Lighter Blue: Mini-Reviews

A Brief Look at Microsoft Golf 2001
by Chris Seip

Microsoft has multiple golf games on the market, so it helps to determine their intentions for Golf 2001. With a late-90s graphics engine and a bargain price, Golf 2001 is apparently aimed at impulse buyers, as opposed to experienced PC golf gamers looking for the slickest update. (The latter group may have more interest in the 2001 edition of Links, which also comes from Microsoft since their acquisition of Access Software.)

Did I just miss that easy putt?

Click the thumbnail for full image. (55K)

There's no denying the intended $20 price point is attractive. But there are a few missing goodies, like a course editor and a fully 3D graphics engine. And the golfers, while customizable and sometimes enjoyably reactive, aren't famous figures or even thoroughly animated. But there's still quite a lot to drive your divot: Seven courses that look great and offer some scenic variety, three methods to control your swing, plenty of camera angles and options, and oodles of multiplayer options (including Zone connectivity, as you'd expect from Microsoft).

PC golfers looking for top-of-the-line features may sniff at this edition, but it is a friendly, flexible golf game for first timers. The box includes an announcement that suggests owners "may be eligible" for a $15 mail-in rebate on an upgrade to Links 2001 – See the Links box for details. Take that either way you like: It may sound like Golf 2001 is designed to sell a higher-grade product, or it may just make an obviously good bargain even better. Grade: B+.

Microsoft Golf 2001 Edition
[street: $20]
Microsoft
ESRB rating: Everyone ("E")

A Brief Look at Pharaoh
by Chris Seip

What Light Blue column would be complete without an entry from the Grievously Overdue Software Reviews pile? Our apologies go to Sierra this month, for not getting a quicker look at Pharaoh, a fine city-building game something like SimCity, or more precisely, very much like Caesar 3. In fact, the redeployed Caesar 3 engine is well suited to the artful architecture of the ancient Egyptians. It also helps Pharaoh avoid any outrageous system requirements: Pentium 166 minimum, Pentium 266 recommended.

This Nile town has grown into a bustling hot-spot.

Click the thumbnail for full image. (114K)

As in Caesar 3, the intersections of paths and roads require some forethought, as they can confuse the paths of your people carrying gold, food, water, etc. Well, these Egyptian citizens do seem to be smarter about finding their way than their counterparts in Caesar 3. These paths are necessary to connect the various homes, services, workplaces, and other structures you’ll be placing in order to preserve balance in your bustling town. Somehow, most everyone knows to Keep Off The Grass.

Players of Caesar 3 will be pleased to see the same crisply detailed graphics and sensible interface at work in Pharaoh, as well as some moody music and evocative sound effects. Brand new elements in Pharaoh include the Nile River and its annual flooding, enriching the land but making riverbank farming a seasonal pursuit. And, you’ll have a rewarding time pouring workers and bricks into the (eventual) building of large monuments. Very cool. All this rich fun and beauty even comes with a real printed manual (gasp). Just like in ancient PC gaming times. Grade: A.

Pharaoh
[street: $40]
Sierra Studios/Impressions Games
ESRB rating: Everyone ("E"), noting "mild animated violence"