biodynamix

I am a long time fan of golf games, including TGC1 and TGC2. They were the only ones I'd enjoyed playing since i think it was TW11. Sadly TGC2 lost it's way fairly quickly and in the end it was clear the game was being developed for a small niche market of it's heavy use user base. While feedback from heavy users should allow you to tweak a game in all areas, it's only a good thing if the said user base doesn't actually want the game to be niche and suit only their limited needs. I want to be clear I had no intention of buying this game after the experience of TGC2, once it became clear it had some huge flaws that many users actually wanted to be part of the core of the gameplay. I didn't buy the game, but have played it for enough time since they gave it away free on xbox live a few months back. I only just bothered to play it though. I can only assume it hasn't been well received, that it's free. Especially not good considering they've marketed it with a clear design to making this a yearly release at £50 a pop (LMAO). With that said I'll review the game now. In terms of graphics, the game looks OK. But it's really not all that. The shot animation, with huge divots on every shot, is super weird. There's lot of blurriness which I think is from efforts to calm the obvious frame dropping and the resulting variable frame rate problem, which scuppered the new tempo swing they introduced in TGC2 and have kept for this edition. The trees are also a big issue. They're still the same as from the previous version and they look really dated. When the camera's panning during replays they just don't look good at all. Gameplay and controls wise, it just seems lacking. I know from their devs comments in their forums from the last game, they consider the game to be simulation. But they've also tried to keep things in that make the game playable for a casual gamer who just wants to play a bit of golf. I/they/everyone knows why they've taken that approach. The game can't bring great financial success if it's too niche. But while I get that, I just feel the devs are wanting to have their cake and eat it. This for me is the real crux of this games failure. As a sim it falls so far short for anyone who's an actual golfer. As an arcadey pick up and play golf game, it's got almost nothing to offer. Add to that the fact that the game is incredibly boring to play and it's really impossible for any of the good elements to make up for the massive flaws in the game. One of the things I like most about all versions of the game (this included) is the excellent feel to the putting. It's hard at first as you only have one putter to use. By that I mean there isn't a 5ft putter, a 10ft putter, a 20ft putter etc. etc. I know a lot of new users in the past found it hard to get used to, but once you've played a while it feels very rewarding and gives as simulationy a feel as you could get. Sadly, the rest of the shots are nothing like this. There's no option to adjust you golfer's stance in terms of lining up to the front or back foot. No option to close the face of the club or open it right up. This type of feel can only partially be replicated by moving around an x/y axis graph that in no way relates to the image of your golfer on the screen. It makes no difference to the divots taken (as previously mentioned) and doesn't offer a lot of visual feedback. This would be important as the x'y thing has no indication of the level of effect it will have on the shot. They've clearly done this to stop people just dialling in every shot and use it to break the already ill thought out approach to the game. I personally think it shows up the devs' and the heavy user base's lack of knowledge of real golf and how a real golfer achieves a normal shot and variation from a normal shot. Hitting draw or fade by design should also be done by stick control rather than on a graph in my opinion. This was already done on older TW games but not here. This also then leads into the fact the game has different types of shot to select from a list. Normal, punch, pitch, chip, etc. This has been a staple of all golf games. But to me seems an odd choice for a developer who's modified putting so well and yet failed to do so in any other part of the game. Add to that the fact they've been implemented so badly. Pitches don't look, feel, or play like pitches. Flop shots don't look, feel, or play like flop shots. This is what makes the game feel most boring. Every shot until you get to the green feels so samey. Driving is way too easy and there's little differentiation between how you approach each of the shots and any potential issues a real life golfer would face trying to play them. I could say a lot more. The game's course designer is still excellent however. But all in all this game just shows a lack of understanding or respect by the developers and it's why the game fails. I also doubt they can turn back now

I loved the original game (TGC1) but did get a bit bored with it in the end. They've tried to implement a lot of new ideas for this next version and as ideas, they promise a lot. But the execution is a joke and that they think it's OK to put something in a game that isn't even slightly realised shows exactly what this company think about people who pay for a game. Their pre-release information has turned out to be nothing short of a con. With claims of features that just aren't there and seemingly they won't even add correctly from what their staff say on their own forums. Like I said, I loved the first game and had high hopes for this one, to be the best golf simulation game ever. They already had most of the raw materials to do just that with the brilliant course designer, users who love making great courses and gameplay that was decent, if a little easy from TGC1. But they've done such a bad job. They've added tutorials that do the bare minimum and are confusingly vague. There's a new tempo swing, which is a great idea IMO, but in reality with frame rate issues makes the game unfair and impossible to get used to. If tempo being to fast or slow can cause you to hit off the line you aimed, then no matter how straight you swing (which takes practice) you can still see the ball veer off into the rough or worse due to poor frame rate and server connection. You can't allow for a game that's been badly made, so that even a current generation 4k console can't have a smooth swing by going up and down on a controller. This should be child's play for any game and that HB Studio can't do this and can't resolve it, is a complete joke. If you can't swing smooth, you can't swing tempo. And if you can't swing tempo, which the game requires, then you can't tell where the ball will go, even if you do a great, straight swing. Then when you are in the rough, the games inconsistent and unfair. You can't hit good shots out of bunker and nothing like is possible in real life, for even a half decent golfer. You may find the balls gone in the water, not due to your bad swing but bad frame rate on the game. It then can't enact the correct rules of golf for drops and so you just get put back where you hit the first shot from. I could go on and on about what's bad with the game. But I'd just say at it's core it's a great game, but as a game it's completely awful and HB Studios should be embarrassed at what they done. They've blunted their original game's good points. Promised to add a lot of new interesting features and then failed terribly with almost every single one. Made the game a bit harder (which was needed) but also more erratic and so random it's impossible to play or plan your game in any simulation style, tactical way (which is bad for a game trying to be a pure golf sim IMO). There are a lot of hardcore fans that will defend this game until they die. They're the ones rating it too high and attacking people on the game studio's own forums. The game studio hardly ever comment on the games failings on there, delete posts that don't even break their rules, but show the game for what it is. A lot of the guys on their forum attacking people are probably staff in disguise, who can't be known to be staff because they'd have to answer for the game's failings. This company lost their way and this game is a sickening cash grab from a loyal user base. Not to pay for what they've added in the new version. But to line their own pockets while releasing an effectively worse version of the same game. It's worth more than the zero I gave it though. Maybe a 3...... maybe But as it's getting 10's and 8's off people who probably work for HB, i voted it a bit lower. There's no way a game made a shockingly badly as this could ever be more than a 5. Even after the patches they claim will resolve everything. No chance. Anyone who makes a game this bad, has no intention of making it better. Only, perhaps, making it barely playable. 8 weeks in and it still crashes modern consoles (which no other game I've played has ever done) and is unplayable due to server lag at busy times. Which believe it or not is when people are playing (lol, what a joke). Also it dropped 60% of it's original sale price, within 5 weeks of release. This is not a sign **** game. Only an idiot would argue otherwise. Also this'll be free on games with gold (Xbox One Live) before long. Save your money and try it when it's free

I loved the original game (TGC1) but did get a bit bored with it in the end. They've tried to implement a lot of new ideas for this next version and as ideas, they promise a lot. But the execution is a joke and that they think it's OK to put something in a game that isn't even slightly realised shows exactly what this company think about people who pay for a game. Their pre-release information has turned out to be nothing short of a con. With claims of features that just aren't there and seemingly they won't even add correctly from what their staff say on their own forums. Like I said, I loved the first game and had high hopes for this one, to be the best golf simulation game ever. They already had most of the raw materials to do just that with the brilliant course designer, users who love making great courses and gameplay that was decent, if a little easy from TGC1. But they've done such a bad job. They've added tutorials that do the bare minimum and are confusingly vague. There's a new tempo swing, which is a great idea IMO, but in reality with frame rate issues makes the game unfair and impossible to get used to. If tempo being to fast or slow can cause you to hit off the line you aimed, then no matter how straight you swing (which takes practice) you can still see the ball veer off into the rough or worse due to poor frame rate and server connection. You can't allow for a game that's been badly made, so that even a current generation 4k console can't have a smooth swing by going up and down on a controller. This should be child's play for any game and that HB Studio can't do this and can't resolve it, is a complete joke. If you can't swing smooth, you can't swing tempo. And if you can't swing tempo, which the game requires, then you can't tell where the ball will go, even if you do a great, straight swing. Then when you are in the rough, the games inconsistent and unfair. You can't hit good shots out of bunker and nothing like is possible in real life, for even a half decent golfer. You may find the balls gone in the water, not due to your bad swing but bad frame rate on the game. It then can't enact the correct rules of golf for drops and so you just get put back where you hit the first shot from. I could go on and on about what's bad with the game. But I'd just say at it's core it's a great game, but as a game it's completely awful and HB Studios should be embarrassed at what they done. They've blunted their original game's good points. Promised to add a lot of new interesting features and then failed terribly with almost every single one. Made the game a bit harder (which was needed) but also more erratic and so random it's impossible to play or plan your game in any simulation style, tactical way (which is bad for a game trying to be a pure golf sim IMO). There are a lot of hardcore fans that will defend this game until they die. They're the ones rating it too high and attacking people on the game studio's own forums. The game studio hardly ever comment on the games failings on there, delete posts that don't even break their rules, but show the game for what it is. A lot of the guys on their forum attacking people are probably staff in disguise, who can't be known to be staff because they'd have to answer for the game's failings. This company lost their way and this game is a sickening cash grab from a loyal user base. Not to pay for what they've added in the new version. But to line their own pockets while releasing an effectively worse version of the same game. It's worth more than the zero I gave it though. Maybe a 3...... maybe But as it's getting 10's and 8's off people who probably work for HB, i voted it a bit lower. There's no way a game made a shockingly badly as this could ever be more than a 5. Even after the patches they claim will resolve everything. No chance. Anyone who makes a game this bad, has no intention of making it better. Only, perhaps, making it barely playable. 8 weeks in and it still crashes modern consoles (which no other game I've played has ever done) and is unplayable due to server lag at busy times. Which believe it or not is when people are playing (lol, what a joke). Also it dropped 60% of it's original sale price, within 5 weeks of release. This is not a sign **** game. Only an idiot would argue otherwise. Also this'll be free on games with gold (Xbox One Live) before long. Save your money and try it when it's free

I loved the original game (TGC1) but did get a bit bored with it in the end. They've tried to implement a lot of new ideas for this next version and as ideas, they promise a lot. But the execution is a joke and that they think it's OK to put something in a game that isn't even slightly realised shows exactly what this company think about people who pay for a game. Their pre-release information has turned out to be nothing short of a con. With claims of features that just aren't there and seemingly they won't even add correctly from what their staff say on their own forums. Like I said, I loved the first game and had high hopes for this one, to be the best golf simulation game ever. They already had most of the raw materials to do just that with the brilliant course designer, users who love making great courses and gameplay that was decent, if a little easy from TGC1. But they've done such a bad job. They've added tutorials that do the bare minimum and are confusingly vague. There's a new tempo swing, which is a great idea IMO, but in reality with frame rate issues makes the game unfair and impossible to get used to. If tempo being to fast or slow can cause you to hit off the line you aimed, then no matter how straight you swing (which takes practice) you can still see the ball veer off into the rough or worse due to poor frame rate and server connection. You can't allow for a game that's been badly made, so that even a current generation 4k console can't have a smooth swing by going up and down on a controller. This should be child's play for any game and that HB Studio can't do this and can't resolve it, is a complete joke. If you can't swing smooth, you can't swing tempo. And if you can't swing tempo, which the game requires, then you can't tell where the ball will go, even if you do a great, straight swing. Then when you are in the rough, the games inconsistent and unfair. You can't hit good shots out of bunker and nothing like is possible in real life, for even a half decent golfer. You may find the balls gone in the water, not due to your bad swing but bad frame rate on the game. It then can't enact the correct rules of golf for drops and so you just get put back where you hit the first shot from. I could go on and on about what's bad with the game. But I'd just say at it's core it's a great game, but as a game it's completely awful and HB Studios should be embarrassed at what they done. They've blunted their original game's good points. Promised to add a lot of new interesting features and then failed terribly with almost every single one. Made the game a bit harder (which was needed) but also more erratic and so random it's impossible to play or plan your game in any simulation style, tactical way (which is bad for a game trying to be a pure golf sim IMO). There are a lot of hardcore fans that will defend this game until they die. They're the ones rating it too high and attacking people on the game studio's own forums. The game studio hardly ever comment on the games failings on there, delete posts that don't even break their rules, but show the game for what it is. A lot of the guys on their forum attacking people are probably staff in disguise, who can't be known to be staff because they'd have to answer for the game's failings. This company lost their way and this game is a sickening cash grab from a loyal user base. Not to pay for what they've added in the new version. But to line their own pockets while releasing an effectively worse version of the same game. It's worth more than the zero I gave it though. Maybe a 3...... maybe But as it's getting 10's and 8's off people who probably work for HB, i voted it a bit lower. There's no way a game made a shockingly badly as this could ever be more than a 5. Even after the patches they claim will resolve everything. No chance. Anyone who makes a game this bad, has no intention of making it better. Only, perhaps, making it barely playable. 8 weeks in and it still crashes modern consoles (which no other game I've played has ever done) and is unplayable due to server lag at busy times. Which believe it or not is when people are playing (lol, what a joke). Also it dropped 60% of it's original sale price, within 5 weeks of release. This is not a sign **** game. Only an idiot would argue otherwise. Also this'll be free on games with gold (Xbox One Live) before long. Save your money and try it when it's free.