improved and worsened between games. Since the Playstation was a stronger 3D machine than the Saturn, I expected a marked improvement. What I got was improved animation mixed with ugly texture blurring. The visuals even hurt gameplay in some ways; it was nearly impossible to see the grid on the green because of the blurring effect used. The gameplay itself had major problems. The camera controls are extremely limited. You can see where you're shooting from or the hole; that's it. Why isn't there an option to see the target area for your shot? There are a dozen different shot types to choose from, but most of them are practically worthless. Worst of all, while I did complain about the three-click meter being a little fast in the first game, this one tripled the speed, making scoring perfect impact an absolute miracle. I had never gone out-of-bounds so much in just one game. The one saving grace is that mulligans could be turned on in the options menu, and while I tend to ignore them in other games, I abused the hell out of the mulligans in this one.
Fox Sports Golf '99 was easily one of the biggest disappointments I had doing the Golf Club. All Gremlin had to do was add more courses and modes to the first, and I would've been happy. However, they made unnecessary tweaks to the graphics engine and gameplay and ended up ruining the experience. While it's not terrible, it's a far cry from what it should've been. This is the equivalent of a pro placing in the US Open one year and failing to qualify the next. Just stick to the first.
